There Is A Reason The Lost Decade Happened
June 27th, 2025
“Jason, our philosophy is quite simple: Win consistently and a coach will get an extension.”
Pretty cool factoid dropped by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo yesterday when news broke that Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and Bucs coach Todd Bowles got contract extensions.
It seems Bowles became the first head coach since Chucky to get a contract extension. Chucky last worked for the Bucs in 2008 (that’s the same year JoeBucsFan.com was born).
That’s 17 years. That’s not a good sign. Almost 20 years since Chucky got that extension. So let’s see why that is.
Here are the coaches that succeeded Chucky and preceded Bowles. Chucky, of course, has the most wins in franchise history. And, yeah, he guided the Bucs to their very first Super Bowl win.
Raheem Morris: Given how the 2010 Bucs shocked everyone and were a robbery (Kellen Winslow offensive pass interference) away from the playoffs, it sure appeared Team Glazer was ahead of the pack in promoting Morris to head coach in 2009. The 2011 season was a complete disaster. After beating the slimy Saints 26-20 at home to raise their record to 4-2, the Bucs jetted off to London and were never the same, losing 10 straight to end the season. The locker room became a nest of incorrigibles. Morris was bounced.
Greg Schiano: The former Bucs commander had a promising start with impressive road wins over the Vikings on a Thursday night and later an overtime win at the Stinking Panthers for a 6-4 record. This would be the high-water mark of Schiano’s Bucs résumé. Schiano went 5-17 the rest of his time in Tampa, including an 0-8 start to the 2013 season, which prompted Team Glazer to make maybe the worst move in their stewardship of the pirate ship. Along the way, several good players were run off, including Michael Bennett, LeGarrette Blount and Aqib Talib. All three went on to be key contributors for Super Bowl-winning teams. They allegedly weren’t “Buccaneer Men” and that sure didn’t help Schiano.
Lousy Lovie Smith: This man crippled the franchise. To be fair, he selected Jason Licht to be the Bucs’ new general manager after Team Glazer had a housecleaning. It quickly became apparent after Lovie brought in Licht, that would be his lone smart move. The Bucs thought they hired Father Dungy II. Instead, they hired perhaps the worst coach in franchise history. Brimming with arrogance yet bereft of substance, Lovie made asinine player evaluation mistake after asinine player evaluation mistake. Lasting through his second season is still a feat. Supposedly a defensive wizard, he was nothing of the sort. His defenses were a (bad) joke. The man should have been shown the door when he allegedly stated Darrelle Revis couldn’t play for him. Trust Joe, a franchise can find a competent coach a helluva lot easier than it can find a Hall of Fame corner. And it didn’t really get any better after that braindead stunt. (A defensive coach claiming Revis couldn’t play for him is a monument to the stupidity of mankind.)
Dirk Koetter: A good man, a good offensive coach, but loyal to a fault. Koetter’s tenure with the Bucs was fully undermined by his good friend and defensive coordinator Mike Smith (another really good man). After nearly making the playoffs with a 9-7 record (thanks, Hey Jude!), the Bucs collapsed largely because Mike Smith had zero answers with his defense — but he made up for it by not having many sacks. Matadors stopped charging bulls better than the Bucs played defense. The highlight may have been when Mike Smith figured cornerback Ryan Smith was just the guy to stop Julio Jones one afternoon in Atlanta. Jones alone finished the day with 253 receiving yards! Had Koetter changed defensive coordinators after the 2017 season, who knows what may have happened? He didn’t and it cost Koetter his lone NFL head coaching gig.
Bruce Arians: The best coach in Bucs history? Probably. It took a little more than one year for Arians to bury The Lost Decade, flipping the Bucs from one of the league’s sorriest doormats that rarely won home games to Super Bowl champs. A remarkable turnaround by any standard. Arians got a big raise after the Super Bowl win but only lasted three seasons. He abruptly stepped down in the spring of 2022 under what is still a shroud of mystery (though his health may have been a factor). Arians didn’t stick as a coach long enough to get an extension, though he surely would have received one had he stayed.
So you wanna know why no coach after Chucky received an extension from Team Glazer until yesterday when Bowles got one? The answer is in the five paragraphs highlighted above.
Coaching matters. Always has. Always will.
Todd Bowles becomes the first #Buccaneers head coach to receive a contract extension since Jon Gruden in 2008. His 27 wins through three seasons as HC trails only Bruce Arians (31) in team history. (Arians received a raise but not an extension after Super Bowl LV.) pic.twitter.com/1CxeqNTCTJ
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 26, 2025
June 27th, 2025 at 7:06 am
“…Schiano went 5-17.” My guess is that the team probably quit on Coach Schiano. His dictatorship “toes on the line” mentality probably grew old with grown arse men.
June 27th, 2025 at 7:17 am
Was at the London game – beaten by the Bears 🙁
June 27th, 2025 at 7:44 am
Wasn’t Shiano the coach when we had that super-germ outbreak? I realize he was unpopular, but I liked him.
As far as worst and most arrogant coaches? I’d say Lenient Leeman Bennett was the overall most inept. Ray Perkins was by far the most arrogant. Lovie was both.
June 27th, 2025 at 7:49 am
I wouldn’t endorse the Bowles extension at this time.
June 27th, 2025 at 7:56 am
Simple bad drafts
Nick was clearly a good coach but it didn’t hurt his cause having 12 number one classes
June 27th, 2025 at 8:19 am
BA’s handy work is still a big part of the current culture and team success! IMHO, he’s right up there with Dungy as top Bucs coaches! 1A/1B
June 27th, 2025 at 8:23 am
It’s because the Glazers put all their money in Manchester United. derp
June 27th, 2025 at 8:30 am
Bowles still has some improving to do and I don’t see where an extension is anything but good. It shows the coach the ownership has his back and believes in what he’s doing. Regardless of any contract, they can still fire him at any time so I don’t see where it’s a problem. And I hope Bowles proves the doubters wrong in 2025. If the team stays relatively healthy this season, there will be no excuses. He took the team over with Brady distractions, then came cap issues, had a decimated interior o-line, dealt with the revolving carousel of OCs and last year was injury city.
This 2025 season is the best situation he’d had so far if health is on the Bucs side. Would be cool to have an amazing outcome for the Bucs 50th anniversary. Kind of like being the first team to win a super bowl at home.
June 27th, 2025 at 8:48 am
The Gruden example is why the extension is purely symbolic. Gruden was fired a year after the extension was given.
Performance matters. An alleged “defensive genius” overseeing a decaying regression that gets worse every season must show up improved results, or else.
June 27th, 2025 at 8:52 am
yea news alert. when the saints had brees and the falcons had matt ryan the nfc south wasnt so easy for the bucs to roll….last year against brees or ryan based teams might have seen the bucs bounced from the playoffs and bowles out the door.
a large part of the lost decade was the nfc south competition which has dropped off a cliff and is being misconstrued as the golden age of bowles.
June 27th, 2025 at 9:12 am
Bucs coaches ranked 1. Arians 2.Gruden 3. Dungy 4. Bowles
June 27th, 2025 at 10:24 am
@ Ds..I’m putting John McKay on your list somewhere near the top – probably after Arians and before Gruden. Back then (1976) creating a new team was seriously skewed against winning. Basically a team picked from dudes that other teams cut. McKay’s Bucs came withing 9 points of a Superbowl appearance in year three.
June 27th, 2025 at 10:32 am
All Time Bucs Coaches
1 Tony Dungy
2 Bruce Arians
3 John McKay
4 pick em – Gruden or Bowles
June 27th, 2025 at 10:40 am
^Actually, it was year 4 that they went to the playoffs.
McKay doesn’t belong on the list. His teams were mostly a joke, even if you throw out the 2-26 beginning. 1979 was the high water mark.
June 27th, 2025 at 10:42 am
Some people have nostalgia for McKay because he was a quick wit… but he really was not a good NFL coach.
June 27th, 2025 at 10:45 am
When you go through so many subpar football people to blame it on (GM & Coaches), the blame lies with the people picking and hiring those subpar football people. This organization has lacked the infrastructure necessary to make consistently good decisions regarding off-field personnel. It’s the difference between being on your 6th HC and 3rd GM in 12 years vs being on your 3rd HC in the last 55 years.
June 27th, 2025 at 11:07 am
This is in the top 1% of the must read joe articles
If he ever does a superblog for newcomers
June 27th, 2025 at 11:20 am
Thank you!
June 27th, 2025 at 11:31 am
Lovie Smith was the worst coach.
Example: As coach of the Bears he had Devon Hester returning kicks.
Devin Hester holds the NFL record for most all-time return touchdowns.
The first time Lovie faced Hester as an opponent does he instruct the kicker to kick away from Hester? Nope kicked it right to him and what does Hester do…takes it to the house. Lovie just stands on the sideline with that stupid look on his face.
Worst coach ever.
June 27th, 2025 at 12:22 pm
This was a really entertaining article. Thanks Joe!
“Brimming with arrogance yet bereft of substance…” Lol!
June 27th, 2025 at 1:25 pm
Just a reminder, Bowles has a higher win percentage as Bucs coach than Gruden in regular season.
June 27th, 2025 at 1:31 pm
Ds … ‘Bucs coaches ranked 1. Arians 2.Gruden 3. Dungy 4. Bowles’.
I’d go along with your ranking D, except for Gruden. I wouldn’t even list him as #4 (John McKay gets that position IMO). Yes he was our HC when we won the 2002 Super Bowl, but our defense led by Monte Kiffin was the reason, not the offense led by Chucky. We went 12-4 in the regular season, thanks to a defense that ranked #1 in Points Allowed AND Yards Allowed, and that yielded only 196 points in 16 regular season games (12.3 PPG average).
Not only that, but our defense scored 5 TDs on the season (35 points), meaning that our offense really only scored 311 points in 2002 (19.4 PPG average). Plus our defense had 38 takeaways that season (31 INTs & 7 FRs) to constantly give our offense short fields from which to score.
Jon Gruden is the most overrated HC/OC that we’ve had. In his 8 seasons here, he compiled a 57-55 record, and his average offense ranking was #18. Whoopee. What’s impressive about that? We made it to the playoffs twice in 7 years after 2002, as a Wildcard. Got eliminated in the 1st playoff game both times. If the Glazers hadn’t paid so much for him in 2002 ($8 mil and 4 high draft picks), my guess is they would’ve fired him before they did.
June 27th, 2025 at 2:01 pm
If Gruden was overrated for transforming the offense, without which we never would have won our first SB, then so is Dungy who was completely clueless about offenses. I flew on a plane with him and listened to him talking about the Jags QB Brunell and their defense was going to surprise people (going into the playoffs, as I recall). Did not have a clue, without Peyton giving Dungy a lift the way Brady did for us, no way he wins a SB. Ridiculous to think otherwise, definition of insanity…
June 27th, 2025 at 2:05 pm
For once I disagree with you DR…for all his failings in the years following the SB win, Gruden deserves all the credit in the world for the SB year to happen.
As good as the 02 defense, I believe the 99 defense was even better. What was the issue? No offense whatsoever! The defense was constantly on the field after the offense went 3 and out time and time again.
Enter Gruden, and then enter McCardell, Jurevicius, Pittman, Oben, the TE escapes me…I think he even flipped Kenyatta to RT. Now we have an offense that moves the ball and actually throws the darn thing in the endzone…fresher defense makes more plays, I remember him even demanding TD’s from the D. Gruden deserves that credit!
June 27th, 2025 at 2:09 pm
“Chucky last worked for the Bucs in 2008 (that’s the same year JoeBucsFan.com was born).
That’s 17 years. That’s not a good sign. Almost 20 years since Chucky got that extension. So let’s see why that is.” – Joe
Technically, didnt he get the extension sooner than when he last worked for the Bucs?
June 27th, 2025 at 2:42 pm
If the Bucs win 11 games this season then Todd Bowles’ win percentage will have eclipsed both Dungy and Gruden.
Bruce Arians is the greatest head coach in Bucs history.
June 27th, 2025 at 3:22 pm
Just playing devil’s advocate here for the Father Dungy crowd.
If Chucky won with Dungy’s players, how come Dungy didn’t win?
June 27th, 2025 at 3:23 pm
You are welcome!