Todd Bowles’ Foot
August 30th, 2025
Not afraid to unload on a player.
Joe only wishes fans got to see the side of Bucs coach Todd Bowles that Joe sometimes sees.
On TV and in press conferences, especially during the regular season, Bowles looks and comes across as stoic, almost detached from the game. In some ways, Joe thinks that’s good. Bowles keeps his head about him when all around him could be chaos.
But that stoic demeanor is often an image that infuriates fans. They want a coach to be like Chucky, emotionally into each and every play. Fans want a coach who appears to want the Bucs to win as much as they do.
“Appears” is the keyword there.
Behind the scenes, Joe sees Bowles as almost gregarious. That shocks a lot of fans. But Bowles almost always wears a smile and is quick with a hearty laugh.
But when Bowles knows the klieglights of the TV cameras and photographers are around, he usually quickly tightens up. It’s almost like he learned from someone that he shouldn’t show emotion. That emotion is unprofessional.
So while Joe often sees Bowles with a smile and a quick laugh, Joe hasn’t seen him tear into a player. In an appearance with Tom Krasniqi of WDAE-AM 620 this week, Bowles confessed he will tear into a player when needed, but never out in public.
“You show up to work and you put in the work,” Bowles began. “It’s our job and my job as a coach that if you are not doing your job, you expect to hear about it.
“Sometimes it is calm and sometimes it is not. … Sometimes you have to put your foot in their ass.”
Bowles rattled off three or four players’ names who he never has to get on their backsides. You can probably guess which ones.
So which players does Bowles have to use his foot on? He wouldn’t say.
Krasniqi guessed Jamel Dean but Bowles said it’s not his veteran cornerback.
The closest Joe has seen to Bowles tearing into anyone, Joe didn’t hear it or see Bowles hollering, but Joe did see what happened and the immediate aftermath. It was one of the final preseason practices earlier this month. There were no fans as it was a closed practice, open only to media. During practices, players are chattering all the time, often having something to do with the next play.
Joe doesn’t know what happened but Bowles had the entire team huddle up. Joe couldn’t see Bowles amid all the players but when the, um, discussion was over, all the players sure got very quiet.
That told Joe someone did some arse chewing. Afterwards, Bowles admitted he had to lay the law down on his team because they were not practicing sharply and looked like their heads were elsewhere.
August 30th, 2025 at 12:25 am
I never had an issue with Dungy not showing emotion, but something about the way Bowles does it, just comes off as mildly annoying. Not really sure why – maybe it’s because we knew Dungy was who he was, where as we hear about this other Bowles from time to time. To me it’s not a big deal, I don’t really care how the coaches act so long as they get results.
August 30th, 2025 at 1:14 am
Makes no difference to me if he’s stoic or gregarious. Everyone needs to be themselves otherwise they suffer the loss of authenticity. May surprise some but I actually prefer Bowles over Gruden. Which has nothing to do with their outward manner. But that’s neither here nor there. It’s a results based business. Simple as. Nice guys sometimes finish last too. Many of us work or have worked in that atmosphere. Produce or you’re out. Some businesses are certainly more demanding than others. By quite a stretch. His is no more demanding than mine was. Sometimes you are the one giving the boot and sometimes you are the one getting the boot. But that is the choice we all make. Not sure what the point of the story is. Except perhaps to give a peek of Bowles behind the scenes. Which is fair enough.
August 30th, 2025 at 2:00 am
Now if he could coach consistanly good. I was just dreaming.
August 30th, 2025 at 3:07 am
If the HC isn’t going to be an emotional leader (which Bowles has explicitly said is not his job – it’s the players’ job to develop a killer instinct), then I expect him to be a good Xs and Os guy and/or in-game strategist.
He’s proven to be a below average clock manager that tends to coach too conservatively, if not scared. And the last couple years his defense his bad awful – opponents are running around laughably wide-open.
August 30th, 2025 at 3:51 am
May be just me. I care way less about his personality than I do about his decision making. However some of the stuff coming from him is not what I would call truthful. That always sets off the old BS alarms on people with me. That has been learned from life experiences.
Personality? Anyone remember Ray Perkins? Three a days? In Florida? Really abrasive personality in my opinion.
Go Bucs!
August 30th, 2025 at 4:08 am
None of that surprises me.
August 30th, 2025 at 4:24 am
I hope he doesn’t try to get cute this season with these 2pt. Conversions. He doesn’t have the instincts for it. And, you can’t go strictly, just off of the ‘analytics’ in football, because it doesn’t differentiate A LOT of the various variables. He ‘thinks’ he’s showing aggressiveness there, but it is NOT. It’s Stupid. He will pick the weirdest, WRONG times. Every time. I just want him to put a HUGE emphasis on focusing on WINNING (dominating) the “Middle-8” of ballgames and be VERY ‘aggressive’ THERE. And, PLEASE for the Love of God… Just STOP-IT with running ‘up-the-gut’ on First-Downs every damn time, ESPECIALLY on the very first-play to begin a drive. There has to be Pace, Rythym, and Tempo… LET’S GOOOO… Then, QUICK-hitting run-plays, in-rythym. NOT slow and predictable, with the play-clock running down. NOT gonna work, unless 4th-Quarter, against a tired & worn down defense.
August 30th, 2025 at 4:48 am
Love the non-emotion from Bowles. I am in the group of rather having a coach that isn’t the loudest in the room. It’s working too. We have one of the best cultures in the locker room, no drama, no bad headlines, and a strong camaraderie. Tony Dungy was one of my favorite coaches too.
August 30th, 2025 at 4:49 am
My guess their heads were boiling from the heat. They were probably looking at the Glazer shed wondering what the hell they were doing outside.
August 30th, 2025 at 5:14 am
glad we did not get belicheck, ugh
August 30th, 2025 at 6:15 am
MJ – So glad we didn’t either.