The Dilemma Of Changing Coaches
December 25th, 2025
Analyzing Todd Bowles.
Very interesting general football chatter directly related to Bucs coach Todd Bowles was on an SI.com podcast this week.
Colleagues Conor Orr and Albert Breer were discussing Bowles and the heavily-listing Bucs. Of course, the discussion turned to Bowles and his job security.
(Thank you for the shoutout, Conor!)
Orr asked what Joe thought was a very fair question: Is Bowles squeezing the most out of his talent? The insinuation is perhaps the Bucs’ personnel is overrated and Bowles is maxing out the talent he has.
“Are we making it as good as it could be, or is this really underperforming?” Orr asked. “And that’s the big mystery within any NFL team. You never know.
“You could fire Todd Bowles and you could hire — insert whatever guy to be — and this team goes to 4-12, and you’re like the Jets and the guy that you ended up having before might have actually been better than he got credit for.
“So I don’t know, I don’t know the answer to that question.”
This is fair and it is also a question when viewing the team from high above.
However, watching the Bucs and seeing head-scratching, if not face-palming moves and decisions each and every week leads Bucs fans to a very different conclusion than Orr’s reasonable concern.
Joe doesn’t expect Breer or Orr or any national sports media type to stress over the Bucs like Joe does or any hardcore Bucs fan. They don’t put every Bucs transaction or game decision under the microscope and dissect it into a half-dozen pieces.
These guys cover the league, not a team or teams. There’s only so much time in a day.
In theory, the easy answer is if Team Glazer decides to move on from Bowles, then hire a good coach. That’s why the Bucs had The Lost Decade. Team Glazer kept hiring bad coaches.
Raheem Morris was a reach. Greg Schiano was over his head working with adults. Lousy Lovie Smith was a desperate if not terrible attempt to bring back past magic. Dirk Koetter was promoted because of one player who the Bucs had millions invested in.
(Joe still maintains Koetter may have worked out if he hired a decent defensive coordinator. Once again, hire a good coach and good things happen.)
When the Bucs finally hired a good coach, Bucco Bruce Arians — boom! Look what happened.
Coaching matters.
Joe has spoken to Bowles at length a couple of times over the years and heard him talk about how Mike Leach had it right about making sure all weapons get even touches and not just one or two receivers and one back. And Joe’s heard Bowles say he discovered certain Bucs defensive coverages watching seven-on-seven football. And then you see how he goes to college practices and games (yeah, mostly because of his sons), from which Bowles said he learns. So Bowles comes across, in person, as a really fresh, open-minded, savvy, new-age coach.
Then you watch Bucs games and wonder, “Was Joe even talking to the same guy?”
Again, Joe thinks Orr is asking a fair question. But on Christmas Day 2025, it sure feels like Bowles’ ceiling with the Bucs is division titles and maybe one playoff win.
Just because certain assistant coaches aren’t household names does not mean they aren’t good potential head coaches. Joe is convinced next year, or in two or three years, there will be coaches leading teams through successful playoff runs that 97 percent of Americans never heard of before December 2025.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:05 am
Is Licht in charge?
December 25th, 2025 at 10:08 am
To me you gotta think are you reloading or rebuilding ? You only toss Bowles if you know the next guy is reloading there is chatter Harbaugh may get fired in Baltimore that’s who would be a great target. Not sure how you blow it up either with good players still on the roster ? And no real great rising coach in this coaching cycle. My guess if there isn’t a real coach waiting to be hired bowles probably gets another chance. I’m not saying it’s right I’m not saying it’s wrong just my take
December 25th, 2025 at 10:13 am
He’s not getting the most out of his players. The reason I know that is because he himself had admitted it with his rant.
100% agree there are coaches available next year that can get the job done. Just have to identify and acquire them.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:14 am
Barely .500 year after year complete with embarrassing mid-late season meltdowns and a defense that cannot stop a fart is acceptable in Tampa Bay.
#BUCSLIFE
December 25th, 2025 at 10:16 am
yea thats life in general for you…..you change lanes on hwy 19 cause you follow behind some dolt doing 38, as soon as you change lanes the dolt speeds away. cant be afraid to change lanes and go back to the other lane again if the dolt is moving faster.
todd is not moving faster. time to change lanes. cant be afraid to make a change.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:23 am
Winning was more about TB12, his focus and him accepting nothing less than maximum effort, than about anything BA did. I know everyone else has seen the videos of the sideline of Leftwich asking Tom what he wants and Tom telling him. Also rejecting plays from the field.
Tom got Gronk here, probably Fournette and AB too.. so Licht wasn’t doing anything except taking orders.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:24 am
He’s a lousy defensive coordinator and that’s currently the huge problem. But it also seemed like his idea to run 30+ times against Carolina to guarantee losing.
And this team has enough talent on offense to be like the Greatest Show on Turf…. 4 excellent receivers, 1 outstanding running back, an all-pro left tackle, a pro-bowl QB. Maybe even an MVP QB if he’s healthy and they let him push the ball.
So yeah, the coach is a BIG problem.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:25 am
Bowles is mediocre coach and nothing more. If the Bucs fail to win the division and the Glazers fail to fire him, then they’re signaling their comfort with mediocrity. That won’t sell many tickets.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:31 am
You know the old expression – if you keep on doing what you are doing, you keep on getting what you are getting
December 25th, 2025 at 10:31 am
I think we have to let this play out before we make final judgement. I firmly beleive we will beat Miami and Carolina then lose to 49ers Rams or Seattle in round one. Do you fire a coach who makes playoffs every year?
Has he gotten most out of the talent? Not this year but I would say every other year he has been coach answer is yes. We have had a lot of injuries and now online cant protect Baker against even the worst line in NFL.
If not was me I would make him fire special teams coach, hire a d coordinator who believes in man coverage , and tell him see you next year.
Also worth mentioning the GM had a chance to help this team at the trade deadline and didnt clearly a pass rusher was so badly needed hard to fathom how we didnt add a proven player.
Again let’s let it play out maybe it all comes together when it matters most !
December 25th, 2025 at 10:32 am
Liam Cohen was let get away Look what he has done. Bowles inherited a Super Winning team and look where it is now. every team has players hurt. Look at the 49ers and look where they ae now. Bowles has been in really weak division for years and they are fighting for their lives. Bowles is old news, He doesn’t have it any more. the jets found that out. He was great under Bruce Arians. He flops on his own.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:34 am
Baloney look at Panters and Jags and Broncos. Bowles is not ‘underperforming’ he is performing at his natural pace. .500. Let us not start rationalizing the Glazers dumping him on us again next year and that is what this is starting to look like. The long slow cope.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:39 am
Thanks for the new content Joe’s. I love it but….dang! Go enjoy some family time and your favorite libations. You dude’s need some time off.
P.S. Don’t ever stop delivering awesome Bucs content though. Merry Christmas guys.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:44 am
My biggest problem with him is that he feels it’s okay to lie to the public and press.
He can justify it in his mind that he’s protecting players, but he’s still dishonest. Just say nothing in that case.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:44 am
Hiring Raheem and Dominik was the worst decision this franchise made. It started the coaching carousel we had before Arians and the 13 consecutive playoff less seasons. Set us back way too many years.
In terms of success, Bowles is the 5th best coach in Bucs history. Gruden, Dungy, Arians, and McKay are ahead of him (not in any particular order).
December 25th, 2025 at 10:46 am
Larry we were trending down after the superbowl year. We were in cap hell. Most teams need a rebuild but we’ve been competitive. Starting this offseason will begin a new era because we’ll have flexibility in free agency and hopefully hit in the draft. I’m not sold on firing Bowles. I am sold on a new OC if Grizzard doesn’t show us something the final two weeks.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:50 am
Let’s not forget one important fact. The coach that led the team to a 6-2 record and was on the top of the division at the bye week is the same coach that is now blamed for the collapse after the bye week. I don’t think he morphed from Jekyll to Hyde. Looks more like the team just went off on bye week and said “Bye” and never came back.
Coaches fault, or just quitters?
December 25th, 2025 at 10:52 am
Always like Koetter. Thought he was a good coach. Mike smith did kill him. Too bad Koetter didn’t have any screen time on raise the flags
December 25th, 2025 at 10:54 am
When one can only spot a few life preservers floating about the surface, the ship isn’t listing, it has sunk. And this ship didn’t sink due to enemy torpedoes, it sunk due to an internal explosion caused by the Captain himself.
Coaching is everything in the NFL. And yes, with a few exceptions, you’re not going anywhere without a great quarterback.
With that, take a minute and survey the list of all Super Bowl winning head coaches. If you can even find one or two on the same level as Todd Bowles, please let me know.
Note: Barry Switzer doesn’t count. Any coach could’ve won with the talent left behind after the abrupt departure of Jimmy Johnson.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:55 am
The only good thing that has happened to this team during the last 20 years
Was Tom Brady
This is a mediocre team, with a mediocre history
Mediocre coaches, Mediocre players, Mediocre GM
And a Mediocre fan base, that’s knows nothing about the game
December 25th, 2025 at 10:55 am
Well, it has to be done or we’ll have this same crap 💩 year after year.
December 25th, 2025 at 10:57 am
If Bowels was solely the DC and not HC, he would have been fired at the end of last year. Why is he getting a pass?
The D is atrocious, period! One of the worst in decades.
With that being said, if he’s retained for next year (BIG IF), then the Bucs need to hire a DC. This weekly breakdown needs to stop!
I know I’m not the only one who is frigging tired of watching this pathetic D each and every week.
Need a better OC too. The vanilla HS play calling is nauseating. Opposing teams know our same ole, same ole, routine. He!!, even the fans know.
To say this season is FRUSTRATING is an understatement!!
December 25th, 2025 at 10:57 am
It’s maddening to think of another ground hog day season if we bring him back next year. What in his history as a coach makes you think things are going to be better. He has a job right now because of the two offensive coordinators he had the two years before this one. With a sub par offensive coordinator we see how his teams play with him as coach. Bite the bullet and fire him, and bring in some fresh thinking younger coaches to get these guys playing with an offense and defense adjusted to their strengths. Not making them fit into a system not suited to them. I can only hope the Glazers are seeing how the fan base is over this coaching staff.
December 25th, 2025 at 11:04 am
Being scared of the future is NEVER a reason to stay stuck in a place that is not working…
Going into another season with Todd and his band of idiots is akin to the definition of insanity
December 25th, 2025 at 11:05 am
WOW Bucs coming up with ANY EXCUSE TO KEEP THIS JOKE
WE had a HC sitting in the building last year JUST LOOK AT JAGS
But of course There are No Coaches anywhere to be found
AND we have won the division Yea
YES I AGREE KEEP HIM
TIX WILL BE CHEAP NEXT YEAR
December 25th, 2025 at 11:18 am
What if we have the right coach but don’t have the right OC?? Canales? good offense, now Carolina is good. Cohen? good offense, now JACKSONVILLE is good. I can’t see the glazers giving Bowles a raise then firing him the next year. I see a demand for a new OC
December 25th, 2025 at 11:28 am
Bowles will retire at the end of the year. I wish this team would go on a run first, but I think they already have their offseason bags packed.
December 25th, 2025 at 11:34 am
Scared money don’t make none. No risk it no biscuit.
This obviously isn’t working so the answer isn’t to continue just because some popular, big name HC isn’t waiting in the wings. What ever happened to finding new talented coaches?
Oh wait, the Bucs had 2 and let them go. Lol…its a Bucs life.
Maybe thats how Bowles can help. He can assist the Glazers in finding a new offensive HC. He’s 2 out of 3 for finding good offensive HCs.
December 25th, 2025 at 11:35 am
Joe your point is spot on: Guy’s no one have heard of yet are going to be leading teams in the next few years. It’s called youth, the young take over for the old. Teams need youth and that transfers to coaching as well, I believe the energy that comes from that translates to the players. The young coach’s preach accountability as well, just may be heard differently from the younger generation of players. I don’t really think we know about Grizz yet, to be fair. Thad Lewis another up and coming young coach, got the OC interview and stayed as QB coach. That tells me something about him right there. Let’s not retread an older coach again, I would rather give the reins, if they are being turned over, to a sharp young guy.
December 25th, 2025 at 11:45 am
Arians went 7-9
San Fran said no to Brady
The rest is history. Don’t act like we were Brady’s first choice – we were not.
We got LUCKY. Licht and Arians got lucky. Brady was calling his own plays at one point. Brady was signing friends to play for the Bucs.
The BRady years are defined by Brady not Arians or Licht.
December 25th, 2025 at 12:11 pm
At the very least he needs to hire a good defensive coordinator and get out of the way. The problem every year is the defense. Two years in a row the bucs have lost offensive coordinators because the offense has been thriving. Go back to the playoffs in season after the Super Bowl, they have a great chance to repeat and the defense lets the Rams come back and win the game in the final seconds…. terrible.
December 25th, 2025 at 12:17 pm
You can,t be afraid to make bold choices. Keeping Bowles is like playing not to win. The Jags swung for the fences. Look at them now.
December 25th, 2025 at 12:22 pm
Hire Mike LaFleur the O C for the Rams and get him a solid D Coordinator. The schemes and our players will maximize the offense production. Need depth at Guard otherwise the focus is then the Defense
December 25th, 2025 at 12:39 pm
If they bring him back and it seems as though that is what’s more than likely going to happen. Make him just be the head coach. Someone else needs to be the DC and call the plays. He’s not getting the best out of the guys so maybe a year of someone else calling the defense is all thats needed. If he refuses or we’re in this same boat next year after someone else has called the defense then get rid of the entire staff and start over.
Also get rid of the way they’re drafting players. This staff wouldn’t have drafted Sapp who we all know had issues in college but was a reason that they we were feared on defense. Hell they wouldn’t even have had him on their board.
December 25th, 2025 at 12:43 pm
Happens all the time with positive outcomes—Vrabel in NE and Sean Payton in Denver….Glazers need paying customers and they just aren’t showing up to home games. Need a proven coach who can win. Mike McCarthy .600 record would be a good choice.
December 25th, 2025 at 12:48 pm
“You could fire Todd Bowles and you could hire — insert whatever guy to be — and this team goes to 4-12, and you’re like the Jets and the guy that you ended up having before might have actually been better than he got credit for.
“So I don’t know, I don’t know the answer to that question.”
First off, no one is like the Jets.
Second, isn’t that the question EVERY time a team changes coaches???
This is a ridiculous justification to keep Bowles.
And claims made by others saying there are not candidates out there are false as well.
December 25th, 2025 at 12:49 pm
ElioT Says:
“Barely .500 year after year”
Not true.
December 25th, 2025 at 12:58 pm
When the Bucs hired Bucco Bruce Arians — boom! A 7-9 record.
When the greatest player in the history of sports walks in with his 2 HoF buddies because a bunch of other teams said no first — boom! A Super Bowl.
Licht and Arians get canned after back2back 5 win seasons with Teddy B in 2021.
December 25th, 2025 at 1:46 pm
I’d would like to see some new blood if we go new coach.
No to McCarthy: how many Superbowls did he win with Roger’s? And for those that say Rodgers had no help I again point to McCarthy not getting him players.
No to Tomlin if he’s let go: Pittsburgh has done nothing since Big Ben left. If we’re happy with a “winning season” and nothing else might as well keep our current coach
No to Gruden: Stop living on his past with us Thank You for Superbowl but after that he sucked and was terrible when he went back to the Raiders.
No to Harbaugh if he’s fired: We need an offensive mind with a good DC not another Defensive guy as the HC.
Not that what I want will influence the way the team goes but thanks Joes for giving us fans a place to solve all the teams problems. Lol
Merry Christmas to everyone that celebrates it.
December 25th, 2025 at 2:12 pm
Def holes on this roster, like any. But you can say this team is a 1-6 team following a bye!
Even the 1st 3 games after the bye fans and media alike assumed they would lose because they were not as good. If we just chalk up losses to better teams then what are we doing. We have had 3+ game loosing streaks every year and at least losing 5 of 6 or 6 of 7 every year. That is a large sample size and that is in a terrible divison. I just dont see how these things can be overlooked. Not to mention the prime time games, kirk cousin games or mccvay games…..