Bucs Make Maybe Most Intriguing Hire In Years
February 3rd, 2026
New Bucs QB coach Chandler Whitmer.
The last time Joe felt this good about a Bucs hire of an assistant coach, then-Bucs coach Dirk Koetter hired Southern Miss coach Todd Monken as his wide receivers coach/offensive coordinator.
The first order Koetter gave to Monken was, “Fix Mike Evans.”
Monken today was introduced as the new Browns head coach.
Yes, Bucs coach Todd Bowles hiring Liam Coen was right up there.
Today, the Bucs finalized the hiring of Indiana co-offensive coordinator Chandler Whitmer. The former Illinois and UConn quarterback and highly successful NFL and college assistant is now Baker Mayfield’s new quarterback coach.
Whitmer worked with new Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson in Atlanta when the two helped guide the 2024 Dixie Chicks to the sixth-best offense in the NFL.
A former University of Connecticut quarterback, 34-year-old Whitmer has an unreal resume. It reads like he worked for a Who’s-Who of quarterbacks: C.J. Stroud (Ohio State), Trevor Lawrence (Clemson), Justin Herbert (Los Angeles), Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix (Atlanta) and Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) are the quarterbacks Whitmer has worked with since his second year in coaching back in 2019.
In his one year at Indiana, Whitmer worked directly with Mendoza and transformed the former ok Cal quarterback into a Heisman Trophy-winner and national champion, and quite likely the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft.
If some of the magic Whitmer picked up on the road as a college and NFL offensive assistant rubs off on Mayfield, this fall could be a helluva season for Mayfield and the Bucs.
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:28 pm
Good hire. Hope he stays away from Todd.
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:35 pm
.
We need a quality QB coach to work with the young QB that we draft
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:39 pm
Love this hire!
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:41 pm
I would ask, “Maybe our future Head Coach?”… but I wondered that about Canales and Liam Coen..
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:44 pm
F.T.B.
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:50 pm
If only the HC/DC wasn’t such trash!
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:52 pm
I would agree Hunter dude sounds like he could be the next one
February 3rd, 2026 at 8:54 pm
Still no defensive hire? At all??????
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:02 pm
Front office doing good stuff. Hope this continue through the draft and FA
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:19 pm
Makes zero difference. Zero.
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:21 pm
Maybe now other coaches won’t be afraid to sign on with this and our OC. We’ll see. Taking a while.
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:31 pm
Our defense sucks.
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:36 pm
Gotta say… The offensive coaching hires are starting to look good. I’ve got a little “Fire Bowles” fatigue and I’m opening up to the idea that the offense gets fixed and Todd gets crazy aggressive with his back against the wall.
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:37 pm
I like both hires Robinson and Whitmer also both are in their 30’s. BMy wish scenario is, if the Bucs are successful in 026, Robinson and Whitmer will stick around through the 027 season , Bowles would then retire or move into the office, Robinson moves to HC and Whitmer to OC. Of course first they would have to put a good offense on the field . Next both would have to choose to stay in Tampa another year and last Bowles would have to agree to retire or move to the office. I just don’t think the Bucs will fire Bowles unless he have a bad 026 season and if that happens the Glazer then have to take a deep look at the offense before giving Robinson the keys to One Bucs Place. Just wishful thinking here.
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:47 pm
I like it if Zac and Baker like it. Shlt, I’d take anybody from IU’s staff – lol.
Baker needs coaches who have enough ego strength to really coach him imo. I’m not really impressed with the guys he’s coached as a pro before but that’s not necessarily on him.
@Buccaneer Bonzai
You would think we would hear some kinda something about D assistant hires by now but better to get the right guys vs rushing so we’ll be happy I guess.
Who did we retain (aside from Todd) on the D side ?
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:04 pm
Now get a dc and fix that scheme or all of this wont matter much.
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:20 pm
One of the worst secondaries in the league needing defensive backs coaches plural and crickets. As usual this team will go as far as the offense takes it
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:45 pm
I really like the hire…The guy is a riser!! Give Whitmer 3-4yrs he will be an OC & on HC interview short lists. (College & NFL)
Knowing that Baker is 1yr out from FA & carrying either a 2026 cap hit = $40M (OverTheCap) or $51.975M (Spotrac)…Who knows which is correct, but either way it’s serious coinage…And 100% knowing that Bake will command north of either of those #’s once he hits FA after 2026.
I wonder if Licht has the fortitude / foresight to draft an heir apparent successor QB like ALA’s Ty Simpson should he fall to #15???
Any Bucs fan with a little sense can see a major roster reboot is just around the corner & there’s no telling if the significant list of soon-to-be very expensive Bucs UFA’s after 2026/2027 are in the Bucs long-term future.
I’m kind of the mindset that it might well in the Bucs interest to give the new QB coach a year to mold the NEXT…And start planning for the future now, should the opportunity arise on Day1.
Regardless, the Jets are likely thinking that they can grab Simpson at #16, if LV refuses to accept a king’s offer for the #1 pick…If that’s the case – Licht could extract at minimum the Jets 4th rd/#103 just to swap down to 16 & allow NYJ take the kid at 15.
Just a random thought.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:09 pm
He doesn’t suck.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Maybe a desperate Bowles-is better than a comfortable Bowles. Is there any hope? It’s a Bucs life
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:14 pm
If they succeed on offense make Zac HC and Whitmer OC to keep them from leaving
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:20 pm
why does the defensive coaching staff still look like an unorganized mess? You can easily tell that bowles has nothing to do with the offensive coaching hires
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:30 pm
BigPoppaBuc Says:
February 3rd, 2026 at 9:36 pm
Gotta say… The offensive coaching hires are starting to look good. I’ve got a little “Fire Bowles” fatigue and I’m opening up to the idea that the offense gets fixed and Todd gets crazy aggressive with his back against the wall.
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Agreed Big Poppa. I have no doubts about our offense with the offensive coaching upgrades — if we have our O-Line healthy and not high risk for injury during the first third of the season. And, Todd certainly has his back against the wall.
Just hoping — as I was last preseason — that our draft focus would be on defense. That house needs to be rebuilt!
Of course you always want to draft the best player available when your number is called. Last year we had the same priority needs, but drafted Emeka in round 1. But who could be happier in hind-sight.
We simply can’t prioritize offensive players this year.
The mantra in this year’s draft needs to be “draft the best defensive player available”.
Fill in other gaps in FA.
February 4th, 2026 at 12:04 am
Go get Justin Fields as backup 🤙🏾
February 4th, 2026 at 1:35 am
“Worked with Herbert, Lawrence, Fields, Cousins and now Mendoza”
Not a bad list of NFL QBs me thinks. Good hire!
Go Bucs!
February 4th, 2026 at 2:08 am
yep, baker will teach him a thing or two
February 4th, 2026 at 4:42 am
Joe, you’re right. That’s quite a resume of quarterbacks he’s worked with.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall for a conversation between him, Zac, Todd and Jason about how he and the rest of the coaching staff at IU got that team to go from total unknowns to national champions in one year.
You’ve got to believe there’d be some good takeaways for us to use as we head into the ’26 season.
I’m also curious as to what he saw in our team that made him say “yes” to the offer. Baker obviously had something to do with that, but what were the other things?
This looks like a real good hire.