Adam Schefter explains in this BSPN video how the Bucs and Greg Schiano came together. You will want to watch this video. Significant backroom details here.

Pleading on the sports radio airwaves today for the Bucs to not set up a Glazer-Dominik puppet regime with Greg Schiano as head coach, former Bucs QB Shaun King said he’s on board with the imminent hire of Schiano as the next Bucs head coach.

King told his King David Show listeners on WQYK-AM 1010 that Schiano is a viable candidate and one that he’s comfortable with, saying he Schiano deserves a mountain of credit for what he accomplished at Rutgers, in contrast with Mike Sherman who had loads of resources at Texas A&M but flopped during his tenure there. And King likes that Schiano has NFL coaching experience, unlike Chip Kelly.

King said Schiano also has proven he’s an evaluator of talent because he was able to recruit NFL-caliber players to a second-tier program like Rutgers over the years.

“I hope they didn’t go college so they could have a puppet,” King said. “I hope has some control, via his contract, that he can control” picking his coaches.

The failures of selecting Jeff Jagodzinski and Jim Bates as coordinators for Raheem Morris, King said, should have taught Team Glazer and rockstar GM Mark Dominik a valuable lesson; that’s not the way to go and they’re not qualified to make those decisions.

“Schiano’s success and his failure revolve around two decisions: who they hire as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach,” King said. “He knows what it takes to win defensively.”

Never one to hesitate to throw verbal daggers at Barrett Ruud Buccaneers management, former Bucs guard Ian Beckles is not about to blast the hire of Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano to replace Raheem Morris as Tampa Bay’s head man.

At least not yet.

Beckles, speaking as co-host of the Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 this morning, said it’s not fair to judge the Schiano hire before hearing the man speak as Buccaneers head coach or before his staff is assembled.

“I don’t recall everyone giving a thumbs-up when Tony Dungy was named head coach here,” Beckles said. “I’m going to wait to see who the coordinators are and see what his philosophy is before” I give an opinion.

Joe’s of the same mind. Joe gets that news of the likely Schiano hire doesn’t have fans high-fiving around water coolers across the Tampa Bay area today, but Joe’s not about to be negative about a fresh head coach before he does anything or puts his team in place.

One thing Joe can be certain about is that while Schiano and Raheem are New Jersey natives and were defensive backs coaches, that’s probably where there similarities end.

It seems the man that resurrected the Rutgers University football program, in an area of the country where college football is typically an afterthought, will be the next Bucs head coach, so reports NFL insider Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Barring a Chip Kelly–style screw job, it’s going to happen in a matter of hours. Schiano’s 11-year run at Rutgers will end and he’ll be named the Bucs’ ninth head coach.

Schefter says Team Glazer and Mark Dominik worked furiously through the night on a contract.

The two sides met Wednesday for the second time and then spent some of the night into the morning trying to work out a contract that is expected to be finalized, according to a source.

Mike Sherman, the other candidate to get a second interview with the Bucs, is in Miami this morning visiting with the Dolphins about their offensive coordinator job, according to a source.

Schiano is an under-the-radar coach, but Tampa Bay has been eyeing him throughout this process. Buccaneers college scout Bill Rees made contact with Schiano at the outset of Tampa Bay’s coaching search, and the two men stayed in contact.

The Glazer family also conducted a massive amount of research, reaching out to various NFL people. One of the people they called was Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who spoke highly of Schiano.

Interestingly, Schiano’s background is on defense, this on the heels of the offer to offensive guru Chip Kelly.

Clearly Team Glazer wants a fresh face with head coaching experience that can take the franchise all the way through what hopefully will truly be the next — and final — lasting-contender phase.

Now Joe knows for reasons unknown, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King of Sports Illustrated annoys many Bucs fans, despite the fact he has a list of NFL contacts perhaps unmatched.

So in his must-read Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.com earlier this month, King waxed poetic about Rutgers coach Greg Schiano as a potential NFL coach and went on to write how Schiano has caught the eye on the notorious Bill Belicheat.

I think if there’s one college coach who could emerge as a candidate somewhere, this year or in the next couple, judging by the love he’s getting from pro people, it’s Greg Schiano of Rutgers. I’ve said this for the last couple of years, but if you ask Bill Belichick which young college coach he thinks could be a very good pro coach, it’s the 45-year-old Schiano.

Joe’s down (in a good way) with this hire, if it actually comes to be with the Bucs. Anyone that can make Rutgers a consistent winner, with bloodlines from Joe Paterno and Butch Davis in addition to NFL experience, that’s a winner in Joe’s eyes.

When the Bucs walked off the field in 2010, after a 10-6 record, what was wrong with their locker room?

Joe struggles to find an answer to that question. But Tampa Bay Times beat writer Rick Stroud says the Bucs locker room was subpar entering the 2011 season and Mark Dominik didn’t do enough to fix it.

Speaking yesterday on NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk Live, starring Mike Florio, Stroud explained that the Bucs’ rockstar GM told him he didn’t feel comfortable bringing in free agents when the lockout ended because there wasn’t enough to time to be sure the free agents were a good fit with the roster. Stroud scoffed at Dominik’s decision-making saying, “it wasn’t a good locker room to begin with.”

Again, Joe’s not able to find what exactly was wrong with the Bucs’ locker room, per Stroud’s logic, when the asinine lockout ended in late July. The Bucs were “yungry.” The Bucs were one of the more unified teams during the lockout. The Bucs were confident. The Bucs had their share of veterans in the locker room, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Bucs had second-year players with lots experience. The Bucs marched out to a 4-2 record with wins against Atlanta and New Orleans.

Obviously, Dominik can be skewered in hindsight for not providing the Bucs enough depth. But the 2011 locker room was bad before the season started? Joe’s just not buying that.

OK, Joe would never run with a wild rumor unless he somewhat trusts the man (woman?) who comes up with the information.

Darek Sharp of WDAE-AM 620 is reporting that the Bucs’ mystery candidate is Rutgers coach Greg Schiano.

Now Joe knows that per WDAE guidelines put in place after the Team Glazer/Bernie Madoff nonsense, anyone at the station who reports a breaking story must have two independent sources. Also, Sharp has a background in newspapers, so Joe trusts his standard of ethics.

Now Schiano is an interesting candidate. He brought Rutgers from the ashes into a consistent Big East title contender. Many thought he was the leading candidate to replace Joe Paterno whenever he retired/died, but Penn State decided to go outside the box and hire an NFL assistant with a pathetic college record.

Schiano worked for both Paterno as a defensive backs coach and Butch Davis at Miami as a defensive backs coach. Schiano also was a secondary coach with the Bears in the late 1990’s.

Time will tell if Schiano is the next Bucs coach but it is an interesting choice.

Joe would take Boise State's Chris Petersen as the next Bucs coach over Mike Sherman in a heartbeat. Erin Andrews in some capacity would be a fine addition as well.

It seems the Bucs are starting to whittle down their list of candidates to fill the void left by jettisoned coach Raheem Morris more than three weeks ago.

Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times‘s Twitter feed, the Bucs are turning the corner and heading down the home stretch in their quest for a new coach.

@NFLSTROUD: By Thursday morning, Bucs will begin eliminating candidates. … Mike Sherman indeed had 2nd interview with Bucs today. At least one other known candidate is a finalist, most likely Carolina OC Chudzinski … The list of a few Bucs finalists will be obvious by Thurs morning, but there may be at least one unknown candidate under consideration.

Ah, yes, the old fashioned mystery candidate. The longer this coaching search plays out, the more Joe is convinced (more like hoping) that the Mike Sherman talk is simply a smokescreen while the Bucs land a college coach (Les Miles, Chris Petersen?) or a CFL coach (Marc Trestman?).

UPDATE: Per Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray was told by Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik this morning, in essence, “Thank you, no.”

With news today of the Colts and Raiders filling their head coaching vacancies — both with guys apparently off the Bucs’ radar – the Bucs now sit as the lone NFL team without a head coach.

Joe couldn’t imagine Team Glazer sitting in a better bargaining position than where they are right now. Any potential head coaching candidate that really wants an NFL coaching gig (not like flip-flopping Chip Kelly) has lost all his leverage. There’s only one gig left, and that’s in Tampa.

Team Glazer and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik have even more time now to scrutinize their remaining candidates and negotiate a Bucs-friendly deal. The later start to free agency this season takes even more pressure off the Bucs.

Though Kelly surely would have broken the bank with the Bucs job, Joe expects the actual head coach to have no such luck.

You’d be nuts to buy a car before you check out Brandon Auto Mall in person or online. Joe bought his car at an Ed Morse dealership, and you’d be very wise to do the same. It feels damn good to get excellent value and service.

Many Bucs fans were dejected Monday morning when they awoke to the news that Oregon football coach Chip Kelly had turned away the overtures of Team Glazer and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik, deciding at the very last moment to stay at Oregon.

This, despite the fact Kelly had already told his athletic director he was leaving and walking away from a reported $6 million a year from Team Glazer on the table.

Count Alan Dell among the group breathing a sigh of relief. Dell, a columnist for the Bradenton Herald, strongly scolded Team Glazer for even thinking of going after Kelly, who Dell believes is a scoundrel.

Dell scoffed, calling the notion of Kelly instilling discipline to the Bucs “lunacy.”

Kelly is a target of an ongoing NCAA investigation that might make Ohio State’s “Tresselgate” seem like stealing a few cookies.

Media reports, most notably from Yahoo Sports, link Kelly to a possible payoff scheme to get top recruits to Oregon.

Yahoo said he authorized a $25,000 payment to a scouting service in what might be a violation of NCAA recruiting rules. Then to cover his tracks, Kelly reportedly requested that service send a scouting report that contained outdated material and included a dead player.

Dell goes on to type that he is of the belief that Kelly used Team Glazer not so much to squeeze Oregon (and, in turn, NIKE honcho and uber Oregon booster Phil Knight) for more cash, but to garner job security, to receive assurances from the school that no matter how hard the school gets hammered by the NCAA, that it will not fire Kelly.

Even if one doesn’t subscribe to Dell’s premises, the column is an interesting read from many angles.

Now a defensive line coach for the Tennessee Titans, former Bucs D-line coach Keith Millard talked all things Bucs with Joe last week.

Perhaps the most magnetic and electric member of Raheem Morris’ staff was defensive line coach Keith Millard, who joined the Bucs in 2011. Aside from the two-time All-Pro credentials, Millard is a commanding presence at 6-6 with a raspy, booming, old-school coaching voice. At training camp, Joe remembers talking to Aqib Talib and other defensive players who said they felt Millard’s presence pumping up the entire defense.

Of course, Millard was fired along with the entire Bucs coaching staff nearly three weeks ago. He has now joined the Tennessee Titans as a defensive line coach.

Last week, Joe had an in-depth football discussion with Millard and found a man who has found a mant that was dejected about losing the opportunity to work with the Bucs’ young defensive linemen, a group Millard thinks is an extraordinary collection of talented, high-character players that can become a standout unit in the NFL.

Joe talked to Millard about the Bucs’ defensive line and more — some on the record, some off — and below is Part II of the interview. Part I ran last week.

JoeBucsFan.com: Albert Haynesworth seemed to be doing his share of freelancing on the D-line and was in and out of his gaps. Was that a problem when you’re trying to coach young guys?

Keith Millard: When Albert got here, I remember when Albert played at Tennessee, he was a very disruptive force. But they didn’t really play a lot of technique. [Former Titans defensive line coach Jim] Washburn was about getting off, getting up field, but not about reacting to the run and technique to react to the run. Albert was a little behind in that facet when he got to Tampa, even in the preparation to know what’s coming and how to help yourself, He just wasn’t schooled on anticipating and taking things away before they even happen. That was all new to him. Even his stance, that made it different for him to the play the blocks [Tampa Bay] would get week in and week out … He was getting two-hole scooped. They were blocking two guys with one guy. … He was pretty beat up when we got him and and not practicing much and only playing on Sundays. That really didn’t create a situation where he was going to improve much with us coming in late with little practice time.

Joe: The Bucs’ run defense had a miserable year. Where do you think the big failures were there?

Millard: It was a combination. Tackling was a major problem across the team. I already talked about what losing Gerald [McCoy] meant to the whole defense because he was making guys better around him. Other injuries. Albert [Haynesworth] getting two-hole scooped. You can’t really point it to one thing. We certainly take our responsibilty on the D-line, but it wasn’t all on us.

Joe: How would you compare and contrast DaQuan Bowers and Adrian Clayborn? Who was the better player when the season ended?

Millard: They’re both young players. Clayborn played more. Bowers had the slow start because of knee. He was healthy; It was just precautionary coming off surgery. As the season rolled on he played his way into shape mentally and physically and he made plays. For both guys, you had no offseason, OTAs, or a full training camp. You’re trying play catch-up the whole time with their technique. Clayborn had a pretty good year for a rookie. Clayborn could have been better, for sure, with a better supporting cast. The one thing that really impressed me was he put the time in. He put in the film work. He didn’t miss practice. You couldn’t get him to take a snap off. He can improve on everything, but he had a great start. And it’s a good young group. If they can get some depth over there across the line, then you’ll have something special.

Joe: Do you think the Bucs’ D-line has the personnel to play a 3-4 defense?

Millard: That’s a lot of speculation and I really don’t want to get into that. Not every 3-4 is the same. A guy like Michael Bennett could be a pretty good outside linebacker. I’m not really sure about Clayborn. You gotta have the speed to be a rush backer. You got to be able to come out of a 2-point stance. You gotta understand coverages. But a lot of guys have done it and have done it with success. Whether that’s a good fit for Bowers and Clayborn, I can’t say.

Joe: Given the makeup of the current Bucs roster, do you see a real locker room and/or on field leader coming from the D-line?

Millard: To me, it has to come from there. Because of their age, we have legitimate bonafide future leaders in that room. Brian Price, Mike Bennett, Gerald McCoy. They’ve vocal. Gerald hasn’t been healthy, so it’s hard, almost impossible to lead when you’re not on the field. It’s really hard to voice your opinion or get your guys going if you’re not out there. But those guys have the toughness and character to lead. You want to follow your warriors who put out for you every Sunday. I’m telling you, Mike Bennett definitely is one of those guys.  … Roy Miller more leads by example. Clayborn’s probably in the category, too. I’m telling you though, it’s a great core group of dedicated guys that really can become the best group in the league. I really believe that and I miss those guys. These guys were coming in on Tuesdays looking to work, watch film, anything. They’re hard workers.

Joe: What went wrong in the second half the season? Respected former players, from Deion Sanders to John Lynch said a lot of Bucs quit on Raheem Morrs. Was that fair criticism?

Millard: I’m not going to get into that. You look at the film and judge for yourself. It’ll answer your question. Anybody can look at the film and see that. We lost 10 games in a row. I really don’t want to get into that. I know my guys didn’t quit. They played hard week in and week out as hard as they could. They were running to the ball.

Learn a lot more about Bucs head coaching “finalist” Mike Sherman in this video. Here, Sherman is a passionate speaker at the Texas A&M summer graduation ceremony. The former English teacher calls himself “analytical” and defines his “core values:” truth and love.

Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson says one of his old teammates with the Rams would make a good choice for Bucs head coach

Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company,America’s Best Quarterback. Plus, he’s a really cool dude.

By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst

Who would’ve thunk it better to be a Duck than a Buc? Chip Kelly did and now it is on to No. 2 in the search for Tampa Bay’s next head coach.

 Word out that former Packers Coach Mike Sherman was getting another look couldn’t be less inspiring. Brett Favre made those Packers interesting, not Sherman, and neither made them championship-caliber.

Where should the Bucs go for their next leader? Just because Raheem Morris’ loose management style didn’t pan out, doesn’t mean that the successor has to have previous NFL head coaching experience. At some point, every veteran head coach didn’t have any and with the current state of the Buccaneers franchise, it would be OK to grow with an experienced assistant coach that has shown the discipline to whip a group into shape and instill confidence like Jim Harbaugh did with the 49ers.

Those Niners, who easily could have been preparing for the Super Bowl right now, were not a significantly different roster than they were a year ago. They got discipline, executable plans and confidence.

Based on this model, the best guy to move this franchise forward is Jerry Gray.

Former players are not a guarantee of success or Mike Singletary would still be the coach in San Francisco. But I think Gray’s Pro Bowl experience, personality and mentality are a good mix for what this team needs. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, but does take his job responsibilities seriously.

I don’t know who he would bring in to run his offense and that is just as important as the head coach.

This town needs something exciting on the field to get excited, something to become the talk of this town once again. All of the names on the short or long list that have been bantered about don’t do anything for me and I doubt for anybody else.

Jerry Gray is far removed from his playing days, so he isn’t a big name anymore and won’t make people go crazy over his hiring, but he would be a good hire for just a time like this.

It appears with each passing day Bucs fans better brace themselves that former Packers and Texas A&M coach,and Warren Sapp antagonist Mike Sherman may very well end up as the ninth head coach in franchise history.

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times has read the tealeaves and connected the dots and has written that Sherman is “obviously a finalist” for the job left vacant after Raheem Morris was jettisoned to start the new year.

If they’re making progress and none of those other coaches they’ve interviewed have been contacted, maybe Sherman will be the Bucs’ choice after all. Until an agreement is reached on a contract, why not keep the others in play by telling them nothing? Also, at least one or more of those candidates may become members of Sherman’s staff and the Bucs want to keep them available.

It could also mean that Sherman is not the only finalist. Why else would the Bucs keep so many other coaches, some of whom are already under contract with teams, in limbo?

Stroud goes on to type — and it’s looking like a slim hope — that keeping Sherman as a finalist could be little more than trying to keep people off the scent, an elaborate ruse, a smoke screen, as the Bucs fish for someone no one else has identified.

That is the pattern of Team Glazer in coaching searches. They seem to crave the espionage-like angle of finding a new coach.

They nearly pulled it off with Chip Kelly. Perhaps they pull it off again?

Joe can find few if any Bucs fans who are racing through the streets in celebration that the Bucs are one step closer to hiring Mike Sherman to replace jettisoned Bucs coach Raheem Morris.

Given Sherman’s heated past with former Bucs great Warren Sapp, it seems ironic at best the Bucs would even consider Sherman for that reason alone. Just the fact Sherman got one interview provoked Sapp into a series of stabs at Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik on Twitter.

Count Shaun King to be confused by this move as well. King, who may have saved Sherman from a hospital visit when he came between Sapp and Sherman during their faceoff, all but said while co-hosting his “King David Show” with Toby David, heard on WQYK-AM 1010, if Team Glazer hires Sherman, they are ex-communicating Sapp from the Bucs franchise.

“It’s anti-Warren Sapp. They can’t have it both ways. It’s like if someone slapped your wife. We cannot hire Mike Sherman,” King said. “You cannot hire Mike Sherman, no if ands or buts about it. If you hire Mike Sherman you are anti-Warren Sapp.

“You have to choose if you are a Bucs fan. You are either pro-Sherman or pro-Sapp. If you are pro-Sherman, you are anti-Sapp. If the Glazers hire Mike Sherman, they are anti-Warren Sapp. If the Glazers hire Mike Sherman, Warren Sapp never gets in the Ring of Honor.

“If you are pro-Sherman, you are not a Bucs fan any more.”

About the only interesting thing Joe can see coming out of hiring Sherman, in a perverse way, is to see Sapp’s angry reaction to the move.

It seems Team Glazer went for the jugular to snatch their prized prey in the Bucs’ search for a new head coach.

A whopper of an offer was made for University of Oregon head coach Chip Kelly, so reports Michael Berk, sports director of KGW-TV, Portland’s NBC affiliate. Berk was a guest Monday on The Ron and Ian Show on WDAE-AM 620 and said his sources told him the Bucs’ offer was more annually than they paid Chucky.

“[Kelly’s] base salary is $2.8 million at Oregon. He reached a lot of incentives this past season, as you might imagine, for winning the conference championship, for going to the Rose Bowl, for winning the Rose Bowl,” Berk said. “I heard the Buccaneers offer was in the $6 million range [per season], so it was double. And it almost would have to be double because [Kelly] has a $3 million buyout.”

Berk went on to explain that Kelly had, in fact, definitely accepted the Bucs job and had informed his university, which already had offered Kelly’s head coaching job to Ducks offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich. So when Kelly had a change of heart, getting his job back wasn’t automatic.

So what about this $6 million a year for Kelly? Joe’s not sure how those that obsess about Team Glazer’s alleged frugality will swallow that fat figure.

When Team Glazer jettisoned Raheem Morris as Bucs coach, Joe wasn’t too broken up by it. With all the logical and solid candidates on the market, Joe was confident Team Glazer and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik could land a new coach that could lead them to the postseason.

So when Joe first heard the list of coaches interviewed for the job, Joe hoped it was all an elaborate ruse, that the coach the Bucs would select would not be known to the public.

That nearly happened when Oregon coach Chip Kelly flirted with Team Glazer, only to pull out at the last moment.

So last night when Joe learned from Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune that of all people Mike Sherman — Mike Sherman! — would be brought back for a second interview, Joe wanted to grab a rosary in the hope that a higher authority could persuade the Bucs from making a dire mistake.

Sherman, who declined to comment when reached on Monday, was 57-39 as head coach of the Packers, putting together five straight winning seasons from 2000-04 and leading Green Bay to three consecutive NFC North division titles from 2002-04. More recently, he was fired after going 25-25 in four seasons at Texas A&M.

Bucs officials did not respond to inquiries Monday evening about the Sherman.

If Sherman is hired, Joe would have to shake the thought that he would be a reincarnation of Ray Perkins. Just what does this guy bring to he table that Marty Schottenheimer doesn’t? Or Tom Clements? Or Rob Chudzinski for that matter?

Joe can’t imagine what’s going through Warren Sapp’s mind about now.

Many Bucs fans were aggravated this morning when they awoke to find the news that, alas, Oregon coach Chip Kelly was not coming to Tampa Bay to replace jettisoned Bucs coach Raheem Morris and instead, stay at Oregon.

But there seems nearly as many Bucs fans who believe the Bucs dodged a bullet, with Kelly’s lack of NFL experience much less coaching experience.

Add Alan Dell to this group. The Bradenton Herald columnist believes Bucs fans should be thanking their lucky stars that Kelly is staying put.

The Bucs were spared perhaps an embarrassment when Oregon University head football coach Chip Kelly turned down their offer to be their new head coach.

Anything is possible; but if you look at Kelly’s track record and college experience he would have had to make a major adjustment to coaching at the NFL level and history has proven that doesn’t usually work.

The list of college head football coaches who failed at the NFL level is staggering. To make it worse, Kelly runs a spread offense that features a lot small guys running all over the place.

While Joe would have enjoyed seeing what Kelly’s offensive mind would have done in the NFL, the depth of college coaches tanking in the NFL is enough to scare Joe away from Kelly.

Basketball Hall of Famer, Bucs season ticket holder and hardcore sportsaholic Dick Vitale has a keen interest in who Team Glazer and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik select to replace jettisoned Bucs coach Raheem Morris.

So for the second time since the Bucs’ hierarchy launched their search for a new Bucs coach, Vitale, the pride of Sarasota, has taken to Twitter to express his outraged.

This time, like many Bucs fans, Vitale is deflated over Oregon coach Chip Kelly turning down the Bucs offer to coach the Bucs.

@DickieV: I am crushed what happened to the Kelly deal with the Bucs? Don’t want a re-thread! HELP US

Joe will somewhat echo Vitale’s sentiments in that Team Glazer should forget about a retread coach so long as his name is not Schottenheimer, who has a documented track record for turning around teams.

Get Tom Clements down here (or Dallas), pronto, for a second interview. Get it done!

In a weekend that has been gluttonous on statements, from former president George H.W. Bush to (alleged) serial pedophile Jerry Sandusky, one has been released that Bucs fans can relate to.

That is the statement just issued by Oregon football coach Chip Kelly on his dalliance with Team Glazer and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik over possibly succeeding jettisoned coach Raheem Morris as the ninth head coach in Bucs history, via CollegeFootballTalk.com.

“I am flattered by the interest of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ organization. I enjoyed meeting with the Glazer family and General Manager Mark Dominik but after numerous discussions, I concluded that I have some unfinished business to complete at the University of Oregon.”

There are two ways to look at Kelly doing an about face at the Bucs. One is to breathe a sigh of relief. Rarely do college coaches succeed on the NFL level (and yes, Joe is well aware of what Jim Harbaugh, no stranger to the NFL himself, has done this year with the 49ers).

The second way of looking at this is a college coach rebuffed a chance to being able to put “NFL head coach” on his resume for a future college gig… if he ever left the NFL.

Todd McShay talks about Oregon coach Chip Kelly’s flirtation with the Bucs in this BSPN video.

Might the Bucs seek behemoth guard Brandon Brooks in the draft?

As loyal JoeBucsFan.com readers know, Buccaneers pregame and postgame radio host Justin “The Commish” Pawlowski also is one of Joe’s favorite draft gurus.

So, of course, The Commish was matching his observations of Saturday’s East-West Shrine Game with his early 2012 draft notes. Here’s a handful of players from The Commish to keep an eye on moving forward:

Jarius Wright – WR – Arkansas
Wright is one of the fastest players entering the 2012 draft. He does not have elite size (5-10, 176lbs), but he is electric with the ball in his hands. It wasn’t a great week of practice for Wright, but a player with this much speed might be a nice mid-round selection.

Tank Carder – LB – TCU
What’s amazing with Carder is how well regarded he was a year ago with TCU as the MVP in the Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin and how he was forgotten this year.  He has flown under the radar this season and is starting this process as a late round prospect. I like his overall football instincts. I think he is a player that needs to put up some good numbers at the combine. As a red-shirt senior, Carder has a lot of experience on a good defense and is a good leader.

Akiem Hicks – DT – Regina
Hicks was slated to play at LSU before recruiting violations forced him elsewhere. Hicks could be a big-time sleeper in this draft. He has excellent size (6-5, 323lbs) with the ability to play tackle in a 4-3 defense or end in the 3-4 defense. A solid combine could have Hicks rising up draft boards in a weak defensive line class.

Josh Norman – CB – Coastal Carolina
Norman was one of the standouts at Shrine practices last week. He has very good size (6-3, 203 lbs) and the insticts and skill to match it. Norman is a physical corner that should get better with experience. He looks to be a 3rd/4th round pick.

Brandon Brooks – OG – Miami (OH)
Brooks is a massive offensive lineman (6-5, 353lbs) that packs a lot of power in his punch. Strength and balance don’t really come into question with Brooks.  However, quickness off the ball is a slight concern. Expect Brooks to draw comparisons to Saints OG Carl Nicks who was a fifth-round selection in 2008 and an All-Pro in 2011.