It seems there may have been a war of personalities brewing over the past couple of years that this morning spilled over the webpages of SI.com.

Recently, former Bucs coach Raheem Morris, jettisoned Jan. 2, appeared on the “Dan Sileo Show,” heard on WDAE-AM 620, to in part explain why he was terminated by Team Glazer as the Bucs coach.

While he admitted the team’s failure eventually would be placed squarely on his desk because he was the head coach, Morris seemed to squirm and dodge when trying to point the finger at why the Bucs collapsed.

“I wouldn’t change anything about it. You put yourself in a position of power and you put yourself out there and you want to go out there and want to be great and we had the opportunity and almost pulled it off … The year that we went 10-6, people say you’re too young, but we just went out and won. This year [2011], we didn’t have some of that same fortune. Some of those games [in 2010] we won by three, some of those games Josh pulled off fourth-quarter comebacks, they didn’t play in our favor this year. For whatever reason, it just didn’t work out that way.”

This explanation, or lack thereof, seemed to enrage popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King of Sports Illustrated, who blasted Morris in his weekly must-read column, “Monday Morning Quarterback,” ripping apart the former Bucs coach and all but suggesting NFL owners should never consider him for another head coaching gig.

Sometimes, I understand when former coaches are interviewed about their former place of business and they don’t want to say much of anything controversial, or of substance. That sounded like Morris on WDAE when I saw the transcript of this interview. But to suggest that “for whatever reason” these narrow wins just didn’t quite happen, and only the football fates know why, is patently absurd.

The Bucs collapsed because Morris’ defense collapsed horribly, and because the team lacked discipline. Period.

King went on to document just how wretched the Bucs defense was last season, historically so, specifically since the now notorious trip to London. Just to jog one’s memory, Morris was also the Bucs defensive coordinator.

But Joe thinks there is more to this than what can be read on face value.

Two years ago Joe caught up with Peter King in Miami at Super Bowl Media Day and King told Joe to his face that Morris’ long-term job security with the Bucs was “dubious.”

Not long thereafter, King predicted the Bucs would win but two games. They won 10. Morris, seemingly with a long memory, blew off King when arguably the top NFL writer in the country paid a visit to One Buc Palace last August and refused to talk to King.

This is not unusual. NFL coaches often cop an ego like this with scribes, Tuna Parcells is one example as is Bill Belicheat. But if you are going to yank the chain of one of the most powerful voices NFL circles, you better back it up with wins.

Instead, last season blew up in Morris’ face and left him on the street and alone in a trendy Tampa night club, left to ponder his football future.

Morris may have had a powerful ally in King to defend if not advance Morris’ future cause. Instead, by being petty, that bridge is not just burned by Morris, but destroyed.

Former Bucs defensive end Steve White remembers all the crazy Bryan Cox stories, and he said he heard lots of them during his season on the New York Jets after Cox had left the team.

Speaking Friday evening on Primetime on WHBO-AM 1040, White said he likes the hire of Cox, who likely will be the Bucs new linebackers coach. But White’s not about to believe Cox has witch-doctor powers and the ability to work miracles.

White was asked whether Cox likely was a guy who could light a fire under sixth-year linebacker Quincy Black.

“I don’t think Bryan Cox is going to make somebody that much better,” White said. “I like Bryan Cox, but Quincy Black is going to still have to go out there and make some tackles on his own.

“So hopefully [Cox] can get the best out of the guys in whatever position he ends up coaching, but I don’t know if he has that kind of voodoo in his back pocket to turn, you know, Quincy Black into some kind of front line player. Sometimes it just has to be the guy; you have to have something to work with.” 

Overall, White threw a little splash of cold water on fans’ enthusiasm for the Bucs’ coaching staff. White reminded fans coaches need players with a winning attitude.

“You got to have guys who don’t need a coach to push them,” White said. “… If anything, we need some attitude upgrades around here anyway, coaching aside. We need some players who want to be better. You know what I mean, who stand out on their own, who are begging the coaches to help them sit down with to watch film, who are begging the coaches to be on them. … I’m not sure that we have enough of those guys on the team right now.”

How much the Bucs clean house will be interesting, but Joe suspects it will run deep. Every new head coach wants his players. Plus the Bucs have a pile of guys with heinous film from last year, even if they are solid players with potential.

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Might the Bucs be targeting Lions middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch?

It seems the Bucs are ready to jump on the spending bandwagon when the gates open to free agency early next month. And the Bucs possibly already have a linebacker in their sights, so Twitters eye-RAH! Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune. It seems the Bucs are licking their chops over Detroit linebacker Stephen Tulloch.

@IKaufmanTrib: Lions LB Stephen Tulloch would be a major upgrade for the Bucs. Don’t be surprised if Tampa Bay targets him at the start of free agency.

In Joe’s eyes, this would be a major upgrade on so many levels. First, Tulloch wouldn’t break the bank and would would save room for Dwayne Bowe/Brandon Carr.

Second, the Bucs’ linebacker play was simply horrid last year. In the latter weeks of the season once an opposing ballcarrier rounded the corner, Joe thought he was at Tampa Bay Downs because it quickly turned into a horserace the way runners simply gouged the Bucs’ second level time and time again.

Tulloch would bring a hard-nosed style of play and a run-stuffing style the Bucs haven’t had from a middle linebacker in a long time.

Joe also loved how Tulloch was caught Tebowing Tim Tebow after a sack.

Without digging too deep into the Earnest Byner hiring over the weekend by the Bucs — just from his history as a running back Joe thought this was a solid move — it appears the Bucs may have hit a home run.

Byner seems to have a knack in getting the most out of running backs. He is largely credited with developing Chris Johnson of the Titans. Then Byner goes to Jacksonville where Maurice Jones-Drew is a stud.

This is enough to impress former Bucs defensive end Steve White. Commenting on something called “School of the Legends,” White explains how much he likes the Byner hire.

THIS is a hire I’m unreservedly excited about. Earnest Byner not only brings credibility as a pretty damn good former player, he has also coached two different backs on different teams to rushing titles. And lets be honest, Chris Johnson seems to have some “issues” at times but Byner got the best out of him. I think he will help Blount tremendously!

Despite the Bucs getting a good coach, apparently Byner can’t work out at One Buc Palace? Or there are standing rules to prevent coaches from working out there? Consider FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal’s comments. In town to cover the start of spring training, Rosenthal ran into Byner, so he explains on his Twitter feed.

Personal note: Saw one of my favorites, Earnest Byner, in workout room of Tampa hotel this AM. Covered him with Ravens. New Bucs RB coach.

Earnest, why mess around with a lame hotel workout room when you can use a state-of-the-art facility at your new place of business?

Off for Presidents’ Day? Want to win some cash on your lunch hour?

Then you absolutely have to head over to Derby Lane in St. Petersburg to enjoy top notch greyhound racing. Not only is admission FREE, Derby Lane is giving away $250 to lucky fans after races 1-10. Gates open at 11:30. And Race 1 goes off at 12:30 p.m.

Don’t forget Derby Lane has the best poker room in the Tampa Bay area and awesome great dining options.

Joe knows a pile of his readers were too young to be glued to their TV sets when new Bucs running backs coach Earnest Byner delivered one of the most famous goat moments in NFL history back in 1988.

(Joe wishes he was that young.)

A 25-year-old running back on Marty Schottenheimer’s Cleveland Browns (he wasn’t Chokenheimer yet), Byner coughed up a fumble on the Broncos’ 1 yard line as the Browns drove in the final two minutes for a touchdown that would have tied the AFC Championship game. Denver recovered, took a safety with a few ticks left, and that was the ballgame.

But Byner didn’t crawl into a hole and fade away. He recovered and resurrected himself in Washington where he grabbed 1,000-yard seasons and a Super Bowl ring.

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer ran a good story a couple years back that summed up Byner’s experience, including the mystery Jeff Fisher firing him as RBs coach in Tennessee after Chris Johnson ran for 2,000+ yards in 2010.

Byner was fired after two years of helping Johnson become an elite back. The former Browns star asked Titans coach Jeff Fisher about the decision — twice. He never received a good answer, other than Fisher had long wanted to hire Kennedy Pola.

Fisher had tried to hire Pola in 2008, but he remained in Jacksonville. Then Fisher turned to Byner, who took Johnson from rookie to stardom. Byner is the first to say Johnson has tremendous talent, but he still wonders what he did wrong.

“I do know that Jeff has great respect for Kennedy,” Byner said. “But it’s still baffling to me.”

Then something else happened.

Four days after Pola left Jacksonville for Byner’s job in Tennessee, Jacksonville hired Byner to replace Pola.

“I think back to The Fumble,” he said. “You go through something like that, you learn to keep moving forward. You can’t stay angry or bitter.”

Byner has the solid coaching resume, and he brings yet another Super Bowl ring to One Buc Palace, along with Butch Davis, Mike Sullivan and Bryan Cox.

Surely Bucs fans remember that LeGarrette Blount coughed up a few too many in 2011. Joe suspects Byner can offer Blount fabulous perspective and direction in that department.

Joe hears it every day despite the fact it is sheer nonsense:

“The Glazers are cheap.”

For the life of Joe, he cannot fathom, using his vivid imagination, someone or some firm being cheap yet shelling out $20 million for a couple of guys to do nothing but fish, golf and curse out high school referees.

Sadly, the perception is ingrained among too many Bucs fans who are staying away from the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway, in part, as a result.

It is because of this that popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, beer-chugging Peter King of Sports Illustrated believes Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik must channel his inner Danny Snyder in order to quell the angry masses, so King writes in his weekly must-read “Monday Morning Quarterback” column.

Some teams with monstrous cap room (Tampa Bay, with $67 million under the cap) are going to have to spend to justify to their fans that they’re trying to win. In Tampa, it won’t be good enough for GM Mark Dominik to sign quarterback Josh Freeman to a rich extension. He’s got to go out and spend big on a free agent or two — even though player development, not player purchasing, will be the hallmark of the Greg Schiano regime — to spur fans to come back and buy season tickets in a depressed NFL market.

Joe is of the mind Dominik should be cautious in his free agent shopping. First, off, forget a kicker. Last year Dominik splurged and got Michael Koenen who was actually pretty good. But when you have so many other holes to fill, especially on defense, it doesn’t matter if you have Ray Guy on the roster, your team will still stink out loud.

Joe would strive to get either a wide receiver and/or a cornerback quickly. If the Chiefs franchise Dwayne Bowe, then cornerback Brandon Carr is ripe for the picking. Joe also likes the idea of grabbing Brent Grimes from the Dixie Chicks. That’s a win-win. You strengthen your squad while weakening a division opponent.

Sign Carr or Grimes and draft Morris Claiborne, and all of a sudden you have a studly secondary and a major weakness is quickly erased.

The Bucs continue to hire coaches as the glorified indoor track practice NFL combine looms just days away.

Alex Marvez did it again. The FoxSports.com columnist had Bucs inside information that the team this morning was interviewing Earnest Byner as a running backs coach. Just a few hours later, per Mark Cook of the Pewter Report, it’s a done deal.

The Buccaneers have added one more addition to Greg Schiano’s staff as PewterReport can confirm that Tampa Bay has hired former NFL running back Earnest Byner to coach running backs.

Byner was selected by the Cleveland Brown in the tenth round (280th pick overall) of the 1984 NFL Draft He played for the Browns (1984–1988; 1994–1995), Redskins (1989–1993) and the Ravens (1996–1997).

Joe remembers Byner first as a damned good running back and a power running back at that. A power running back that had enough speed to break away from would-be tacklers.

Isn’t that what Schiano wants, a power running game?

While Kellen Winslow shared a me-first attitude for all Bucs fans to see this past season, Joe clearly sees Winslow’s value and would like him get a clean slate from the new coaching staff.

Sure, Joe would cut or bench Winslow if his whiney ways and questionable blocking effort returned, but Winslow hardly was the “problem” with the Bucs’ offense and he still catches balls — 75 last year during another healthy season.

NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas, of ESPN.com, isn’t feeling that kind of Winslow vibe. Yasinskas wrote about the likelihood of Winslow getting cut in a post Saturday. His reasoning somewhat stunned Joe; Yasinskas seems to believe the Bucs might want to save the few million bucks their tight end would cost.

Now, as I look at the details of Winslow’s contract, I’d be even less surprised if the Bucs released him. They don’t really need salary-cap space because they already have about $68 million, thanks in large part to unused cap space from 2011 that has been carried over. 

But they could instantly free up another $4.8 million in cap space by releasing Winslow. That $4.8 million figure is what Winslow’s cap figure is slated to be in 2012 and the Bucs wouldn’t suffer any cap hit if they got rid of Winslow. That’s because the contract Winslow signed after the Bucs traded for him in 2009 was structured in a unique way. 

He did not receive any signing bonus, so there is no outstanding pro-rated bonus money on a contract that runs through 2014. Instead of a signing bonus, the Bucs guaranteed about $20 million in base salary in the first three years of Winslow’s deal. 

Winslow is scheduled to earn $3.3 million in base salary this season …

Maybe Joe’s missing something, but Winslow seems like a great value at $3.3 million + potential bonus money. And why would the Bucs need more salary cap room? In addition, if Winslow’s on the team and the Bucs cut him to send a message of discipline to the club, that’s hardly an expensive lesson to teach a young NFL roster.

In one of the greatest displays of journalism in the modern era, Bright House Sports Network personality Rock Riley chased down freshly defrocked Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates in a fast food joint parking lot while the Bucs were working hard at One Buc Palace.

Sadly, the video is no longer available.

That written, Rock, despite the fancy TV threads and attack-dog work ethic, is just a beer-swilling, JoeBucsFan.com-reading, Bucs-loving dude like you.

Today he sits behind the mic during his normal Sunday morning show from 9 a.m.-noon on WDAE-AM 620.Those chained to a computer can listen live at 620wdae.com.

Former Wisconsin offensive line coach Bob Bostad is the new Bucs offensive line coach.

The Bucs continue to tap into the college ranks for coaching personnel and have hired former Badgers offensive line coach Bob Bostad.

FoxSports.com’s Alex Marvez must have One Buc Palace bugged because he has been breaking coaching news on the Bucs all offseason.

Bostad is leaving the Panthers to become Tampa Bay’s new offensive line coach, a source told FOXSports.com.

Bostad, who had followed new Pitt head coach Paul Chryst from Wisconsin in January, was a Badgers assistant the previous six seasons. Three of Wisconsin’s offensive linemen – Gabe Carimi (Chicago), John Moffitt (Seattle) and Bill Nagy (Dallas) – were chosen in last year’s NFL draft.

Now Marvez is correct is saying Bostad came from Pitt because in the offseason he took the gig of offensive coordinator at Pitt.

This is more than interesting to Joe. The Bucs have a veteran offensive line. While Bostad consistently built year in and year out one of the best offensive lines in college football, how will he mesh with guys who have been around the block more than a few times?

The north scoreboard behind the pirate ship was ablaze this morning.

Saturday morning, motorists driving southbound on Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa were treated to a much more entertaining sight than any Bucs fans saw on the Bucs’ stadium grass when the north scoreboard of the stadium was aflame.

Joe will let the good people of TBO explain.

Several passing motorists called 911 to report that the scoreboard was burning early Saturday morning, said Lt. William Ferguson, spokesman for the Tampa Police Department.

Tampa officers responded and found fire coming from the the speaker system above the north scoreboard, Ferguson said.

Tampa Fire Rescue firefighters put out the fire, which was determined to be caused by an electrical problem, Ferguson said.

Now Joe knows how cynical if not delusional many Bucs fans have become in recent years. They blame Team Glazer for everything from global warming to the Obama debt crisis.

So Joe can just guess that there will be crazy Bucs fans sitting around a pitcher of beer today or tonight, claiming this fire was somehow the work of the Bucs in order to get a new HD scoreboard installed quicker than expected.

Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski, aka, “The Commish,” has been won over by the new coaching staff of the Bucs.

The thing that Justin likes the most is how new head coach Greg Schiano and offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan seem to resonate respect when they are in a room, which Pawlowski detailed in a recent podcast on his site, CommishOnline.com.

“Isn’t it amazing that Mike Sullivan talks about gravitating toward Greg Schiano and what Schiano stands for? You can tell a leader from the moment he walks in the room, he commands respect and commands your attention and that is something I don’t think Raheem Morris ever did when he was coach. He was more like the popular guy in college that was throwing parites. I don’t think he inspired and ignited a fire. I talked to many players and that’s the feeling I got.

“Is [Morris] a good defensive backs coach? Absolutely. But NFL coaches are a differnt breed and Raheem Morris didn’t fit that breed. Greg Schiano fits that stereotype of that role as a leader.”

Joe has a hunch this coaching staff will not put up with the shenanigans of the past. Shoot, if a certain linebacker stands flat-footed and watches running backs run circles around him as he is wont to do, Bryan Cox just might tear his head off.

This is just what the Bucs need. Teaching, yes. But no more nonsense like not knowing plays in Week 17.

Almost 66-year-old Jimmy Raye, the less notable senior advisor added to the Bucs’ staff, is a guy Joe hasn’t written much about.

As an extra set of eyes covering all things on the offensive side of the ball, Joe’s all in favor of having Raye around. Hey, if Raheem Morris had some advisors, perhaps the Bucs would have figured out how not to get mauled in the first quarter and first half of games.

Raye’s been coaching in the NFL for, well, forever. And that includes a stint as Bucs offensive coordinator in 1985 and 1986, when he couldn’t figure out how to use Steve Young.

But despite that smudge on his resume, Joe suspects Raye has learned a hell of a lot since then and can fill his current role quite well.

Bucs humorist/blogger “Scott,” of BucStats.com, offered up a detailed and sarcastic look at Raye’s achievements recently.

The Bucs hired Jimmy Raye as senior offensive assistant. Generally, “senior” means that a guy has been around for a while and seen a lot of things and has a certain level of wisdom to pass on. Evidently, it doesn’t mean you had to have any real measure of success because Jimmy Raye has yet to be associated with a really good offense.

The Chiefs in 2000 were his best team, landing at 8th in the league in total offense and sending three players to the Pro Bowl. The team still went 7-9 and that’s the most success Raye has had this decade — or ever. Other teams where he ran the offense: 2001 Redskins (28th), 2004-2005 Raiders (17th, 21st), 2009-2010 49ers (27th, 23rd). And if you want to go digging way back in history, he was Leeman Bennett‘s offensive coordinator with the Bucs in 1985-1986 (23rd, 27th) and the OC for the 1990 Patriots (28th), possibly one of the worst teams in NFL history.

And he’s here to help.

It is easy to laugh — or cry — about Raye’s record as an offensive coordinator, and Joe’s darn glad Raye’s not the Bucs’ offensive coordinator. But that written, Raye’s got loads of position coach experience, including nearly a decade as a running backs coach.

It’s up to Mike Sullivan and Greg Schiano to seize the best out of Raye. Joe’s got to believe there’s plenty there to work with, otherwise the guy wouldn’t have lasted this long in the NFL.

After making the rounds at the Super Bowl, Gerald McCoy headed back to One Buc Palace this week to meet Greg Schiano and chat it up with Scott Smith of the video team at Buccaneers.com.

And in what feels like another veiled shot at the previous regime, McCoy shared his take that the new coaching staff will have profound impact immediately.

“[Schiano’s] mindset and his core beliefs, you know, can flip this whole organization around in a hurry. We can win. Fast.,” McCoy said. “I’m excited about it.”

Can the Bucs be a winner in 2012? The thought seems farfetched now, but boundless hope surely will return with an infusion of offseason talent and seeing Josh Freeman look sharp in the preseason.

As for the “core beliefs,” didn’t Raheem Morris have those? Joe wonders why playing “hard, fast, smart and consistent” is somehow not as good as “trust, belief and accountability.” Bucs fans will find out in 2012.

Joe really gets a kick out of all the “core beliefs” stuff. Joe’s played on a lot of teams on a lot of different levels, which has left Joe big on accountability. If you play like crap, you should pay for it on the bench or dearly in practice, or with your job. The Bucs need a heavy dose of that, which Schiano should deliver.

In the video linked above, McCoy also talked a good game and set the bar very high for himself.

“I know I’m puttin’ in all the work to have a breakout year,” McCoy said. “The staff they’re putting together, they’re putting everybody in place, you know, to if I do do my part on my end, which is come in in the best shape I can and put in all the work, this will be a breakout year for me.”

Joe’s pulling for McCoy and in his corner, but the Bucs would be nuts not to bring in a veteran to push him and Brian Price — someone to help keep them accountable.

He’s got a Super Bowl ring as linebackers coach for the 2007 Giants, and he had an embarrassingly quick exit (but not Bates-Jagodzinski quick) from the Giants’ defensive coordinator job after the 2009 season.

His name is Bill Sheridan, and he’s your new Buccaneers defensive coordinator, so reports The Lantern, a college newspaper out of Ohio State University.

 Sheridan recently was named to a defensive assistant job with the Buckeyes after serving as Miami Dolphins linebackers coach in 2010 and 2011.

Sheridan also was a defensive position coach (defensive line and linebackers) at Army alongside new Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan, who also coached linebackers and defensive backs for the famed Black Knights.

For this late in the hiring game, Joe thinks this is a great hire by the Bucs. Overall, the jury is out, though. Surely Sheridan’s one season calling defenses for the talented Giants didn’t go so well, as the Giants allowed a pile of points that season.

But this time Sheridan has two defensive guys above him on the depth chart, head coach Greg Schiano and defensive operative/stealth assistant Butch Davis.

If Sheridan can find a way to stop teams from gutting and gashing the Bucs up the gut, Joe is prepared to erect a statue of him on Dale Mabry Highway.

Update: The Bucs announced Sheridan’s hiring on the team’s official Twitter feed.

Now this news has brought a smile to Joe’s face.

Per NFL insider Adam Schefter, he Twittered a short while ago that the Bucs are expected to bring Bryan Cox in as a defensive assistant.

Tampa Bay also is expected to hire Bryan Cox as defensive asst coach.

Joe has followed Cox since his days in high school. He grew up not far from Joe, under very different circumstances. Joe’s a child of the corn. Cox grew up in a true definition of a “hood,” East St. Louis, Ill.

Cox is simply crazy and loyal to a fault. He’s from the Bill Parcells/Bill Belicheat tree, having played for the former and coached for the latter.

Cox is crazy. There are many stories about how Cox is a good guy, but nuts. Joe’s favorite is when he signed with the Bears (whoops, there’s that Dave Wannstedt connection again), Cox showed up for his introductory press conference wearing a Blues jersey.

For those from the Midwest, you can understand how that went over with the Chicago types.

Cox is not known for keeping his intense, outspoken feelings to himself. To put it bluntly, Quincy Black is in for a very, very, very rude awakening, which may just be what he needs.

UPDATE: Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, he Twittered Cox has indeed been hired.

"Olie, man, we couldn't figure that first-quarter thing out ... and now we're position coaches on bad teams."

If you’re a brand new Bucs fan, good for you. You weren’t scarred by the Bucs routinely getting pounded and mauled by opponents in the first half of games over the past three seasons.

Joe is not a new fan, therefore Joe is sensitive to anything that offers some hope that the Bucs might compete from the opening whistle every week.

Listening to new Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood this morning, Joe really liked a comment he made that indirectly talked about averting slow starts. Flood, a former Greg Schiano assistant, chimed in on The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620 with the following:

“As soon as [Schiano] gets that team together with those players after the draft, I promise you the first things he’s going to be talking about are being a smart football team, being a tough football team, playing situational football, and just making sure that you don’t lose the game before you can win it,” Flood said.

Joe liked that line, “make sure you don’t lose the game before you can win it. Unfortunately, the Bucs did that more often than not in 2011.

Yes, Joe knows Raheem Morris preached about “situational football” all day long, but the message was tuned out, and perhaps Raheem didn’t talk about the opening series being as important a “situation” as one late in a game.

Joe knows Bucs fans are still scratching their heads after listening to — what the hell is his title? — Butch Davis discuss with the local pen and mic club his duties and parameters. The parameters he knows about, that is.

But this angst is not shared by Joe’s good friend “The Commish,” Justin Pawlowski. A self-described “free agent,” Pawlowski got behind a live mic for the first time in a month while manning a stint as a guest co-host this morning with Mike Pepper during “Hooters Nation” on WQYK-AM 1010.

While Pepper still has reservations about what is currently going on with the Bucs and the team’s still incomplete coaching staff, Justin took the opposite approach.

“I am looking at this situation as the glass is half full. I was not a big fan of the Raheem Morris regime. Everything since has been better.

“Having been over [at One Buc Palace] as part of the Buccaneers Radio Network and you hear about all the chaos and all the rumors you hear and then you see in the paper that Raheem is out drinking at the same place all the time, it just didn’t seem to be what an NFL team should be. There didn’t seem to be any leadership.

“I have been more impressed with the first two coaches’ press conferences than the hundreds of press conferences I had been to with Raheem Morris and Greg Olson. They need leaders and teachers and they have that now.

“People say the Bucs lack talent. I think the Bucs have done a good job in the draft. It’s that talent has just not been developed.

“I am excited.”

Joe is somewhat excited as well. Joe can just about assure Bucs fans we will not see the weekly Arrelious Benn’d Around play which couldn’t even fool a dude with a white cane.

That alone is progress.

Yes, the Bucs need a special teams coach. Yes, the Bucs need a defensive coordinator. Yes, the Bucs are still out there knocking on doors and not always getting the answer they desire.

The latest “no thanks” delivered to Team Schiano appears to be from Alabama Crimson Tide offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, so reports Al.com’s Alabama beat writer Izzy Gould, a source Joe knows well and trusts.

Stoutland was invited to visit with Tampa Bay, but decided he wanted to stay at Alabama according to the source.

The Buccaneers are searching to fill vacancies on first-year coach Greg Schiano’s staff. He replaced Raheem Morris, who was fired with his entire staff last month after Tampa Bay finished the 2011 season with a 10-game losing streak.

Stoutland has been with the Crimson Tide for one season, and helped guide Alabama to its 14th national championship with a 21-0 win over LSU on Jan. 9. 

Stoutland is credited with helping the offensive line develop Barrett Jones into a successful starting left tackle en route to earning the Outland Trophy. He also successfully managed Jones’ vacancy at right guard where Anthony Steen and Alfred McCullough shared time.

Stoutland will enter the second year of a two-year contract that pays him $395,000 annually. 

Stoutland, 49, was probably best known for being interim coach at Miami after Randy Shannon was fired.

Ultimately, Joe only cares about what the eventual Bucs coaching staff turns out on the field. However, Joe can’t say there’s no value in having the staff together early.

This week, offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan said P.J. Fleck and Brian Angelico, (the supposed new Bucs receivers and tight ends coach, respectively) are key contributors in developing the new language of the offense and all that goes into building a new playbook. Therefore, Joe suspects it would be a big positive to have the rest of the staff by Sullivan’s side during that process.

Joe has made his feelings known about Bucs legend Ronde Barber. He’s the best cornerback in Bucs history and may have made the greatest play in Bucs history, returning a Donovan McNabb pass for a pick-6, sending the Bucs to their first (and to date, only) Super Bowl.

Joe has stated several times that Barber should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Whether he gets that honor at some time in the future, well, that’s a different story.

Barber has 14 seasons under his belt, all with the Bucs. Whether he sees a 15th is up for debate. There are several factors that will sway Barber’s (and the Bucs’) decision.

One of those elements is, as Stephen Holder points out in the Tampa Bay Times, is simply if the Bucs actually want him back?

The Bucs probably don’t have a clear-cut answer on this question right now. Coach Greg Schiano is still getting up to speed on his players and hasn’t even hired a defensive coordinator.

Decisions on personnel will, for the most part, have to wait. And in this case, a decision on Barber is not yet a pressing matter, so time is not an issue.

How will Schiano and his staff view Barber? That can’t be answered until they evaluate his film. But in light of the many question marks in the secondary – for example Aqib Talib’s legal problems and free agent Sean Jones’ likely departure – a little continuity probably won’t be seen as a bad thing.

It’s a valid point. No one knows if new Bucs coach Greg Schiano actually wants him back. And would Barber want to go through all of the hassle of learning a new defense, all for just one year?

Joe has no inside information on this and it’s only a hunch. But it’s very likely we have seen the last of Barber wearing the pewter and red.