Yesterday, when it was learned that Team Glazer found its man, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, the move was mostly met with positive reviews, including from the likes of Bill Belicheat and Peter King. Even Joe was impressed.

But Michael Rosenberg, King’s colleague at SI.com was anything but impressed. He put fingers to keyboard and took apart both the Bucs for hiring Schiano and Schiano himself.

It’s true that Schiano built the Rutgers program from nothing. The question is: from nothing to what? He was 28-48 in the Big East, which is not a major conference by any reasonable measure except the one used by the Bowl Championship Series (which, of course, is not reasonable).

In the last three years, Schiano’s Big East record was 8-13. He never won the Big East. He is considered a good guy, and his graduation rate was very high, but he could be a saint and the Saints wouldn’t care.

Schiano is also known for discipline and organization — you’ll hear a lot about that before next season, because it’s his strength and Morris lost the team. But he did not go 8-13 in his league the last three years by accident. There is a reason he never won the Big East.

Fair points, but let’s be honest. We’re talking Rutgers here. Rutgers! That program was a complete toilet when Schiano took it over.

Why didn’t he win the Big East? Joe thinks that question could be better directed at Jim Leavitt than Schiano, who seems to be doing OK for himself as a linebackers coach at San Francisco this past season.

Rutgers is not Penn State, which has top-flight facilities and a bulging river of cash flowing into the program to help bankroll massive recruiting budgets.

Rutgers is not Miami, which sits in the middle of an absolute treasure trove of high school football talent where coaches can roll out of the rack in the morning and be within reach of dozens of high schools stocked with four- and five-star talent, and be back home for lunch.

We’re talking Rutgers here. Rutgers! The job that Schiano did in Piscataway is simply amazing. That takes organizational skills and supreme discipline, something that has been sorely lacking in recent years at One Buc Palace.

Can new Bucs coach Greg Schiano get Tanard Jackson back to tackling again, and back to consideration as a top safety in the NFL?

Football is hardly a huge passion on the campus of Rutgers University, located in the armpit of the nation, better known as central New Jersey. Games don’t sell out despite a big campus, a massive surrounding population to draw from, and no other big football program nearby.

That’s one factor in what led Rutgers to be a true bottom-feeder of college football when new Bucs head coach Greg Schiano showed up there 11 years ago to lead a turnaround. Tyler Barto, of the campus Daily Targum newspaper, chronicled Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti’s take on Schiano’s legacy yesterday.

Pernetti can attest to the depleted circumstances in 2000, when Schiano took the job. Pernetti called it the “worst program” in the nation 11 years ago, when the Scarlet Knights were Big East afterthoughts.

The Knights never won the conference championship Schiano once promised, but the foundation Schiano implemented remains.

“This program is not a rebuild,” Pernetti said. “This is a move forward. This thing is priced to move in every way.”

Pernetti said he learned of the Buccaneers’ interest in Schiano a week ago, days before Oregon head coach Chip Kelly reportedly declined the Buccaneers’ offer. But talks between Schiano and Tampa Bay intensified during the last two days, Pernetti said, culminating with yesterday morning’s reports of the head coach’s hire.

So Schiano saved Rutgers and sent streams of quality players to the NFL, four on the current Super Bowl–bound Patriots roster. But Joe knows those accomplishments don’t mean much now and are hardly any guarantee of his NFL success.

Can Schiano convince Ronde Barber to return? Can Schiano, a former college tackling machine linebacker himself, develop Mason Foster and get something good out of Quincy Black? (No. Joe doesn’t believe the Bucs will cut ties with Black owing him a pile of money.) Can Schiano get Tanard Jackson playing like a Pro Bowler again? Will Schiano hire the right defensive line coach(es) to mold the pile of talent on the line?

These are just a small handful of the many questions Schiano will answer in 2012. Joe doesn’t think it will take much to rescue the Bucs from the cellar of the NFC South, but it will require Schiano to be damn good at his job.

Rockstar Bucs general manager Mark Dominik previously has talked publicly about how he’s a defense-first guy. So when the Bucs offered offensive guru Chip Kelly a pile of cash, Joe wondered how Kelly might have wowed Dominik with his defensive plan for the Bucs.

Or perhaps Kelly wasn’t Dominik’s first choice? And that’s where Joe’s money would go now if Joe were to wager on the question.

Speaking today on The Dan Sileo Show on WDAE-AM 620, Dominik shared lots of thoughts on the Schiano hire, including calling himself a “defensive fundamentalist” and explaining that even in the high-flying NFL he believes defense is still king.

“I’m a “defensive fundamentalist” always have been and it’s because I’ve been around the likes of Marty Schottenheimer, Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy. And that’s all just made sense to me,” Dominik said. “That’s how you get there.That’s how the Baltimore Ravens, you know, get to be a consistent football team. That’s how the Giants are in the Super Bowl again. I just see that that’s the way it works.”

For those unaware, Schiano is a defensive guy. In fact, Dominik called Schiano “a 4-3 fundamentalist” who has a lot of Dick LeBeau and Monte Kiffin in him.

So did Dominik really want Schiano? Keep in mind the Bucs met with Schiano before they offered a job to Kelly and this was Dominik’s first impression of the former Rutgers head coach.

 “The first initial meeting with him there was a presence right away when you walked in. The first thing I thought, ‘this guy’s a football coach,'” Dominik said. “I had never met him officially before. But the only thing I felt was, ‘Gosh, this guy, this guy’s a football coach.’ And I love that. And it just felt so right to have a guy with his kind of demeanor and serious attitude, and then knowing how bad he wants to coach back in the National Football League made this a great hire I think for our football team right now.”

Goodness, Joe almost felt like he was listening to the makings of a country song when Dominik shared that moment.

So who’s going to run the offense and lead Josh Freeman? Dominik said the Bucs will take their time hiring assistants. Dominik emphasized that there’s less time pressure with the free agency period starting later this season.

The Bucs are forking over $15 million+ over five years to Greg Schiano

A report from Tom Luicci of the Star-Ledger in New Jersey says Greg Schiano signed a $15 million + contract to coach the Bucs over the next five years. If correct, that represents a sold raise for Schiano, whose Rutgers deal was for $2.3 million annually, per the newspaper.

But Schiano didn’t jump ship to the Bucs to score more cash, so claims NFL.com.

The 45-year old coach said his decision was not driven by financial aspirations.

“That’s not why I coach, that’ll never be why I coach.

“I’ve had several opportunities over the years — some of them you know about, some of them you don’t know about — and none of them felt right,” Schiano added. “This time, this one felt right.”

 Joe’s glad Schiano feels all tingly about the Bucs job, “vibing,” as Raheem Morris would have called it.

One thing Joe’s interested in seeing evolve is how the old Bucs from the blended Dungy-Gruden-Morris era interact, if it all, with Schiano and his regime. It truly was the end of a long era when Raheem got his pink slip.

Will Warren Sapp make his annual trip to training camp? Will Schiano want players seeking out Derrick Brooks for guidance, as many do? Joe’s really not sure how that will all go down.

The more Joe researches new Bucs head coach Greg Schiano, the more Joe is finding that the man is probably the anti-Raheem.

When Raheem Morris took over the Bucs, he was preaching at his opening news conference that the Bucs would “stay the course,” and Raheem offered absolutely no insight into what a Raheem team would look like.

Expect no such nonsense from Schiano today.

Here’s his former college coach’s reaction to Schiano taking the Bucs job yesterday. Joe Susan also worked under Schiano at Rutgers before returning to coach the Bison of Bucknell University.

“The hiring of Greg Schiano is an outstanding move by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” said Susan. “I am certain he did a lot of research into making this decision and came to the conclusion that at this time in his career it is best for him and his family. He is someone who will bring great discipline and organization to the team. He is a great evaluator of talent and utilizes the skill set of the people in his program to their maximum efficiency. Beyond that, he is passionate about coaching the game of football. That is what he does best.”

What? Schiano “utilizes the skill set of the people in his program to their maximum efficiency?” Imagine that concept.

Joe thinks this bodes well for LeGarrette Blount, the Bucs’ most dangerous weapon that Raheem and Greg Olson never figured out how to use. And Joe suspects Schiano won’t tolerate a gameplan that has Arrellious Benn as an afterthought.

As Bucs fans wait until this afternoon to hear from new Bucs head coach Greg Schiano, rockstar general manager Mark Dominik and, likely, Team Glazer, Joe has for you Dominik’s words to the Movin’ The Chains crew on Sirius NFL Radio yesterday after the Schiano hiring was announced.

Mark Dominik: We feel really good with where we are, our final result with a football coach that we really feel is an excellent for our football team. Having spent a lot of time now with Coach Schiano over the last couple of days, it’s been a good match, and looking forward to getting him down here and starting to see the facilities, meet the team, and get this thing going in the right direction.

Tim Ryan: Talk about the process. And then what finally led you to the conclusion that Schiano was the guy for you.

Dominik: Well, we talked about it right once we started the search. And alot of time was spent with ownership just kind of designing exactly the way approach ‘how do you find the right head coach for your football team?’ And our mentality, you know, we did it in phases, we first talked to a bunch of really quality coaches that have coached in the National Football League before and had success. You know, when you talk about Mike Shermans and certainly Marty Schottenheimer, and it was really great to spend time with Coach Schottenheimer. And Brad Childress and his success with Minnesota, getting them on the brink of the Super Bowl. We spent time there. Then we went to quality coordinators, maybe guys that hadn’t had that opportunity, Mike Zimmers and Jerry Grays, and Chudzinskis, a lot of other guys. And then we also, of course, you know we talked to Joe Philbin and Tom Clements. So we really tried to circle it all the way around in terms of finding different characteristics, different levels of guys, each at a different time. Then we went and really researched college guys, too. Because the reality is there are great football coaches in college. Having been at the Bucs for so long, I can remember when Monte Kiffin came in here and hired his first staff and it was Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli. We got Herm Edwards in here, and then he ended up hiring Mike Tomlin and then Raheem Morris. Monte did a great job finding great college football coaches.  We got to here more about Greg Schiano, learn more about Greg Schiano, then finally meet Greg Schiano. And the more we spent time with him the more we realized this is the right man.

Pat Kirwan: On getting coordinators, tell me about that discussion. How deep do you go into that discussion, Mark, when you’re trying to hire [Schiano] and recognizing that he needs some time to learn this NFL thing?

Dominik: The important thing with Coach Schiano is No. 1 he’s been in the league before as you guys know with the Bears. And then running a program, being the head coach and running a program at Rutgers. And the guys that come out of Rutgers I think everybody admits in the pro game, that those are Rutgers men as he calls it,  but guys that are ready to go play in the National Football League. You know, when you think of a lot of the players that have come out, certainly a Ray Rice jumps to mind that he jumps to the league and plays good, or the McCourty brothers. They just jump in the league and play good because they’re ready-made guys. It’s an NFL program at the college level, which I think was something that was very intriguing for us. In terms of coordinators with coach, we didn’t go too deep into it because obviously he hadn’t made a commitment yet to us and we hadn’t made a commitment yet to him. You know, as a college coach, that’s very tricky right now with National Signing Day around the corner. We kept it very quiet. We shared a little bit of time [Wednesday night]. We have some similar names and we’ll get to work on that right away. But I feel very confident in some of the names that we’ve already discussed.

Joe’s good friend Justin Pawlowski was geeked this morning when he learned that Rutgers coach Greg Schiano was hired by Team Glazer and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik to replace jettisoned Raheem Morris.

Few locals have their thumb on the pulse of Big East football like Justin, who is the pregame and postgame radio voice of USF Football, and he has always been impressed with Schiano.

Given his experience with big time programs at their height, Penn State in the early 1990s and Miami in 1999 and 2000, Justin understands that Schiano knows what it takes to play football at its top level, and how to play disciplined football.

Justin explains in detail on his blog, CommishOnline.com.

With my work on the USF Bulls radio broadcasts, I’ve had a chance to follow what Greg Schiano has done with the Rutgers program. Unfortunately, most fans are so naive to look at his total record with the program, but they forget to take into account how bad the Rutgers program was before Schiano got there. This was a Rutgers program that struggled to win one or two games a season. Schiano not only turned Rutgers into a contender in the Big East, but also developed some excellent NFL talent while he was there.

Schiano’s intensity and energy will also resonate throughout One Buc Place. Yes, Raheem Morris had energy, but while Raheem’s energy was more “rah rah,” Schiano’s energy is genuine and comes with an idea that he’s going to kick someone’s ass. He’s aggressive and commands a presence.

Justin believes that Schiano’s hire may just open the door for linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who Schiano coached at Miami, and running back Ray Rice, who played for Schiano at Rutgers.

Imagine Vilma with the Bucs, who Dominik has coveted before? Buh-bye Quincy Black.

Imagine teaming Rice with LeGarrette Blount? Smashmouth football at its finest.

This is enough for Joe to pry open a cold bottle of Yuengling.

Soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Bucs guard Jeremy Zuttah sat in with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig, this afternoon on WDAE-AM 620 to talk all things Greg Schiano.

Why Zuttah? Well, his college career was spent under new Bucs coach Schiano at Rutgers before Zuttah was drafted by the Bucs in the third round in 2008. You can listen to the full interview by clicking the link above.

On Schiano, Zuttah said, “he cares most importantly about doing everything the right way. That’s going to be big for a lot of the [Bucs] players. That’s what he’s going to harp on.”

Now Joe, of course, has no clue about the granular details of Greg Schiano’s head coaching contract with the Buccaneers. There could be more fancy clauses than a family reunion at the North Pole.

But BSPN is reporting Schiano has a five-year deal done and is, in fact, hired. Five Years!

That’s a big commitment from Team Glazer, especially when you consider Raheem Morris, already a member of the Bucs’ family when he got the head coaching job, only was granted a two-year deal with a team option for two more.

New England coach Bill Belicheat is sort of looked about as the Yoda of NFL coaches. If he says something, it must be true.

That tends to be the case when your trophy case is chock-full of Vince Lombardi trophies.

With the Super Bowl nearing between New England and the New York Giants, Belicheat is being tailed by many New York scribes. So Belicheat was pested for a reaction to the Bucs hiring Greg Schiano as the ninth coach in franchise history.

Here is what Kimberly A. Martin of Newsweek documented:

“He’s done a great job at Rutgers,” said Belichick. “I think he’s a tremendous coach, he’s done a great job with that program and his players have been very NFL-ready. Guys that come out of that program, when they get to the NFL, I say most of them make it. They have enough talent to really to compete in the NFL and most of them end up staying in one way or another. And that’s a credit to the preparation and the program that he’s built there.”

High praise from the NFL’s Yoda.

If Joe wasn’t so busy, he’s belly up to a bar, order a Bushmills, have the barkeep turn on the Big Ten Network and toast both JoePa and Schiano.

Oh, and Team Glazer and Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik.

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.