Tampa Bay Buccaneers to hire Lovie Smith as new head coach
By Jack Crosby
It appears that just two days after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided that the Greg Schiano experiment had failed after just two seasons, they will hire former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith as their new leader.
According to FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer, the two sides are finalizing the deal this evening, so an announcement should come as soon as tomorrow, one would have to believe:
The Bucs are hiring Lovie Smith to be their new head coach, two sides are finalizing the contract tonight
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) January 2, 2014
Following all the firings on Black Monday, Smith’s name was one of the first to come up and begin making the rounds. He also had an itch to get back into the game, as he quickly lined up former California Golden Bears head coach–and QB guru– Jeff Tedford up to be his offensive coordinator at whichever place he chose.
It appears that the two will now be able to do their work in Tampa, where Smith was once an assistant under Tony Dungy, whom he faced off with in the Super Bowl a few years ago when he was the man in Chicago and Dungy was in Indianapolis with the Colts.
Earlier this week, Dungy gave the Bucs organization a ringing endorsement of Smith, which it seems paid off.