Panthers head coach defends Buccaneers’ Greg Schiano
By Josh Sanchez
The Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers face off against each other on Sunday in a meeting of two teams that are familiar with the hot seat. In the NFL, as soon as your team begins to struggle you can expect to hear fans calling for your head, but Panthers head coach Ron Rivera showed why sticking with one man can pay off.
For Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano, who started off the season 0-8, he managed to get his team on a three-game winning streak and erased those memories of the rough start.
Unfortunately, Schiano could once again be on the hot seat if his team puts up a stinker of a performance on Sunday. Rivera hopes to see the Buccaneers give Schiano a fair start and he even offered a friendly tip.
If Rivera had any advice for the man that he will be facing this weekend, it is just to be patient.
“Just stay the course,” Rivera said, via Mark Cook of PewterReport.com. “Look, he’s been successful, he’s had success, he was successful in college, major college football, he’s had some success as a coach in the NFL, now it’s just a matter of time. Last year I was in the same situation and we got on a roll at the end of the year and now this year we’ve gotten on a roll again.
“It’s just so hard to win in this league and you’ve got to develop your team first. I think people have to be willing to take the lumps and accept it. There was a time back in the day when guys would be drafted in the first and second round and nobody expected him to play until three-four years down the line. Now you draft a guy and everybody says why isn’t he on the field, he’s a bust.
“Well everybody wants that instant gratification and I think it’s the same thing when you bring in a new head coach and everybody says ‘He should be great at what he’s doing, they should be winning right now.’ Well, evaluate, be realistic in your evaluations and I think you get a better sense of how long it’s going to take, if you’re realistic.
“If you’re not looking pie in the sky you sit there and go ‘Wow they need to do this, they need to do that, that guy needs to develop, that guy needs time, oh they’ve got to replace this guy, or this guy’s got to grow.’ I like who Tampa Bay is going to become and they’re on their way. Coach Schiano’s doing a great job. It’s just again be patient and just stick with it.”
Schiano can all but guarantee his job for 2014 if he upsets the Panthers in Week 13, so we will have to see how his team answers the call for their toughest match up of the past month.