Tampa Blunder

As previously stated, professional sports are shortsighted. They are absurdly forgettable. Consistently, franchises ignore accomplishments. They embrace change for change.

On Friday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired Coach Jon Gruden and General Manager Bruce Allen. “Any time a season ends, especially the way our season ended, it's a very, very emotional time,” said Owner Joel Glazer. “And one thing we always like to do is not act on emotion, let things simmer down, think through things carefully and not make any quick, rash decisions. After taking a lot of time to look at our franchise, look where it's been, look where it is, look where we want to go, we just felt this was the time for a change.”

With the Buccaneers, Gruden logged a 60-57 ledger. He won Super Bowl XXXVII. He accrued two division titles. He secured three playoff appearances. “This isn't a decision that's made on one play or one game or one week or one thing,” said Glazer. “You look at the totality of the situation, evaluate it, look at where your franchise is. For us, the goal is to build a championship team that can compete year in and year out.”

During their careers, Allen and Gruden have twice aligned. In Oakland, they amassed 64-38 record. In Tampa Bay, they chalked a 38-43 slate. With the Raiders, Allen and Gruden drafted Sebastian Janikowski, Jerry Porter, Jon Ritchie, Matt Stinchcomb, and Charles Woodson. With the Buccaneers, they selected Gaines Adams, Tim Massaquoi, Barrett Ruud, Alex Smith, and Carnell Williams.

Unfortunately, Allen and Gruden’s success was inadequate. “Every year we feel we owe it to this football team and this community to do a good honest assessment of our franchise,” Glazer said. “If at any point, we feel that change is in our best interest, we feel we have to make that change. That's where we got to in this situation. You can't let decisions you made a year ago affect a decision today. In our mind, there's a plan of where we want to go. We've thought it through very carefully. It will become apparent as we move along.”

On January 22, 2008, the Buccaneers retained Allen and Gruden. Both signed three-year contracts. If this reversal possesses rationale, the rationale is invisible.