Its Time The Bucs Part Ways With Jon Gruden

Thanks for the Super Bowl Jon, but don't let the door hit you on the way out. These are the words that I hope coach Gruden will hear very soon from the Glazers. Gruden has now coached as many years with the Bucs, six, as Tony Dungy did. Gruden has the Super Bowl title, but has 6 less regular season wins, and only one more playoff win than Dungy. If you take away the Super Bowl season, Jon Gruden has a regular season record of 36-44 and is 0-2 in the playoffs. There are 10 coaches who have coached continuously the last 6 six years, and only 1 has a worse record than Jon Gruden.

I will admit that when the Bucs decided it was time for Tony Dungy to go that I felt it was the right move. He had gotten us as far as it seemed he could and refused to make the necessary changes to his staff that the Glazers wanted. Things seem to have almost come full circle now for the Bucs, except that they are worse off. Gruden has a worse record than Dungy did, the team is in worse shape then when Dungy was fired, and Gruden also refuses to make the changes necessary to fix the problem. The difference with Dungy and Gruden is the changes needed to be made by Dungy were about the X's and O's of the game, while Gruden needs to change everything but the X's and O's. Gruden is a great offensive mind, there is no doubt about it, but he is not a good head coach.

Since Gruden took over the reigns in 2002 there have been 9 other coaches who have coached that entire time as head coach. Of the nine other coaches in the last six years only one, Herm Edwards, has a worse record than Jon Gruden.

Coach Reg. Season Record Playoffs

Belichek 75-21 9-2
Dungy 73-23 7-4
Reid 61-35 5-4
Holmgren 58-38 4-4
Shannahan 58-38 1-3
Fox 51-45 5-2
Fisher 50-56 2-2
Billick 50-56 0-2
Gruden 48-48 3-2
Edwards 42-54 2-3

Of the coaches above, Billick was just fired and Edwards was basically fired from the Jets before going to Kansas City. The three playoff wins that Gruden has to his name all came in the Super Bowl year and since than he has not advanced. The coaches on that list that have kept there jobs are consistent and good coaches. Gruden does not belong in the same discussion with most of the guys on that list. Also, the coach that the Bucs fired to get Gruden has the second best record over the last five years and has almost as many playoff losses as Gruden has appearances.

Jon Gruden helped the Bucs get a Super Bowl and for that I will forever be greatful, but his time here is up. Since the Super Bowl season the Buccaneers have gotten worse and Gruden shows no signs of being able to get this team back on track. The offense, which is why he was brought in, has not been very good and the defense has kept this team alive. The team that lost the playoff game today against the Giants did not lose because they lacked the talent. They lost because they played uninspired football and had a bad game plan; those things are on the coach. Jon Gruden, in the words of Donald Trump, you're fired!