Rich Bisaccia Is the Man the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Need to Hire

Ironically, it was just about a year ago, almost to the day, that we wrote about the departure of special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia.

Bisaccia was an original member of the Jon Gruden staff, became the associate head coach and after spending eight years here, he knows what's what. The fact that he left before the 2011 season tells us that he may have had a premonition of what might unfold last year.

There is no doubt that Bisaccia probably thought he should have gotten the head coaching job over Raheem Morris. After all, he was more experienced and when you take a look at his resume, he appeared a better candidate to take the helm of the Buccaneers.

Didn't turn out that way, but now Mark Dominik and the Glazers have a shot at a mulligan.

They need to take it. In that article a year ago, we pointed out that Bisaccia leaving was not good news for this football team. It wasn't.

Bisaccia is a tough Italian from a working-class family in Yonkers, N.Y. He's a no-nonsense guy, straight shooter, perfect blend of a player's coach yet he'll bring discipline and accountability and those are two areas where the Buccaneers were running on empty last season.

"He holds people accountable," said San Diego fullback Jacob Hester.

Steve Duemig, the afternoon host on WDAE 620, is all-in with Bisaccia.

I had the good fortune to spend two hours with Bisaccia back in 2009 at the USF Coaches Clinic. You can take it as gospel when I tell you he is extremely impressive and he is exactly what this young team needs. He's a teacher, but he's the tough teacher. He's the teacher who won't let the students get away with the shenanigans that took down the Raheem Morris regime.

My former life in sports writing afforded me the chance of a lifetime to hang out with coaches like Don Shula, Hank Stram, Bill Parcells, Bear Bryant, just to name a few. I'm not easily impressed, but there was something unique about Bisaccia.

He worked his way up from small college ranks to big college ranks, then climbed the NFL ladder.

If you want a success story, he's it.

Duemig and I are of the same mindset when we look at the list of candidates: Jeff Fisher? He'll land somewhere else. Mike Sherman? Oh, come now. A coordinator? Please.

"The majority of head coaches cannot do what I do," Bisaccia told me two years ago.

Go back and read the article and get to know him better.

Then tell me if you think the Bucs should hire Rich Bisaccia.