Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Greg Schiano Will Make or Break the Current Team

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went from dark-horse favorite to bottom feeder in the course of a single season. Watching the team perform the way they did made me feel sick to call myself a Bucs fan.

It seems as if the team is willing to right the ship with the hiring of Greg Schiano from Rutgers.

When Schiano's name came across the bottom ticker on ESPN, I, like many other people, were surprised at the move. In the past, Schiano was a target to fill multiple head-coaching vacancies, but each time resisted the temptation.

It appears with the uncertainty of the Big East, Schiano is willing to take on a new rebuilding project with the Bucs. He's no doubt going to have his work cut out for him.

The biggest missing ingredient with the current Bucs team (other than star players) is a lack of discipline. A lack of discipline is to be expected with such a young team, but NFL players should be avoiding the type of mistakes the Bucs were making this year.

I think I'd qualify to be a millionaire if I had a dollar for every time I saw Aqib Talib make a bonehead play. The off-the-field issues with players like Tanard Jackson and Talib, combined with the injury concerns of Gerald McCoy and Da'Quan Bowers, will be a handful for Schiano.

And that's just the defense.

The headaches only get bigger on the offensive side of the ball. Mike Williams pulled a disappearing act this year, the offensive line is in shambles and Josh Freeman has regressed in a way we never thought possible.

One thing Schiano always enjoyed in college was the ability to remain in control. He was the guy at Rutgers. In the NFL, it's been shown that head coaches move around like musical chairs and teams are more willing to part ways with a coach than a star player.

Schiano will attempt to instill discipline much the way he did at Rutgers. Will the players respond like the Scarlet Knights?

Based on what I've seen, we should prepare for a lengthy rebuilding effort that could see the implosion of both sides of the ball. If the organization can back up Schiano in the way they did for Jon Gruden, look for under-performing star players such as Freeman and Talib to be on their way out.

If Schiano doesn't get the support from the top or the players fail to respond to a coach without any NFL head-coaching experience, the team will continue to be an embarrassment of an NFL team.

One thing is for sure, both the fans and players are going to be in for a rough ride for the Schiano rebuilding project.