Diner Morning News: Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Young Coach

National Football Post

QUOTE: “The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions.”—Bishop Creighton (American bishop)

As training camps begin to open this week, we’ll continue examining first-year NFL coaches and the challenges that await them. Today, we look at Raheem Morris of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

BACKGROUND

My fellow Hofstra graduate has enjoyed a fast track to becoming an NFL head coach.

After his playing days for the “Pride” (when I attended, we were called the Dutchmen—not politically correct now), Morris moved quickly through the college coaching ranks, starting at Hofstra in 1998, then Cornell before gaining entrance to the NFL in 2002 as a Bucs defensive assistant.

His first NFL teacher was Monte Kiffin, the former Bucs coordinator who’s a master at teaching young coaches. Kiffin has a unique ability to find bright young coaches he can mold and shape. Morris spent four years learning the Bucs defense from Kiffin before heading back to college to become the defensive coordinator at Kansas State.

After only one season, Morris was back in Tampa as the main secondary coach, which was the first time he coached the position by himself. He held the job for two years before being named head coach.

LES STECKEL EFFECT

Morris is demanding of his players, driving them to be the best. He seems to get along with his players, but maintains a coach-player relationship. He can’t become one of the “guys”; he has to make sure the players know their role, just as he knows his.

Despite of his age (he turns 33 in September), the critical aspect for Morris will be in his ability to prepare the team for games.

Players respect knowledge; they couldn’t care less how old you are, or how young. They will listen to the person who is most the most knowledgeable. Knowledge is key in the NFL.

THEY DIDN’T TELL ME THIS WOULD HAPPEN

Given his age, I’m not sure even Morris suspected he would be the head coach the Bucs. He had an interview with the Denver Broncos for their head coaching position after being promoted to defensive coordinator of the Bucs.

Morris is going to have some on-the-job training as he moves into his new role, which is two rankings above his previous job.

He won't have the benefit of Malcolm Gladwell’s rule of 10,000 hours of training from the book “Outliers,” but he will be able to enhance his education because of the staff he put together. The offensive (Jeff Jagodzinski, previously the head coach at Boston College) and defensive coordinators (Jim Bates, a veteran coach) will help Morris as he learns the ropes of his new job.

This isn't to imply that Morris will let either of the coaches be part-time head coaches; rather that he can trust them both to handle their side of the ball with attention to detail. This will allow Morris to spend more time overseeing the team, making sure the team is doing the little things that are essential to winning.

He must act as the CEO of the team since he hasn’t had enough time to prepare for the details of the head coaching chair.

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ON GAME DAY?

Since he has hired strong coordinators in all three aspects of the game, Morris can focus on motivation, preparation, and game management.

He must devote as much time as possible to understanding how much his role as a game manager can influence the team. He may not be calling the plays on either side of the ball, but where he can make a huge difference is being able to translate the practice reps to the field reps (for example, what worked in practice—what looked good, what looked bad, what he doesn’t want to see, what he thinks they need more of, etc.)

Coordinators often will get locked in on a situation. They are so far in the forest they can’t see the trees. Morris can take a step back and demand from the coaches what he feels will work and what he wants to avoid.

Some may say this is meddling, or invading the turf of the coordinators. In reality, though, if Morris spends his week working on the game, studying the practice tape, and learning what matchups can and can’t work, then he can be a huge help on Sundays.

Just because he doesn’t call the plays, doesn’t mean he can’t influence the plays.

Morris must become a great evaluator of teams. He must know the strengths and weakness of the teams, their favorite plays, what they like to do, and how they think.

He may be a young head coach, but with two veteran coordinators, he can focus on a specific role on Sunday and be able to excel in this area.

I KNOW WHEN TO PUNT...I THINK

Morris was going to take over the defense, which he would have kept in the spirit of Monte Kiffin. When he became head coach, though, he made the move to change the defense, allowing Jim Bates to bring his scheme to Tampa.

Bates’ scheme is slightly different than Kiffin’s in terms of the style of players needed and the manner in which they’re expected to play. Kiffin preferred more speed and quickness in the defensive front, while Bates wants more power, more size to be able to play a seven-man front and not have to commit the eighth player to the box.

There will be a transitional period for the Bucs on defense, one that might look a little rocky as the year starts.

The key for the Bucs' defense will be making sure their two tackles, Ryan Sims and Chris Hovan, can handle the inside. To run Bates' defense, you must have two very big and dominating tackles and a middle backer who can cover well. The Bucs have Barrett Rudd for the middle, and he’s perfect for the new defense.

For all the talk of being a Tampa 2 system, the Bucs played more man-to-man defense than was thought, which will fit in nicely with the new scheme.

The hardest part of this switch will be up front at tackle and making sure someone, anyone—are you listening, Gaines Adams?—can rush the passer.

I WISH WE HAD DONE...

Becoming a first-time NFL head coach is like buying your first home. You never think you can afford the payments, but somehow it all works out. There will be many things that Morris will wish he did after the first season, but I’m sure the Glazer family knows there will be growing pains when you hire such a coach.

With the hiring of Morris, the Bucs also went young in their front office, hiring Mark Dominik to be their general manager. Dominik will need his own time and space to learn his craft, so Morris won’t have a platform to bounce ideas off or get suggestions from. He’ll need to find an outside mentor to help him deal with some of the problems that are predictable for any new head coach.

Morris needs to not be afraid to make phone calls and seek advice from former coaches or executives. He may have gotten the job at a very young age, but finding wisdom from others will help him speed up the growing process.

I heard the NFL Network’s Deion Sanders talk on TV the other day about how disappointed he was with young players not seeking out former players for words of wisdom. The same applies to young coaches.

There are many older coaches who would love to help any coach. Remember the Danish proverb, “He who is afraid of asking, is ashamed of learning.”

I’M GOING TO REMEMBER THIS ONE...

Welcome to the NFL, Coach Morris. Of your first five games, four are against the NFC East, including your opener at home against the Cowboys. The schedule-makers didn’t do the Bucs any favors; they're playing on the road in three of their five games. It's disappointing because the heat and humidity always benefits the Bucs early in the season.

The Bucs don’t play an NFC South opponent until Oct. 18, at home against Carolina.

THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT NEXT YEAR

Everything in Tampa will be different in 2010. By then, the Bucs may finally have their franchise quarterback in place as Josh Freeman will be ready to assume the role of starter. Morris will be a year older and a year wiser as a head coach, and the offensive and defensive systems will be established.

All that will be left to do is to keep improving the talent base and hope that Freeman is the right man for the franchise.

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