Bucs rejected by Cowher, Gruden before hiring Smith
 

Bucs were interested in Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden before hiring Lovie
JASON LA CANFORA
CBS Sports NFL Insider

Tampa Bay ownership pursued a reunion with former Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden, according to league sources, making a run at him prior to their eventual hiring of former Bears coach Lovie Smith. Furthermore, according to league sources, the Bucs sent word to former Steelers coach Bill Cowher about their interest in him back in November, but were quickly informed Cowher was more than happy working as an analyst for CBS.

The Glazer family, which owns the Buccaneers, has been reaching back to some former employees following the firing of coach Greg Schiano and general manager Mark Dominik, and, some believe, they may ultimately approach former coach Tony Dungy about an upper-management position once his son concludes his college career at Oregon. Smith is a former assistant of Dungy's in Tampa, and the idea of reconnecting with their salad days seems to be resonating with the ownership group.

Gruden, like Dungy, still lives in the central Florida area and the allure of bringing either back would hold substantial weight with their fanbase and likely help with ticket sales. Many top coaches view the Tampa situation as one of the best opportunities of this offseason, given the talent assembled there, but not all left there on great terms with the organization. Gruden, who was also pursued by the Oakland Raiders, did not have interest in the job and Dungy has been steadfast he will never coach again (though, again, some wonder if a special consultant-type role might one day appeal to him).

The Bucs are still sorting out their new front-office structure, with it quite possible that Smith could end up holding considerable sway about personnel as well. Smith has several young execs he would like to work with there -- Chris Ballard of the Chiefs among them -- but many lack the experience that would cement their status as general managers. It remains to be seen if the new general manager in Tampa will in essence end up reporting to Smith, which, in the eyes of many veteran execs, could be a flawed structure given Smith's lack of expertise in that regard.

Pioli is available.

Those dudes are to comfortable making millions on tv.

they should hire Cowher; he could bring home another SB Trophy in 14 years.

Crennel is off the market.

So much buzz for those two guys who have been out of the game for a while.

I can't wait when/if they decide to come back and then completely bomb....lol.

and so much love for Cowher for whatever reason. Talk about overrated.

I don't think those guys are interested in coming back. It's just the standard two names that lazy reporters float for any opening

Lovie Smith = OVERRATED

to ≠ too

Doubt they are making millions.

Gruden makes about 4 mil/year. I'm sure cowher is a bit less but still up there.

Pretty limp salad

How is this even a headline? Those two turn everyone down every year.

Christ... How can Gruden be such a hot commodity?

I think Its the hair

Going back to the well with Gruden: Part Duex, huh?

Honestly, I think both these guys are rather enjoying the laid back nature of their tv gigs, and get paid pretty good coin to really do about 3% of the work they had to put in as coaches and still probably make about half of what they did the last time they were coaching.

I really don't see a lot of lure attracting them back- they both won a ring. Someone would likely have to backup a dump truck of cash to probably even tempt them to entertain making a return to the sidelines.

... my $$$ is neither will be coming back anytime soon!

Generally an amiable guy who is respected, liked, and conducts himself in a professional manner. He's done well to take his broadcast gig serious, so he's got both sides that hold him in high opinion.

Besides, everyone loves Chucky's QB camp. It's gone from webisodes to a full blowout feature on ABC that's a couple hours long, and one of their more heavily trafficked series of clips via streaming for ESPN.

Media and front offices love personalities.

Too bad...i would really like those Cowher Time Warner commercials to stop.

I like Lovie Smith, he's also got a history with TB as I think he was TB's defensive coordinator before he went to Chicago as the HC.

This...

Everyone is rejected by those two asshats. They are way too picky. Bet they have been asked by 30 teams, some of them twice.

they have been asked by the same dumpster fire franchises that have no winning pedigree

so I don't blame them for saying no.

He is a great motivator

Sadly that's way better than anything we've done.

I think even Gruden ask this about himself thus why keeps turning down teams.

What I think is funny is when Herm Edwards announces or makes a point on ESPN he is not interested in coaching and likes what he is doing. As if teams are knocking on his door ROFL

He does get calls, for front office jobs and position coaching spots.

Yeah but that's not HC the Head Cheese of a football team. That's what he talks about. Why would he take a lesser job? I can see front office maybe but not position coach after being HC for a couple teams.

And why wouldn't they.......compared to the stress of being an NFL head coach, these guys get to relax, earn a nice salary, still be around football and constantly give their 2 cents while not being held responsible for the success of a particular team.

Dungy looks frail. Does he have something?

This. And they have won a SB and have nothing to prove. Why put yourself back on the hot seat with all the off the field issues, injuries, cap hell,TMZ sports media BS and prima donna players?

I'll give Herm credit he knows how to find 2ndary guys. Maybe Dorsey might have Herm look on the side for us.

Because they're hyper-competitive. They just weren't interested in the dumpster fire smoldering in Tampa.