Tampa Bay Buccaneers fire coach Dirk Koetter after disappointing NFL season
Monday 31 December 2018 06:41, UK
Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fired coach Dirk Koetter after ending a disappointing season with a 34-32 loss to Atlanta.
Koetter was promoted from offensive coordinator to his first NFL head coaching position when Tampa Bay fired Lovie Smith in January 2016.
He led the Bucs to a 9-7 record that year, but followed up with consecutive 5-11 finishes.
The Bucs started 2-0 this year and then lost 11 of 14 down the stretch, including four straight defeats to finish the season.
Koetter, who had a 19-29 record, was dismissed after meeting with team ownership after Sunday's game.
"We sincerely appreciate the hard work and commitment shown by Dirk over the past several years," said Buccaneers owner and co-chairman Joel Glazer.
"Working with Dirk has been a pleasure and we wish him and his family all the best in the future.
"Our search for a new head coach will begin immediately and will be conducted by general manager Jason Licht."
Koetter was asked after the defeat to Atlanta if he believed he deserved to keep his job after constructing an offense that ranked among the league leaders this season, including No 1 in passing stats.
'There is no such thing as deserve in the NFL," he said. "Numbers are nice but this is a winning league.
"I've been fired before and I've been hired before. I know this, if look yourself in the mirror at end the day and know you did everything you could, then I've no problem holding my head up."
Licht, whose record since taking over as general manager five years ago is 27-53, is apparently keeping his job despite a spotty track record in the draft and free agency, where Tampa Bay have made numerous mistakes, especially in Licht's effort to overhaul a porous defense.
Defensive coordinator Mike Smith was fired in October with the Bucs yielding a NFL-high 34.6 points a game through the first six weeks of the season.
The team also must decide this winter whether Jameis Winston is the team's quarterback of the future.
Koetter was named coach, in part, because of his relationship with the No 1 overall pick from the 2015 draft, however Winston has not blossomed into the dominating quarterback the team envisioned him becoming under Koetter's guidance.
Winston, finishing his fourth season, is due to earn $20.92 million next season in the final year of the contract he signed as a rookie.
"It's an empty feeling when you lose, no matter how you lose. It was an up and down year and didn't turn out how we wanted it to turn out,'" Winston said, adding he has not been told if he will return in 2019.
