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Bucs talk to Lewis, will do more today

GM Rich McKay steps up the coaching search. Norv Turner and Mike Mularkey are up next.

By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 30, 2002

TAMPA -- Intent on cleaning up the Bucs' messy coaching situation, Rich McKay finally stepped up the process by conducting interviews with candidates away from the scene of the grime.

Ravens defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis met for several hours Tuesday with McKay at an undisclosed location near Atlanta.

Former Chargers offensive coordinator Norv Turner meets with McKay today and Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey interviews later today or Thursday, most likely at the same location.

McKay has said the Bucs might not hire a coach until after Super Bowl XXXVI. If so, that would allow him time to interview Louisiana State coach Nick Saban.

The Bucs have not formally asked for permission to speak to Saban, 50. The Bucs timetable would allow them to wait until after the Feb. 6 national signing day of college recruits to talk to Saban so as not to interfere with recruiting.

Despite the interviews coming to light Tuesday, McKay continued to operate in the shadows.

He was unavailable for comment and has even clamped down on coaching candidates and their agents, asking them for strict confidentiality in the matter.

This was the second interview for an NFL head coaching job for Lewis, 43. The architect of a defense that shattered the NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game season on Baltimore's way to theSuper Bowl XXXV title a year ago, Lewis finished second for the Panthers job that went to Giants defensive coordinator John Fox.

"He's extremely competent to be a head coach," Ravens coach Brian Billick said of Lewis. "He has a great perspective on the game that goes well beyond the X and O's, and he has a very good relationship with his players and is obviously a great motivator."

However, because of his defensive pedigree, Lewis might be a long shot for the job. McKay might view Lewis as too similar to former coach Tony Dungy, a long-time defensive coordinator with no proven system of offense when he was hired in 1996. Under Dungy, the Bucs never finished higher than 21st in total offense despite three starting quarterbacks and three coordinators.

Billick said he believed Lewis would adapt to his personnel but probably favors a balanced offense that emphasizes the run.

"I think any good coach will adapt to his personnel and Marvin is no different," Billick said. "Like any defensive coach, he's going to try to run the ball well and be balanced to a degree. But the best coaches use the talents they have and adapt. I think you saw that with Pittsburgh to a degree. (Steelers coach) Bill Cowher realized a strength of his offense was throwing the football and did it effectively."

Turner, 49, exercised his option to get out of the final three years of his contract Monday after the Chargers reached a deal with Marty Schottenheimer to coach their team.

The job as Dolphins offensive coordinator is considered Turner's for the asking and he will talk today in Miami with coach Dave Wannstedt, whom he served with on Jimmy Johnson's staff in Dallas in the early '90s.

But Turner said he would put Wannstedt off as long as he is considered by the Bucs.

Thought a brilliant offensive strategist, Turner could be reunited with Bucs quarterback Brad Johnson, who passed for more than 4,000 yards with the Redskins in '99. With Johnson healthy, Turner's 'Skins went 16-9.

In nearly seven seasons with the Redskins, Turner went 49-59-1 before he was fired with three games remaining in 2000. But the Bucs believe Turner immediately would give them a credible attack on offense.

"He's so smart. If I'm down there right now, I'd go after Turner," Steelers Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw said from New Orleans. "He did a really good job in Washington. He runs a great offense. ... A lot of really smart stuff. That would be the guy."

But perhaps thought to be higher on McKay's list is Mularkey, who began his NFL coaching career with the Bucs in '94 under Sam Wyche and McKay.

Cowher said Tuesday that the Steelers had granted the Bucs permission to interview Mularkey, 40. "I'm happy for him," Cowher said. "I'll never stand in the way of a coach who wants to advance.

"Does it disrupt your staff? Yeah. But I will never stand in the way of it. I think it's a great endorsement for our organization."

Mularkey has no head coaching experience but what he accomplished in his first season as offensive coordinator was remarkable.

Pittsburgh went from 29th overall in total offense in 2000 to second in the AFC this year.

Despite being without starting running back Jerome Bettis for six games, Pittsburgh led the league in rushing. More impressively, it did it while setting club passing records.

Hines Ward and Plaxico Burris each reached 1,000 yards receiving. Ward set a club record with 94 receptions.

In fact, Mularkey is fond of admitting he has a little of Wyche's trickery in his offense.

"Sam was a smart guy, really a smart guy," Mularkey told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently. "Sam was always trying to attack people. If you're trying to substitute, he'd snap the ball. He was trying to attack you between plays. It wasn't just when the ball was snapped. A team would try to defend you by sending out better personnel, but he'd try to hurry up with the offense before they could do that. I have tapes of 15, 16 defensive guys on the field when the ball is being snapped.

"That was his philosophy, always attacking."

Whether the kickoff to interviews means the Bucs are losing faith in prying coach Jon Gruden away from the Raiders is uncertain. McKay considered that scenario a long shot from the outset and there are no indications of talks with Raiders owner Al Davis.

However, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that Davis has investigated the compensation issues involved between the Jets and Patriots when Bill Parcells left New England to coach the Jets.

McKay's stealth approach to the coaching search is not surprising. McKay is attempting to avoid the public fiasco of the Parcells episode, one that included the St. Petersburg Times reporting Dungy's expected firing one day before the Bucs' NFC wild-card loss to Philadelphia; the late-night dismissal of Dungy on Jan. 14; a highly scrutinized press conference the next day with Joel and Bryan Glazer in which the team executives claimed the Bucs never had previous contact with Parcells; the interviewing of Mike Tannenbaum, Parcells' hand-picked general manager Jan. 17; McKay's reneging on taking the job of team president; and the withdrawal of Parcells the day after that.

"I've done more laughing than thinking about that situation," Bradshaw said. "It's a joke. They deserve what happened. They lost a great guy."

- Staff writers Gary Shelton and Roger Mills and researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

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