Other teams wait, salivate over Bucs assistants

By RICK STROUD
Published January 7, 2006

TAMPA - Within hours after the Bucs end their 2005 season - and they hope it is at Super Bowl XL in Detroit - teams from around the league will begin to pick their coaching staff clean.

Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, linebackers coach Joe Barry, quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett and assistant offensive line coach Aaron Kromer are under contract and off limits, unless someone wants to interview them for a head-coaching job.

But nearly every member of the rest of the staff is fair game.

The exodus is going to be felt most on defense, where line coach Rod Marinelli and secondary coach Mike Tomlin are expected to be highly sought.

Assistant defensive backs coach Raheem Morris has accepted a job with Kansas State as defensive coordinator.

"I'm being kind of selfish, because I don't want this season to end," Barry said. "It's going to be kind of sad. This staff has been together for a very long time. It's been a heck of a run."

It certainly has.

With the exception of Herm Edwards and Lovie Smith - who became head coaches with the New York Jets and Chicago Bears - the Bucs defensive staff has largely been intact since '96. During that time, Tampa Bay has finished in the league's top 10 nine straight seasons, including twice as the league's No. 1 defense (2002 and '05).

Kiffin, who in June signed a two-year extension through 2007 worth $1.7-million per season, deserves much of the credit.

But Marinelli, assistant head coach, may be the best assistant in the NFL.

There is no more respected man inside One Buc Place than Marinelli, who has produced perennial Pro Bowl players like Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice and revitalized the careers of Brad Culpepper, Greg Spires and Chris Hovan, to name a few.

If the Bears' Ron Rivera accepts a head-coaching job, Marinelli could rejoin Smith in Chicago as defensive coordinator - a position the Bucs would not allow him to interview for two years ago. Edwards, who is close to joining the Chiefs, twice tried to hire Marinelli with the Jets.

Tomlin, who interviewed with the Dolphins last year, agreed to sign only a one-year deal in '05 knowing he would have more opportunities to become a defensive coordinator.

After sticking to a heavy-handed policy of not allowing assistants under contract to interview for promotions with other teams, coach Jon Gruden finally seems resigned to a staff overhaul.

"I'm excited for them. Hopefully, opportunities do present themselves," Gruden said. "There's going to be a lot of guys obviously looking at our situation, too, that want to be a part of this. We were fortunate to get Paul Hackett. We're going to try to keep our coaching staff together. But I'm sure opportunity, as it has in Raheem Morris' case, will knock and that's part of this business.

"But it is a tough time of year because you are still playing. You want to analyze what we've got to do (today) to get ready for this game. And then, too, change is just such a drastic part of this game, it's something you have to react to, you're not going to be able to keep the same group of guys together."

Many changes could come on the offensive staff. Running backs coach Art Valero, receivers coach Richard Mann and offensive line coach Bill Muir are believed to be without contracts for '06. Special-teams coach Richard Bisaccia, denied an opportunity to join Charlie Weis at Notre Dame last year, also has his freedom.

"It's been probably a huge winning edge here because we've had a consistency here in terms of how we're coaching, how we're teaching, how we're working," Gruden said. "And we'll continue to try to achieve that. At the same time, there will be opportunities for some and we'll have to deal with that when it comes."

[Last modified January 7, 2006, 01:15:51]