Sports: Steckel will run the offense

Steckel will run the offense

Bucs coach Tony Dungy gets an offensive coordinator who has done the job, thinks run first and has Super Bowl experience.

By ERNEST HOOPER

TAMPA -- Bucs coach Tony Dungy is hoping Les is more.

Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Les Steckel was hired for the same position with the Bucs on Sunday, leaving a team that came within 1 yard of possibly winning the Super Bowl for a team that came within one victory of playing in the Super Bowl.

"We've got a lot of the same values," said Dungy, eager to improve an offense that never ranked higher than 22nd in his four-year tenure. "We think about football in the same ways, that there are ways to teach things and there are things that are important.

"He believes in hard-nosed football, but he also has, I think, an ability to use the best players on his team. That's certainly what they did last year and that impressed me a great deal."

Steckel exchanges the NFL's 13th-ranked offense for the 28th. For a coach to leave a successful team raises an obvious question: Why? Steckel answered in two words at a news conference Sunday night: Tony Dungy.

"Our value system is identical," said Steckel, who added he would have joined the Bucs even if they were 7-9 or 8-8. "And in our interview process the other day, I believe our football philosophies are as close to identical as I've ever had working for a head coach. To paraphrase a statement (Titans) Coach (Jeff) Fisher made, I'm afraid the match has been made in heaven."

The idea of joining the Bucs first came to Steckel when he was vacationing in Arizona earlier this month. He and wife Chris were watching television when it was reported the Bucs had released offensive coordinator Mike Shula.

"She looked at me and she goes, "Les, you've always said you wanted to work for Tony Dungy,' " Steckel recounted. "I said, "I know, but . . .' and I just shrugged my shoulders. We never talked about it until last Monday night. I just had a strong feeling that this is where I was supposed to be coming.

"We kept our fingers crossed that when my contract expired on the 15th, that I would possibly have a chance to come, and here I stand."

Steckel called Dungy on Wednesday the 16th and flew to Tamap to meet with Dungy on Thursday. He also spoke to the offensive coaching staff and other team officials. Steckel will inherit the remaining offensive assistants, but will have some input on personnel, beginning with this weekend's NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

"Obviously, we're going to let him put his system in and try to find out what the main cogs of that are and what we need to do," Dungy said. "He hasn't had a lot of look at our personnel, but I'm sure he'll have some ideas ... of areas we need to improve and what guys need to come to the forefront."

Steckel and Dungy are devout Christians, and both are devoted to running the football. While the Titans averaged 24.5 points and had a passing offense ranked 13th in the league, it was predicated on the punishing runs of Eddie George, who ran for 1,304 yards during the regular season.

Some fans may have hoped the dismissal of Shula would lead to a more wide-open attack, but with the addition of Steckel, the Bucs clearly will continue to build their offense around the running of Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn.

"As you guys are interested in pulling up the passing game, we know how to throw the football," Steckel said. "But I believe also that we're very confident in knowing the common denominator of football is it's a tough, physical game, boys. We're going to make sure we continue to do just that."

Two other pluses of Steckel's offense have been a minimum number of turnovers and high degree of efficiency in the red zone. In 1998, his offense became the first in the NFL to score every possession inside the red zone.

The Titans ranked second in turnover differential the past two seasons and had just 22 turnovers in 1999.

"As I've told the players ... wherever I've been, if you can have zero turnovers, I can be Joe Willie Namath and guarantee victory," Steckel said. "The only time that backfired on me in my entire career was the Super Bowl, where we had zero turnovers."

Of all the candidates interviewed, Steckel clearly had the most experience as an offensive coordinator, having worked with the Titans for three years as well as Colorado and Brown University. He also was the passing coordinator for New England when it reached the Super Bowl in 1986.

A Vietnam veteran who is still a colonel in the Marine Reserves, Steckel, 53, was Vikings head coach in 1984. The Vikings went 3-13 and Steckel was labeled as being too much of a disciplinarian, but he said Sunday he has gained wisdom and learned from mistakes of his youth.

CARDS REPORTEDLY OFFER NICKERSON CONTRACT: Arizona reportedly offered free-agent linebacker Hardy Nickerson a contract, but the terms were not disclosed. Dungy said he hopes to learn more about the situation today.

"We want to have Hardy Nickerson with us next year and we're going to do everything we can to get that done," Dungy said. "But when a player is a free agent, you never know what's going to happen."