Lovie Smith should ditch NFL and return to college coaching
Lovie smith was just unceremoniously released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after two seasons on the job. With his NFL career in flux, perhaps its time for him to return to his roots.
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave Lovie Smith his first NFL job when they hired him as linebackers coach in 1996. Twenty years later, perhaps they are the team who will end his time in the NFL.
The Buccaneers decided to part ways with head coach Lovie Smith in a move that was a surprise even to the team (many of them reportedly found out via Twitter). Instead of trying to catch on with another NFL franchise, it might be time for Smith to bring his talents back to where they’ll be more appreciated.
After two decades of various stops around the NFL, it seems Smith’s career is going in reverse. He wants to be a head coach, that much is obvious, and he’d probably find the path to be much easier and more fulfilling if he were to return to college coaching.
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The former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach has the precise personality, temperament and skill-set to succeed in college coaching. Unlike the NFL, where divas and prima donnas rule to roost, he could settle in and use his abilities where they’ll be more accepted by his players.
NFL players don’t seem to want a coach who will help them grow, and who finds value in discipline and structure. The me-generation of NFL rosters wants to play for a coach who will tailor schemes to their needs, and who (along with ownership) will protect them from their own mistakes, rather than teaching them how to avoid those mistakes.
Lovie Smith is a blue collar, no-nonsense guy who is as down to earth as they come. He stands behind players who work hard for him, and who care more about the team than themselves. That’s precisely the kind of man who is needed standing on the sideline on Saturdays.
The NFL has become a quarterback-to-receiver driven league, and many don’t want to believe that Smith buys into that philosophy. Whether or not he does isn’t the issue. His mindset is on defense, his background is in defense, and his relationships with quarterbacks in the NFL has been shaky at best.
You butt heads with a quarterback like Jameis Winston in college, and chances are you come out on the winning end. Not so much once a guy like that is on the books for millions of dollars. Now for Winston’s part, he professed support for all his coaches in a recent press conference, but that doesn’t mean all was snuggly tight between the first overall pick in the 2015 draft and his head coach.
It’s clear that Smith just doesn’t deal with the NFL egos and me-first mentality as well as some, and he’s been pigeon-holed as someone who can’t direct an NFL offense and bring teams along in that area. True or not, perception is a huge part of the hiring process in the NFL.
Come on back to college, Lovie, where you’ll be welcomed with open arms. Heck, you can actually win a championship in college with a quarterback like Rex Grossman.
While most of the prime college head coaching jobs are already filled for next season, Smith would be a welcome addition as a defensive coordinator on several staffs who are in need of his prowess in that area. Georgia, Navy, Arizona, Oregon, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Wisconsin are all currently on the hunt for a DC, and any of those programs would benefit by having Smith, even if for only one or two seasons.
Beyond Smith having extensive college experience as a linebackers coach and defensive backs coach at several big programs (including the aforementioned Wisconsin and Tennessee) he also has something else that is needed badly in college coaching right now.
Unlike the NFL, college coaching searches aren’t bound by anything similar to the Rooney Rule, which requires franchises to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. To have a recognizable name who is a minority return to the college ranks would be a step in helping to bring about some change in the dearth of minority coaches in FBS programs.
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He’s got the pedigree, he’s got the experience, and he’s now looking for a job. You college head coaches who are in need of a defensive genius should be calling on Lovie Smith and selling the hell out of your programs.