Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano reacts against the San Francisco 49ers. Kim Klement-Imagn Images

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach named among worst hires this century

Originally posted on Tampa Bay Buccaneers on SI
By River Wells | Last updated Jul 10, 2025 11:17 AM ET

Hiring a great head coach is hard. There are a number of factors that go into the process, and there are far more things that can go wrong than right when trying to pick out the next person to lead your franchise. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers know that just as much as anybody.

The Bucs have had just 13 head coaches in their franchise history, but the team burned through them after it fired Jon Gruden in 2008. Since then, the Bucs have had six head coaches, and current head coach Todd Bowles is set to be the first one since then to coach the Bucs for over three seasons (Bruce Arians stepped down and was not fired). Obviously, quite a few of those names didn't work out — the likes of Raheem Morris, Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter — but one name has drawn the ire of NFL pundits and Bucs fans alike.

CBS Sports recently put out a list of the 25 worst head coaching hires this century, and unfortunately, a Bucs head coach made the cut — current Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, who was hired by Tampa Bay in 2012 and fired in 2013 in favor of Smith.

Here's what writer Cody Benjamin had to say about Schiano:

"He may still hold respect at Rutgers as the school's all-time winningest head coach, but Schiano's hard-nosed style couldn't offset a major second-year slide in the NFL. Even the NFL's official website deemed him a 'poor fit' for the league ahead of his dismissal, citing an anonymous player who said playing for Schiano's Buccaneers culture was like 'being in Cuba.' OK then."

Schiano went 11-21 during his tenure with the Bucs, with a promising 7-9 start in Year 1 regressing to a 4-12 campaign in Year 2. Known for his autocratic style of management, Schiano was unpopular with the players, and outside of his poor coaching record, his tenure is also somewhat notorious for an MRSA outbreak that occurred during his last year in 2013 and even led to a former kicker suing the team over it. Schiano's tenure was so loathed that the Bucs also fired general manager Mark Dominik alongside him.

The Bucs have had it rough in the past, but the team just extended Bowles and general manager Jason Licht, so it seems as if they have a tandem they're proud to stand behind. With a Super Bowl in 2020 and four straight division titles, the Bucs have firmly left the mediocrity of the Schiano era in the past.