Ira Kaufman, via Sports Babe and JBF:
“My information — which is fairly fresh — is I wouldn’t be talking up Marty Schottenheimer so much, nor Wade Phillips.
“I don’t think they have their guy yet. You are not going to like this one, but [the search] could stretch out a couple of weeks. I think there are other candidates as yet unnamed. They may be with some teams in the playoffs, but I’m not sure about that. Things are still in flux.
“I don’t think this Bucs thing is nearly wrapped up.
“The Bucs are really not interested in Jeff Fisher. They have never interviewed him. He is not coming to Tampa.
“For anyone that thinks thie Bucs will wrap this up Monday with a nice tidy press conference, I don’t think that is happening. i think they might be in the early stages.”
Team Glazer ”is locked in with Mark Dominik. He is a survivor; he stayed. Let’s not be naive, ultimately the Glazers will make the decision [of who the new coach will be] but Dominnik is in every interview and he has input. The fact [Mike Sherman and Dominik] share the same agent, that’s not going to carry the day with the Glazers.
“The guy they ultimately hire will have to be an old school disciplinarian. I wish they would open it up to first-time coaches."
I am so tired of this media BS.
Let's all carefully think about this for a second and ask a few questions:
1. Who would Ira's "fresh" information be coming from? - Who would be a likely inside informant? Well, we know its not a coach since the entire staff was fired. I highly doubt it is anyone in the PR Department because they are not paid to leak info like this - they would not want to say anything that would jeopardize a negotiation. The only people likely in on the interviews are the Glazer boys and Mark Dominik. I suppose Ira might have a source close to one of those people - but I just find it very unlikely that anyone would know enough to be able to say who has the inside track, and who does not.
2. The only info probably coming out is that its going to be a thorough process. Well, that is what the Glazer boy said at the beginning. They are going to cover all of their bases. And really, why not??? Its not like they are competing for coaches. The coaches they have lined up so far are not getting a ton of interest outside this organization.
The only definitive thing I heard came from Marty Schottenheimer's mouth - who said it was a great meeting - and they were likely going to meet again in the very near future. That sounds pretty promising to me.
Otherwise - as far as I am concerned Ira Kaufman knows as much as UFO Joe..... which is nothing.
