ST Coach Ligashesky fired

[Booker Reese]

Ligashevsky was my least favorite hire. Terrible track record in the NFL, with units regularly near the bottom.

You should check out what Steelers fans thought of him.

[TampaBucks05]

Yeah, well my least favorite hire this year has been Tony Oden. The guy has had a terrible history so far at coaching DBs and I'm starting to wonder why we even bothered 'letting' Ron Cooper coach at USF(firing him). We let go of someone because the unit they were coaching was the 32nd ranked pass defense then but brought in a guy who coached the 29th ranked pass defense. The difference of which is almost nullified by the combination of the Talib trade and the Wright suspension. So that move is mind boggling, especially when you take into account the guys Cooper has developed at LSU(Peterson, Claiborne, Reed, Mathieu). However, I'm going to trust Schiano knows what he is doing but its mind boggling to me nonetheless.

[Buc on the Move]

The coordinators with the worst talent to work with are now gone...scapegoats?
Still, our return game was pretty anemic last year.

[Morgan]

The coordinators with the worst talent to work with are now gone...scapegoats?
Still, our return game was pretty anemic last year.

never thought ST was our biggest problem....of the three teams, probably the least of our concerns.

[Buc on the Move]

The coordinators with the worst talent to work with are now gone...scapegoats?
Still, our return game was pretty anemic last year.

never thought ST was our biggest problem....of the three teams, probably the least of our concerns.

I'm going to disagree with you Morgan.  While defense was definitely the worst, I am going to pin ST as the next worse unit.  The offense was not infallible by any stretch, but they had plenty of spark and succeeded in getting things done through the air and on the ground.  The offensive performance was especially good considering the injuries they overcame. 

Special teams, on the other hand, were not that special, other than blocking some kicks(which I am not discounting).  Our coverage units were just ok, and our return units regularly failed to supply the excitement that can re-energize the offense.  I am just going with my gut feeling here from the games I watched, not reaching into the stat bag, but I can remember feeling often that after a good stop(or not) by the defense that with a good return, we would be ready to roll again.  Then the opposing team would pin us deep, and I would be steaming that we didn't make a better play on the return.  The battle for field position is a big deal, and a lot of field position is traded back and forth in the special teams phase of the game.  While we excelled in this phase in recent years, it was by far a disappointment in 2012, and could have shifted a game or two the other way.

[Booker Reese]

Yeah, well my least favorite hire this year has been Tony Oden. The guy has had a terrible history so far at coaching DBs and I'm starting to wonder why we even bothered 'letting' Ron Cooper coach at USF(firing him). We let go of someone because the unit they were coaching was the 32nd ranked pass defense then but brought in a guy who coached the 29th ranked pass defense. The difference of which is almost nullified by the combination of the Talib trade and the Wright suspension. So that move is mind boggling, especially when you take into account the guys Cooper has developed at LSU(Peterson, Claiborne, Reed, Mathieu). However, I'm going to trust Schiano knows what he is doing but its mind boggling to me nonetheless.

What metrics are you using for the rankings?

Here's the difference - pass D is a function of a whole bunch of things, not just the play of the DBs. The ST teams guy coordinates an entire unit.

As far as I can tell from Oden's track record, he's had the head job for just two seasons (one with the Saints, most recently Jacksonville), and has been let go both times because of changes made at the top (Gregg Williams leaving in New Orleans, the entire staff getting fired in Jacksonville).  In Jacksonville, Rasean Mathis, Derek Cox, and Aaron Ross made just 25 starts combined (and Ross was terrible by all accounts).  One starting safety missed 7 games as well.  I'd also add that they had just 20 sacks last year, worst in the NFL.

I'm not doing hand-springs by any stretch, but I think position coaching jobs are hard for fans to get a real bead on.

[Bucs_Rule]

First, Bucs wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck moved on to become the youngest head coach in major college football, then quarterbacks coach Ron Turner was encouraged to leave by Butch Davis and offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan jumped at a chance to leave Tampa before secondary coach Ron Cooper dove back into the college ranks. Now, Greg Schiano has dropped his axe on special teams coach Bob Ligashesky, despite Ligashesky’s Super Bowl ring (Pittsburgh) and the Bucs leading the NFL in blocked punts, per a Tweet by Tampa Bay Times beat writer Rick Stroud.

Yes, the Bucs special teams were not strong, but that definitely was, in part, because the Bucs had subpar returners throughout the season. The kicking game was sound, and surely special teams was not a problem.

But Joe can say that Schiano is obsessive about special teams, and it does not surprise Joe if Schiano thought he could do better.

http://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=82579

What kind of crap is this? The article makes it seem like no one likes Schaino and he is a control freak. The fact is I think most WR and QB coaches in the NFL would leave their team to be a HC of a college program, and almost every coordinator would want to be a HC somewhere in the NFL. IMO these coaches left because they had better opportunities not because they disliked Schiano.

As for the Bucs special teams play they were not good at all in the return game, they only averaged 9 yards per punt return and 20 yards per kickoff return. Also I think the blocked punts had a lot more to do with Schiano than Ligashesky because Schiano used the same blocked punt schemes at Rutgers.

[Ft Myers Buc Fan]

Rick Stroud ‏@NFLSTROUD

Bucs have fired special teams coach Bob Ligashesky after one season.

Schiano was real serious about evaluating all aspects of the team.  Firing Ligashesky this late in the process tells me Schiano already has his replacement in mind and lined up

“@TKras: According to reports, #Bucs will hire Paul Ferraro as their new special teams coach...Ferraro was Schiano' DC at Rutgers from 2001-2004”

Called this one...   

[Morgan]

Great - more college coaching influence. That's all the Bucs need.

[Ft Myers Buc Fan]

Great - more college coaching influence. That's all the Bucs need.

He has coached special teams before for the Vikings

[Dolorous Jason]

It's ST ...who cares ??

Doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to draw this up....

[PassThePigSkin]

It's ST ...who cares ??

Doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to draw this up....

"Who do we tackle coach".

[Rusty]

Note, Ferraro was DC at Rutgers for Schiano from 2001 to 2004. Hmmmmmmmm

[TampaBucks05]

It's ST ...who cares ??

Doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to draw this up....

So it was just a coincidence that our ST were good when Bisaccia was here huh?

[Morgan]

Note, Ferraro was DC at Rutgers for Schiano from 2001 to 2004. Hmmmmmmmm

evidently he's got  NFL experience w/ Minnesota