The Buccaneers addressed their vacancy at the quarterbacks coaching position on Thursday by officially announcing the hiring of former St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Greg Olson.

Olson, who served as the St. Louis Rams' offensive coordinator over the past two seasons, replaces Paul Hackett, who spent the past three seasons as Tampa Bay's quarterbacks coach before his contract expired at the end of the 2007 season.

After helping St. Louis' offense finish the 2006 regular season ranked fourth overall, the Rams offense slipped to 24th in 2007. According to ESPN, Olson was informed that he'd be replaced as the Rams offensive coordinator, but could remain with the club in another capacity if he chose to stay.

Instead, Olson decided to accept Tampa Bay's quarterbacks coaching position, which reunites him with Pro Bowl QB Jeff Garcia, whom he worked with in San Francisco and Detroit in 2001 and 2005, respectively.

Garcia completed 316-of-504 (62.7 percent) of his passes for 3,538 yards and tossed a career-high 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions en route to making the Pro Bowl as a 49er in '01.

Before joining St. Louis, Olson worked as a quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions (2004-05) and Chicago Bears (2003).

A former quarterback at Central Washington, Olson worked as an assistant coach at four different college programs before he joined the NFL. That included his four-year stint as a quarterbacks coach at Purdue, where Olson helped develop New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees.

Tampa Bay is expected to fill its vacant running backs coaching posiiton and assistant defensive backs coaching spot sometime this week or next.

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