Tampa Bay Buccaneers executive vice president Joel Glazer met with the media and answered questions about the decision to fire general manager Bruce Allen and head coach Jon Gruden. Below is the transcript of the brief interview that Glazer gave with members of the media. The questions are in bold font.

(Why make this move?)
“Any time a season ends, especially the way our season ended, it is a very, very emotional time,” said Glazer. “One thing we always like to do is not act on emotion. Let things simmer down. Think things thru carefully, not make any quick rash decisions. After taking a lot of time to look at our franchise, look where it has been, look where it is, and look where we want to go. We just felt this was the time for a change.”

(Do you have someone in place already?)
“Obviously with a lot of careful thought and consideration, you think about the future,” said Glazer. “In our mind there is a plan of where we want to go, so we are going forward. When we have more to talk about that we’ll keep you updated.”

(Decision based on 2008 or whole body of work?)
“This isn’t a decision that is made on one play, or one game, or one week, or one thing,” said Glazer. “We looked at the totality of the situation, and you evaluate it. You look at where your franchise is, plus the goal every year is to build a championship team that can compete year in and year out, and so you look at the whole situation. After just looking at it, and looking at it, and thinking it through, and just being objective with ourselves we just felt it was time for that change.”

(What is the status of the assistant coaches?)
“We have a lot of good coaches on our staff here, good scouts, anytime you have a change like this someone new is going to come in and sit with everybody and evaluate people. One thing we do know is we have a lot of good people here, and those decisions will be made at the appropriate time.”

(Is that the same for front office members as well?)
“Yes.”

(Gruden and Allen received extensions after last season, at that time you felt the franchise was headed in the right direction, what has brought you to this point now?)
“Again like I said before at the end of every season we sit back and look at everything,” said Glazer. “We did that last year and went forward with the extensions. At the end of the day every year we feel we owe it to this football team and this community to do a good honest assessment of our franchise. If at any point we feel that change is in our best interest we feel we have to make that change. That is where we got to in this situation. You can’t let decisions you made a year ago affect your decisions today. You look at it. You look at the totality of the situation and you make your decision.”

(How did they take the news?)
“Jon and Bruce have been the consummate professionals,” Glazer said. “They have poured their heart and soul into this franchise. It has really been an honor to work with them the last several years. The details I don’t want to get to far into that, but they have always been the consummate professionals.”

(You said you felt change was necessary, what was it that you saw that made you feel that way?)
“It is not one specific thing or another. There are so many factors that go into an organization and go into a team. The fundamental beliefs that you have, and your corps beliefs, you have to do a check every year. Is this franchise on the path we want it to be on, where we want to go, and what we believe in, and again after looking at the whole situation we thought change was necessary.”

(Are you looking for a general manager and head coach, or could one person do both?)
“We’ve always had a coach and a general manager. That is something we believe in,” said Glazer. “Keep in mind, we have a plan as to where we want to go. Today we wanted to talk about what just happened. There’ll be time to talk about where this is all going. [The Bucs] will keep everybody up to date.”

(What kind of timetable will be there for making the new hire?)
“Not to put any timetable on things, but in our mind, we know where we want to head with this. When it unfolds it will unfold,” said Glazer.

(Will people in the organization get consideration for head coach and general manager positions?)
“Again, in our mind we know where we want to go,” said Glazer. “It is well thought through. It is carefully thought through, and things will become more apparent as time goes on.”

(What was your impression of the fans feeling for Gruden, Allen, and the Buccaneers over the last year or two?)
“Well I know this much about our fans. We have wonderful fans, and the pain they feel after a loss, I feel that after a loss. The happiness after a win is the same happiness I feel after a win. Another thing about our community is this is a town that appreciates good football. It wants to win and wants to win a championship bad. Once you have that in your fan base that is all you can ask for. We feel the same way as our fans. They want a winner. They want to win it so badly. We want to help deliver it them.”

(Have you spoken with the players about this decision?)
“No this is something that you are around the team. You’re around the team on a regular basis. This isn’t a conversation with a player or whoever it is, at the end of the season we take a step back and evaluate the whole situation. We go through all that in our minds, in great detail, great conversation, and just look at the totality of the situation and then you just have to make a decision. These decisions are never easy. This is the toughest decision you can make for an NFL franchise, but tough decisions are never the easy decisions. One thing we know is we owe it to our fans every year to do a good honest assessment of our franchise, and we have to ask the question to ourselves every day are we doing everything we can to bring them a championship. This what we feel we need to do, this change, to head in that direction.”

(It took three weeks to reach this decision?)
“Yeah there was a lot of emotion at the end of the season,” said Glazer. “A lot of emotion, and that is when discussions begin and you just want to make sure all that emotion is out of your body, because it is a big decision. It is the biggest decision a franchise will make. We are always trying to be deliberate in our consideration and not make rash decisions, and do something that we think is in the best interests of the long-term of this franchise.”

(After making a financial commitment to Gruden and Allen just a year ago, do this move dispel the conspiracy theories that the Buccaneers won’t spend money due to the Glazers owning Manchester United?)
“I don’t know if it dispels it,” said Glazer. “I know this much we are just as committed today as we were, I think 14 years ago today we signed a contract to buy this team. I’m as miserable today after a loss as I was 10 years ago. We are as committed today as we have ever been to this franchise, and we will always, have been, have been, and will be always committed to doing what it takes to build a winner. If the right players are there, the money is going to be there, but you have to go about things wisely. Sometimes you can throw money at a situation and it can get you in trouble. We are big believers in building a sustainable franchise that is going to be in competition for many years for the ultimate prize. When you can add something that is going to make a difference, we are all for it. Let’s add it.”

(Do you want a coach that has NFL coaching experience, or will you consider a first-time head coach or college coaches?)
“Today we want to focus on what just happened, and then we will focus on the future in the future,” said Glazer.

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