The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have identified the person they feel is a long-term fit at the defensive coordinator position.

The Bucs have hired veteran coach Jim Bates to succeed Monte Kiffin as the defensive coordinator in Tampa Bay.

Bates, 62, has 14 years of coaching experience in the National Football League. His most recent coaching gig was with the Denver Broncos. He replaced Larry Coyer, who spent the past two seasons with the Buccaneers, during the 2007 offseason, but left his post one year later.

Before he left the Broncos organization, Bates was relieved of his defensive coordinator duties and named assistant head coach/defense during the '07 season. Denver promoted defensive backs coach Bob Slowik. The Broncos defense finished the ‘07 season ranked 19th overall and 30th against the run.

Bates is considered an experienced, fiery coach that motivates his players. His defenses normally are fundamentally sound and disciplined.

Prior to his stint with Denver, Bates spent one season (2005) as the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator. He was a head coaching candidate in Green Bay before the Packers eventually hired Mike McCarthy for the position.

That disappointed Bates, who had hoped to become the head coach in Miami after serving as the interim head coach following the resignation of Dave Wannstedt in 2004. Bates produced a 3-4 record in place of Wannstedt, but Miami eventually hired Nick Saban as its new head coach during the '05 offseason.

Bates, whose son Jeremy was a candidate for Tampa Bay's vacant offensive coordinator job before he accepted the same position with USC earlier this week, began his NFL coaching career with the Cleveland Browns in 1991. He served as the team's defensive line coach before taking a defensive coordinator job with the Atlanta Falcons in 1994.

He held that position for one season before returning to Cleveland to serve as the team's defensive backs coach in 1995. Bates took a linebackers coach position with the Dallas Cowboys in 1996 and was promoted to assistant coach/defensive line coach in 1998.

Bates held that position with the Cowboys until 2000, which is when he originally joined the Miami Dolphins as their defensive coordinator.

Bates has big shoes to fill as Kiffin, who served as Tampa Bay's defensive coordinator from 1996-08, helped his defenses finish 11 of the past 12 seasons ranked in the top 10, including No. 1 overall in 2002 and 2005, respectively. Kiffin left Tampa Bay at the end of the '08 season to join his son Lane's coaching staff in Tennessee, which ironically is Bates' alma mater.

Morris, 32, served as Tampa Bay's defensive backs coach for two seasons before being named Kiffin's successor on Dec. 25. However, ownership fired head coach Jon Gruden last week, which led to another promotion for Morris, this time the title of head coach of the Buccaneers.

Morris is expected to work closely with Bates, whose schemes typically have been based around a 4-3 front but have included a 3-4 hybrid. With Bates, expect more blitzing from the linebackers than Kiffin's defenses did during the team's "Tampa 2" era.

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