Marty Schottenheimer left One Buccaneer Place Tuesday afternoon happy with his interview to be the ninth head coach of the Buccaneers, and likes what he sees from the roster.

The 68-year old former Browns, Chiefs, Redskins and Chargers coach commented to the Tampa Bay Times Tuesday.

"I think they've got some great young players on that team," Schottenheimer told the Times. "They've also got some really solid veterans. And when you see them develop, that's always very exciting for every coach.

"In my particular case, I like to work with kids. I refer to them as kids, even though I know they're grown men. But I like to give them the benefit of my insight as to what I've seen and experienced in this business. I am a teacher."

Schottenheimer began his professional coaching career with the Cleveland Browns in 1984. He last coached in San Diego in 2006 and was fired after an apparent dispute with owner Alex Spanos and general manager A.J. Smith, even after a posting an impressive 14-2 record. 

In Schottenheimer’s 22 seasons as a NFL head coach (200-126), his teams earned 13 trips to the playoffs (5-13 playoff game record), eight divisional titles, and had just two seasons with a sub .500 record.

Former Vikings coach Brad Childress interviewed Monday and while he didn’t want to get into the details of the meeting, Childress, like Schottenheimer, sees the possibilites.

"I prefer to keep that a private matter between me and the team and general manager Mark Dominik - aside from the fact that we talked,'' Childress told the Tampa Tribune.

"I like Josh Freeman. You know, we (Vikings) ended up taking (Florida wide receiver) Percy Harvin (22nd overall) in the draft, but if Josh had come to us, it would have been hard to pass up a quarterback like that.''

Last week, former Packers and Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman and Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray were interviewed.

Sherman was the Packers head coach from 2000-2005 (57-39 record) and lead his team to three divisional titles in Green Bay during that stretch. He was fired after a 4-12 record in his last season as Packers head coach and was hired as an assistant coach with the Houston Texans before taking over the Aggies program in 2008. Sherman was 25-25 in his tenure as head coach at Texas A&M.



Gray played nine seasons in the NFL, including one season for the Buccaneers in 1993, and is currently the defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans. In his first season as defensive coordinator with the Titans, Gray’s unit finished 18th in the league in total defense. Gray previously coached with the Seahawks, Redskins and Bills, and also had an earlier stint with the Titans.


Former Dallas head coach and current Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is reportedly set to interview for the Bucs’ vacancy Friday.