With the late hire of new Bucs' head coach Greg Schiano, Tampa Bay finds themselves behind the eight ball in the race to fill their staff from an ever-shrinking pool of potential coaches.

In the last two weeks quality coaches like Brad Childress, Mike Nolan, Mike Sherman and Bruce Arians among them, have been hired by other clubs.

A head coach is critical to an organization but arguably the choice of coordinators and assistants could have even a bigger impact on the success of the Buccaneers’ franchise.



So who is left? Below is a list of a few potential coaches that could join the Buccaneers as defensive coordinator.

Butch Davis
Davis is the one name that makes the most sense as Davis hired Schiano as defensive coordinator when both were at the University of Miami. Reports of interest in Davis arose shortly after Schiano’s press conference last Friday, but a week later there hasn’t been any movement, which you wonder if maybe there has been no interest on the part of Davis.

Davis is still receiving the rest of his salary from the University of North Carolina, and at age 60 may be content to stay out of the limelight. But the Buccaneers and Schiano would be wise to try and persuade Davis to jump back into the NFL, as he would provide credibility and discipline to a young Bucs defense. The project of restoring the defense won’t be easy but hiring someone with a wealth of experience would possibly hurry the process along.

Other than Davis there hasn’t been many names bantered about for the top coordinator job, just possible position coaches. PewterReport.com offers up these names as coaches the Buccaneers may want to take a look at if Davis is not hired.

Winston Moss
Current Green Bay Packers assistant head coach and linebacker’s coach Winston Moss was interviewed for the head-coaching job in Oakland earlier this month before the Raiders ultimately settled on Dennis Allen.

Moss was a second round-draft pick by the Buccaneers in 1987 and also played for the Los Angeles Raiders before finishing his career with the Seahawks in 1997. The following year Moss joined the Seahawks as a quality control assistant and in 2000 Moss went to the New Orleans Saints eventually as their linebackers coach, before being hired in Green Bay in 2006. One season later, Moss was promoted to assistant head coach to go along with his duties coaching linebackers.

Moss would be an interesting selection, although it is almost certain the Buccaneers would prefer someone with coordinator experience.

Mike Trgovac
While the name of Packers defensive line coach Mike Trgovac hasn’t been floated around in the media, it is a name that PewterReport.com would like to see the Buccaneers explore.

Trgovac, a 17 year NFL veteran coach, has an exceptional resume as a defensive coach, including serving under John Fox as the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator from 2003 to 2008. During his tenure in Carolina the Panthers defense ranked fifth in the NFL in total yards allowed in that six-year stretch.

Trgovac left the Panthers on his own following the 2008 season after being offered just a one-year contract and with the knowledge Fox was a one-year lame duck coach in Carolina.

Before his stint in Carolina Trgovac was a defensive line coach for Green Bay, Washington, and Philadelphia, and prior to that was a college defensive coach for schools like Michigan, Navy and Notre Dame.

Trgovac doesn’t have any history with Schiano but is well respected inside the inner circle of the NFL world.

Other Names That May Be Considered
Two names from the Schiano coaching tree that may be explored are Baltimore defensive backs coach Teryl Austin and Packers safeties coach Darren Perry. Both coached with Schiano at Penn State under Joe Paterno.

In addition to his time in Baltimore Austin coached defensive backs for Seattle and Arizona and also spent one season as defensive coordinator at the University of Florida in Urban Meyers last season in Gainesville.

Perry played nine seasons in the NFL and has coached defensive backs since 2002 in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Oakland.