The Ravens have fired veteran head coach John Harbaugh after 18 seasons, following the team’s Week 18 loss to the Steelers, which knocked them out of playoff contention.

That could change everything for the Bucs and their decision-making process when it comes to keeping head coach Todd Bowles or parting ways with him.

Harbaugh’s sudden availability should change everything in Tampa Bay.

Coming off the second 8-9 season in Bowles’ four-year tenure as head coach, the Bucs have the chance to make a major upgrade by letting Bowles go in favor of hiring a proven winner in Harbaugh. The 63-year old Harbaugh is incredibly respected around the league and has a regular-season record of 180–113, which is a 61.4-percent success rate, in addition to a 13-11 record in the postseason.

There are very few current coaches in the NFL that have a winning record in the postseason, and Harbaugh is one of them. One of those postseason victories was beating his brother Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII during the 2012 season.

Bruce Arians, who won Super Bowl LV with the Bucs in 2020, has the best postseason record in Tampa Bay history at 5-1. Jon Gruden is next at 3-2, followed by Tony Dungy’s 2-4 mark. Bowles has a 1-3 record in the postseason as the Bucs’ head coach.

Harbaugh has presided over 13 winning seasons in Baltimore along with two 8-8 seasons and three losing seasons, including this year’s 8-9 record. Baltimore lost at Pittsburgh on Sunday night, 26-24, due to missed 44-yard field goal as time expired. That loss cost Harbaugh his job and handed the Steelers the AFC North division title. Within an hour after being fired by the Ravens, Harbaugh is already in demand around the league.

Harbaugh, who coaches with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, has posted double-digit winning seasons in 11 of his 18 years in Baltimore, including a 12-5 record in 2024. His best regular season record came in 2019 when the Ravens went 14-2 and Harbaugh was named NFL Coach of the Year. Baltimore won Super Bowl XLVII in 2012 with a 10-6 record in the regular season.

Former Ravens HC John Harbaugh – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Jay Biggerstaff

Harbaugh’s teams are known to be physical and tough, and he’s hired plenty of great assistant coaches and coordinators over the years. He could bring a veteran staff of proven talent developers and game-planners with him to Tampa Bay if hired, possibly including Todd Monken, the Ravens offensive coordinator.

According to Dianna Russini, one of the reasons why Harbaugh was dismissed was because he did not want to fire Monken after the 2025 season – a year in which quarterback Lamar Jackson missed time due to injuries in addition to having bouts of ineffectiveness.

Monken was the Bucs receivers coach in Tampa Bay under Dirk Koetter from 2016-17 and then was the offensive coordinator and play-caller during the 2018 season. Monken also coached Baker Mayfield as the Browns offensive coordinator in Cleveland during the 2019 season.

John Harbaugh’s Potential Staff With The Bucs Could Have Plenty Of Tampa Ties

Not only does Todd Monken have ties to Tampa Bay and the Bucs organization, but if John Harbaugh were hired to replace Todd Bowles, Harbaugh himself has a connection with general manager Jason Licht. The two were together for years in Philadelphia in 2003-07.

Harbaugh was the Eagles special teams coordinator from 1998-2006 and then took over as the defensive backs coach in 2007. Licht was Philadelphia’s assistant director of player personnel from 2003-05 and then the vice president of player personnel from 2006-07.

Ravens OC Todd Monken – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Tommy Gilligan

Monken has been Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator in Baltimore since 2023 and actually interviewed for the vacant offensive coordinator job in Tampa Bay before accepting the job with the Ravens. At the time, Bowles was coming off an 8-9 record in his first season as the Bucs head coach and quarterback Tom Brady had just retired. It was an easy decision for Monken, who has just won back-to-back national championships at the University of Georgia, to choose to work with Harbaugh and Pro Bowl quarterback Lamar Jackson instead.

Pro Football Focus’ lead NFL draft analyst (and former Pewter Reporter) Trevor Sikkema outlined quite the plan about how the Bucs could structure the coaching staff around hiring Harbaugh and upgrading the defense.

In addition to possibly bringing Monken to Tampa Bay, Harbaugh’s assistant head coach and running backs coach Willie Taggert, a native of Bradenton, Fla., was the former head coach at the University of South Florida in Tampa from 2013-16.

Speaking of USF, Harbaugh’s daughter, Alison, plays lacrosse for the Bulls women’s lacrosse team in Tampa.

Ravens offensive line coach George Warhop also coached the same position group in Tampa Bay from 2014-18, spanning the coaching staffs of both Lovie Smith and Dirk Koetter with the Buccaneers.

Former Ravens DL coach Joe Cullen – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Timmy Gilligan

Joe Cullen, who was the Bucs defensive line coach from 2014-15, was Harbaugh’s defensive line coach in Baltimore from 2016-2020 before leaving to become Jacksonville’s defensive coordinator for the 2021 season. After one year with the Jaguars as part of Urban Meyers’ staff, Cullen went to Kansas City where he has coached Chris Jones and the Chiefs defensive line for the past four seasons, winning two Super Bowls during that time.

Cullen was part of a defensive coaching staff in Baltimore led by defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale from 2018-21. Martindale, who just got released in the coaching change at Michigan where he was the Wolverines defensive coordinator from 2024-25, also served as Harbaugh’s linebackers coach from 2012-17 before taking over the defensive play-calling duties.

Martindale doesn’t have any ties to Tampa Bay but could reunite with Harbaugh as an option to become defensive coordinator or linebackers coach if Harbaugh had become disenchanted with Ravens defensive coordinator Zachary Orr, as Baltimore’s defense has fallen off in recent years.