FROM PFT:Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith is gone, but the circumstances of his departure aren’t forgotten. Some suspect an in-house coup was launched against Smith, with G.M. Jason Licht and former offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter plotting to swap out Smith for Koetter in the top job.Koetter called that perception “total, 100 percent B.S.” in an appearance on PFT Live.There’s now a perception, as perceived by the folks at JoeBucsFan.com, that Licht has thrown some shade (as the cool kids call it — without proving how uncool they are by stopping to point it out) at Smith.Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Licht talked about the task of providing players for new defensive coordinator Mike Smith.“[Mike Smith] is more of a, which is a great thing for a scout and for the G.M., is that he’s more about fitting the pieces into a scheme, utilizing the players as what their best attributes are,” Licht said. “And fitting the scheme around them, as opposed to trying to find the schematic fit [while scouting]. And that’s music to my ears. It’s a lot easier to do that. And you know, the intelligent coaches can do that. So that’s going to be a good thing for us.”The biggest knock on Smith is he wouldn’t make his system hit the talents of his players, which resulted in the jettisoning of cornerback Darrelle Revis and safeties Dashon Goldson and Mark Barron. All three have done well-to-quite-well elsewhere.The obvious implication from Licht’s comment is that Smith isn’t an intelligent coach, although Licht surely would say he didn’t mean it that way. Nevertheless, those who believe that the elimination of Smith and elevation of Koetter was an inside job would say, “Well, he definitely wasn’t intelligent enough to see that coming.”
