Bucs Coaching Staff: Offense

Head Coach: Bruce Arians
You’re damn right I’m in the Arians boat.

Arians’ name is not a new one via this column, as it has been a hot link for the Bucs job since Week 17 came to a close. That’s because it really does make a lot of sense in many ways.

The first and foremost way is that Arians is a proven winner. The Buccaneers cannot afford to dip into the college ranks for this next head coach, and general manager Jason Licht already said they will not be hiring from within. You know why? Because any first-year candidate has not proven they know what it takes to win in the NFL.

Arians does.

As a two-time Coach of the Year with two different teams, Arians can not only win, but win fast. He was voted Coach of the Year for the first time in 2012 after taking over as the interim head coach for the Indianapolis Colts when Chuck Pagano had to step away with cancer. But that season wasn’t just his first as Colts head coach, it was his first with the Colts team in general. Arians had been hired on as the offensive coordinator just eight months prior to him being promoted to the interim head coach title. That’s how much respect and confidence in the organization he gained in that short amount of time. Arians led the Colts to a 9–3 record, part of one of the biggest one-season turnarounds in NFL history. The nine wins are the most by an interim head coach in NFL history.

The other detail to remember in all this is that the Colts were a two-win team in 2011, and in one year, Arians went from meeting the players and teaching the offense for the first time to winning nine games and earning a playoff berth.

Former Bucs HC Dirk Koetter and former Cardinals HC Bruce Arians – Photo by: Getty Images

The following year he was signed by the Arizona Cardinals to be their head coach. In his first season, he led the team to a 10-6 record. The next season he started 9-1 and finished 11-5. Arians retired in 2017 after five seasons with the Cardinals and a 39-24 record, including wins over the Bucs in 2016 and ’17.

Arians’ background before his head coaching stints matter, too. He is a two-time Super Bowl champion as an assistant coach, both with the Pittsburgh Steelers (2005, 2008) under both Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin, first as their wide receivers coach, then as their offensive coordinator. Arians knows what its like to be in a winning culture as an assistant and knew how to set one up himself in two different places.

There is also a connection with Licht that makes this pick an easy pair. Licht was in charge of player personnel with the Arizona Cardinals from 2012-2013 when Arians came aboard. Those two were in the organization at the same time for the 2013 season before Licht took the GM job with the Buccaneers.

But the most important connection will be the one Arians has with quarterback Jameis Winston. Licht made it clear that Winston will be on the Buccaneers in 2019. That means the coach they bring in has to get the most of out him – this is where the future of the franchise lies.

Arians has a pretty good track with quarterbacks he’s coached. He coached Peyton Manning from 1998-2000 in Indianapolis as the quarterback coach there. He coached Ben Roethlisberger as the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh from 2007-2011. He coach Andrew Luck in his rookie season in Indianapolis in 2012. And he coached an aging Carson Palmer to one of the best season of his career from 2013-2014 as the head coach of the Cardinals.

Simply put: Arians knows quarterbacks, he knows offense, and he knows how to win.

If he wants the job, he should be the choice No. 1.

Offensive Coordinator: Freddie Kitchens
There are some limitations of reality that come with Arians, though. The first and biggest one is that he is 66 years old. He does want to get back into coaching, of this we know, but we also know he likely won’t be doing it for too long. After all, he has had to step away from his position for health reasons before.

Because of that, he’ll need an apprentice; someone he can groom to take over offensive responsibilities or even head coach responsibilities when he does decide to hang it up again, likely for good that time.

Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images

If I were a betting man, I’d say Freddie Kitchens has a good chance to be that apprentice (again).

Kitchens was on Arians’ offensive staff from 2013-2017 in Arizona. He was the quarterbacks coach from 2013-2016 and moved to coach running backs in 2017. After Arians’ departure in 2017, Kitchens landed on Hue Jackson’s coaching staff in Cleveland where he was named the running backs coach and associate head coach. When Jackson was fired mid-season, Kitchens took over as offensive coordinator. Since then, he’s done wonders with rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield and the rest of the offense.

The 2018 season has been Kitchens’ first time calling plays, and he’s showing the world he has a knack for it. I imagine there will be changes in whoever comes in to coach Cleveland, and that could open he door for Arians to lure Kitchens back to his staff and be the offensive play-caller in Tampa Bay.

Quarterbacks Coach: Byron Leftwich
This one is a bit of a luxury. Arians has had his hand in quarterback grooming before and would likely work with Winston, as has Kitchens as Arians’ quarterbacks coach in Arizona. Sometimes too many voices in your head is a bad thing, so if Arians does bring Kitchens on his staff, I could see one of them just filling the quarterback coach spot.

But if not, a guy like Leftwich could make sense. Arians hired Leftwich to be his quarterbacks coach in Arizona for the 2017 season, so there is certainly familiarity there. Leftwich was on their radar due to being just an intern with the team and they liked him so much they hired him as their full-time guy.

Running Backs Coach: Stump Mitchell
Mitchell was Arians’ running backs coach from 2013-2016 in Arizona. During this final two years, he coached running back David Johnson to the two best seasons of his career. Mitchell has also coached the like of Seattle’s Shaun Alexander during his MVP season and Washington’s Clinton Portis for his final 1,000-yard season.

Current running backs coach Tim Spencer just has not been able to get it done for the Buccaneers. It’s time for new life.

Bucs WR Mike Evans and WRs coach Skyler Fulton – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Wide Receivers Coach: Skyler Fulton
One guy who does deserve to stay on the Bucs coaching staff is current wide receivers coach Skyler Fulton.

In his first season as the wide receivers coach, he coached Mike Evans to break the all-time single-season receiving yards record in Buccaneers history, and had four receivers over 774 yards, which would have been more had DeSean Jackson not missed games due to injury. Adam Humphries and Chris Godwin had career years under Fulton.

Fulton has earned his spot as a coach on this team, and I think Arians would see that.

Tight Ends Coach: Ben Steele
Speaking of earning their spot, second-year tight end coach Ben Steele has done a tremendous job developing O.J. Howard, who was on a monstrous a pace before getting hurt. He’s developed Howard and Cameron Brate into one of the best one-two tight end combos in the NFL. Throw in Antony Auclair and Alan Cross’ development too, and he has certainly earned his keep, if you ask me.

Offensive Line Coach: Harold Goodwin
Bucs longtime offensive line coach George Warhop has to be gone, if you ask me. In his fifth year as the Bucs offensive line coach and also the Bucs run game coordinator, Warhop has fallen short of the expectations needed to win.

Left tackle Donovan Smith has progressed, but not enough. Warhop couldn’t figure out how to get the most out of J.R. Sweezy, who is a Pro Bowl alternate in Seattle after leaving Tampa Bay, and has not been able to find any sort of suitable right guard for this team. Pile on the fact that Ryan Jensen and Demar Dotson were two of the most penalized offensive linemen in football and you have a recipe not worth keeping.

Goodwin was the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive line coach when Arians was there in 2012, and was Arians’ offensive coordinator from 2013-2017. Licht knows Goodwin well and interviewed him for the Bucs head coaching position in 2016 to meet the Rooney Rule requirement before the team hired Dirk Koetter, so he is still on Licht’s radar.

Goodwin has been coaching offensive line in the NFL since 2004, and though he’ll be considered for some coordinator jobs, if Arians is hired in Tampa Bay, he could lure Goodwin to a super staff.