New Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano said at his introductory press conference this afternoon that he’s going to build the kind of team that becomes a hot ticket in Tampa Bay, playing winning football that will make the fans proud.
“We’ve got to re-connect with our fan base, and I can’t wait to do it because we have to earn your trust,” Schiano said. “This Buccaneer football team will earn your trust. We’ll earn your trust on the football field. We’ll earn your trust in the community. Something that you can be proud of.”
When he got his first question, Schiano was asked how quickly he thinks he can turn around the fortunes of a team that ended the season on a 10-game losing streak, and he said he views it as his job to turn things around immediately.
“I don’t believe in doing anything except to be the best, so we’re going to try to be the best today, starting today,” Schiano said. “How long that will take, I can’t tell you that, but we’re going to work to be the best we can be every single minute. And I’ve said this many times: When our best is the best, we’ll be Super Bowl champs.”
Schiano is a much more conventional choice than the first college coach the Bucs tried to hire, Oregon’s Chip Kelly, and he described his coaching philosophy as one he learned from his old boss, Joe Paterno.
“Great defense, win the special teams battle, and be a physical offensive football team that takes shots down the field,” Schiano said. “Physical, run the football physically and take shots down the field. That formula works.”
Schiano said he didn’t take the job until he had time to study the team, its personnel, the ownership, the front office and the facilities, and he concluded that the Bucs have a young core of talented players who can win right away.
“I’m very impressed with the young group, that core group,” Schiano said.
Now Schiano’s job is to turn that core group into what Raheem Morris failed to make it last year: A winning team.