When Greg Schiano became the head coach in Tampa, he talked a lot about establishing a new culture around the Buccaneers.
That culture included a lot of new rules and regulations for the players, leading to some reports of chafing from players as the year progressed. Schiano said Friday that there will still be discipline around the Bucs in his second year, but that he will back off on some of the ways he went “overboard” in his first year while he was making sure that the culture he wanted took root on the team.
“Oh, just some mandatory things I don’t think grown men need,” Schiano said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “Take mandatory meals. If a guy is meeting his weight -- we have goal weights a guy has to meet each week -- if a guy is meeting his weight, I don’t think they need any of our staff making sure they check in for breakfast and for lunch. They’re grown men, they’re professional athletes. But again, we had to establish a culture of accountability. But now they understand. And if your weight isn’t where it’s supposed to be, you will get checked in.”
Schiano talked about the players from last year’s team helping to instill Schiano’s values on newcomers to the roster, allowing him to be less draconian in his measures while still making sure that things are being done the way he prefers. The Bucs improved by three wins last season despite having the league’s worst pass defense. If Schiano can pull off a similar jump in 2013, there will probably be a lot fewer questions about the effectiveness of his methods.