Buccaneers officially announce departures of Byron Leftwich, eight other assistant coaches

NFL: JAN 16 NFC Wild Card Playoffs - Cowboys at Buccaneers
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Reports of major changes to the Buccaneers coaching staff have been trickling in all day Thursday and the team has now announced all of the departures.

The moves are headlined by the firing of offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich after four seasons on the staff. Most of the other changes came on the offensive side of the ball as well.

Wide receivers coach Kevin Garver, offensive quality control coach Jeff Kastl, and running backs coach Todd McNair have also been let go. Quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen and senior offensive assistant Rick Christophel retired.

The Bucs also parted ways with specialists coach Chris Boniol and assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust. Outside linebackers coach Bob Sanders is retiring.

“We appreciate the hard work and contributions that all of these coaches made to our successes over the past four seasons,” Head Coach Todd Bowles said in a statement. “As a collective group, we did not meet the high standards that had been set for this past year and my focus now is on doing what is needed to ensure a successful 2023 season. These were very difficult decisions but something that I felt was necessary for our football team going forward.”

With Tom Brady‘s future very much up in air, the Bucs are set to look like a much different football team going forward on many fronts.

10 responses to “Buccaneers officially announce departures of Byron Leftwich, eight other assistant coaches

  1. Amazing how the offensive staff was doing so well under Bruce Arians and a good offensive line. Bruce “steps down”, the Bucs lose the majority of their offensive line to injury, retirement, and free agency and all of the sudden these guys forgot how to coach? Always has to be a scapegoat I guess, however the Bucs are just delaying things by keeping Bowles around. He’s a solid DC, even better guy, however I don’t see him as HC material. I wish he were because he seems like a really good dude, however this ship has no rudder and that falls squarely on the HC.

  2. Todd Bowles got nearly the entire of coaching staff fired and kept his job… incredible. How many of these coaches were there when stamps had a top 5 offense in the years before Bowles took over as head coach?

  3. Hmmm….
    The major change from last years team, besides injuries is….
    You Coach Bowles. The Bucs are just delaying the inevitable.
    Next year it’ll be Bowles who gets fired, along with everyone else.

  4. And the special teams coordinator kept his job? are you kidding? that area was the baddest in an terrible team.

  5. A team with a losing record that didn’t seem to mind getting blown out repeatedly. Blow it up! Bowles is who we thought he was. Keep Godwin, Wirfs, Winfield and Jensen, the only above average players left.

  6. I feel bad for the Bandwagon Fans. The NHL Lightning is still good, maybe they can all climb on that if there is room. Tampa Bucs were nothing until Brady came. Now tickets will be under 20 bucks again. LOL

  7. 35 million in dead money for TB looms large for the Bucs next year. Got to love those teams that add void years to contracts.

  8. Tom Brady: hired gun, in search of a Super Bowl opportunity. No loyalty to any team, nor any fan-base; only loyal to his own ego.

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