Bucs rejected by Cowher, Gruden before hiring Smith
 

Bucs were interested in Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden before hiring Lovie
JASON LA CANFORA
CBS Sports NFL Insider

Tampa Bay ownership pursued a reunion with former Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden, according to league sources, making a run at him prior to their eventual hiring of former Bears coach Lovie Smith. Furthermore, according to league sources, the Bucs sent word to former Steelers coach Bill Cowher about their interest in him back in November, but were quickly informed Cowher was more than happy working as an analyst for CBS.

The Glazer family, which owns the Buccaneers, has been reaching back to some former employees following the firing of coach Greg Schiano and general manager Mark Dominik, and, some believe, they may ultimately approach former coach Tony Dungy about an upper-management position once his son concludes his college career at Oregon. Smith is a former assistant of Dungy's in Tampa, and the idea of reconnecting with their salad days seems to be resonating with the ownership group.

Gruden, like Dungy, still lives in the central Florida area and the allure of bringing either back would hold substantial weight with their fanbase and likely help with ticket sales. Many top coaches view the Tampa situation as one of the best opportunities of this offseason, given the talent assembled there, but not all left there on great terms with the organization. Gruden, who was also pursued by the Oakland Raiders, did not have interest in the job and Dungy has been steadfast he will never coach again (though, again, some wonder if a special consultant-type role might one day appeal to him).

The Bucs are still sorting out their new front-office structure, with it quite possible that Smith could end up holding considerable sway about personnel as well. Smith has several young execs he would like to work with there -- Chris Ballard of the Chiefs among them -- but many lack the experience that would cement their status as general managers. It remains to be seen if the new general manager in Tampa will in essence end up reporting to Smith, which, in the eyes of many veteran execs, could be a flawed structure given Smith's lack of expertise in that regard.

Pioli is available.

Those dudes are to comfortable making millions on tv.

they should hire Cowher; he could bring home another SB Trophy in 14 years.

Crennel is off the market.

So much buzz for those two guys who have been out of the game for a while.

I can't wait when/if they decide to come back and then completely bomb....lol.

and so much love for Cowher for whatever reason. Talk about overrated.

I don't think those guys are interested in coming back. It's just the standard two names that lazy reporters float for any opening

Lovie Smith = OVERRATED

to ≠ too

Doubt they are making millions.

Gruden makes about 4 mil/year. I'm sure cowher is a bit less but still up there.

Pretty limp salad

How is this even a headline? Those two turn everyone down every year.

Christ... How can Gruden be such a hot commodity?