Gilroy native Jeff Garcia sometimes sparred with Gruden, who was
fired on Friday
TAMPA, FLA.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen on Friday after the team collapsed following a 9-3 start and failed to make the playoffs.
Gruden, who helped lead the Buccaneers to a victory over the Oakland Raiders in the 2003 Super Bowl, was Tampa Bay’s coach for seven years. Allen was general manager for the last five seasons.
“We will be forever grateful to Jon for bringing us the Super Bowl title, and we thank Bruce for his contributions to our franchise,” Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a statement. “However after careful consideration, we feel that this decision is in the best interest of our organization moving forward.”
Gilroy native Jeff Garcia has been the starting quarterback for the Buccaneers the last two seasons, and sometimes sparred with Gruden, an avid collector of quarterbacks.
The two main points of contention between the pair stemmed from the Buccaneers refusing to renegotiate Garcia’s contract following the 2007 season, when the veteran signal-caller made it to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time in his career, and just before this past season, when the Buccaneers were rumored to have an interest in trading for Brett Favre.
Garcia, 38, is set to become a free agent before next season, but he has said he will consider returning to the team.
The Buccaneers were tied for first place in the NFC South heading into December, but finished with losses to Carolina and Atlanta on the road and San Diego and Oakland at home, where they had been 6-0. One more win would have landed a NFC wild-card berth.
The 9-7 record this season left Tampa out of the playoffs for the fourth time in six years.
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The Free Lance sports staff contributed to this report.
