An NFL coach who recently won a Super Bowl is looking for a new team. On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced they have fired Byron Leftwich who was the team’s offensive coordinator. The team also announced that seven other coaches have left the staff following the 31-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round of the playoffs on Monday night. The other coaches that have left are specialists coach Chris Boniol, wide receivers coach Kevin Garver, offensive quality control coach Jeff Kastl, assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and running backs coach Todd McNair. Quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen, senior offensive assistant Rick Christophel and outside linebackers coach Bob Sanders announced their retirement.
“We appreciate the hard work and contributions that all of these coaches made to our successes over the past four seasons,” Buccaneers 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.”
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Leftwich was hired as the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator in 2019 after spending three seasons as an assistant coach with the Arizona Cardinals. When Tom Brady became the Buccaneers’ quarterback in 2020, the offense became one of the NFL’s best, averaging 30.39 points per game in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in 2020 and reached the divisional round of the playoffs in 2021.
This past season was not great for Leftwich as the offense averaged only 18.41 points per game — the 25th-best in the NFL. The Buccaneers also had the league’s worst rushing attack (76.94 yards per game) which led to Brady throwing the ball a career-high 756 times.
Leftwich, 43, played in the NFL from 2003-2012. The former quarterback was selected No. 7 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2003 NFL Draft and was selected to the All-Rookie Team that same year. Leftwich also played for the Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers and Buccaneers. He won a Super Bowl as a member of the Steelers in 2008.
