My first year as a Bucs fan, the Bucs won the NFC Central for the first time in 1979. You can say I’m a bandwagon fan, because I hopped on during that magical ride; I was 14 years old. The coach, was one John McKay. I heard some bad things about him, in fact my mom who knows little to nothing about football said “Didn’t people hate him” when she saw that McKay was going to be inducted in the ROH. How do explain that except with “People always hate the current coach, until he’s gone”. Kinda true isn’t it? Except for Tony Dungy, Ray Perkins and Richard Williamson. Fans felt the same about those guys before and after! People didn’t like John McKay because of the stigma of what happened BEFORE I became a fan, and I didnt realize that at the time. McKay was the coach for the 0-26 start to the franchise, and during that losing, he refused to say his offense was the problem, or his defense. It wasn’t, there was no talent on the team. Back then, a new franchise had it bad. You didnt have free agency like it is today. You didnt have extra draft picks. All you got, where the handful of players other teams did not protect anymore, meaning the worst of the worst. Its no wonder the Bucs lost for two years. People felt McKay’s offense was only going to work at college, that the i Formation was not a pro style offense. Of course years later we know that is rediculous, but at the time, it made sense. And McKay refused to change it, because he knew better. Once a QB with an arm strong enough to get the ball out to receivers came along, and once the defense was built in 1977 with quality players who knew how to run the 3-4 the way McKay ran it at USC, the Bucs would become winners. The Defense was ranked 24th in 1976, But the very next year the Bucs had all but two Defensive Linemen that would eventually start on the 1979 team already in place. They ranked 13th in ’77, and were No.4 in 1978. By the time these guys had played together for 3 years, the 1979 Bucs finished with the No.1 Ranked Defense in the NFL. But the offense took more time. They were dead last from ’76-’78. Doug Williams provided a spark in his rookie year of 1978, and the Bucs were 4-5 when they faced the Rams in Los Angeles, where Williams had his Jaw broken, and was lost for most of the year. He would start the 16th game against the Saints with his Jaw wired shut. The next five games he would play would be wins. So Here then, is a video about our man of the weekend. John McKay, Bucs head coach. He was 44-88-1 as Bucs coach, but 42-62 if you get the expansion years out of the way.
Click Here to Watch the Video FULL size BONUS VIDEO- This clip is from Monday Night Football Week 13 halftime show, and Howard Cosell interviews Coach McKay. Check it out, very historical and very RARE, you wont find this anywhere else on the internet.
Click Here to Watch the Video FULL size
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
