Here’s why the Buccaneers felt the need to can Lovie Smith now

It wasn’t one thing, and there might not have been any cloak-and-dagger backroom dealings when 10 p.m. ET rolled around Wednesday night when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers phoned Lovie Smith to let him know his services were no longer needed.

It was most likely a system shock to Smith. And it sent waves of “WTH?!” though Twitter and elsewhere. Namely, why fire a coach whose team improved its win total by four in his second season with a quarterback who had a very good rookie season with room to improve? Why then? Why not some time on Sunday night or Monday, when most of the coaching decisions came down? Dirk Koetter (AP)

Here’s a good idea why: Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, 56, was recovering from hip surgery, which he had Tuesday, a follow-up to a procedure he had roughly a year ago. But behind the scenes, his camp was hard at work gauging interest for head coaching openings elsewhere, and it let some media members know. The Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins (Mike Tannenbaum used to rep Koetter at Priority Sports previously) and San Francisco 49ers all had expressed interest in Koetter. His name was starting to heat up.

The Bucs caught wind of all this by midday. They saw firsthand the work Koetter did with Jameis Winston, the No. 1 overall pick, and did not want to have him adjust to another offense in Year 2. They also liked and respected Koetter, who was a college head coach for nine years and spent the past nine in the NFL as a respected offensive mind.

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Investing in Winston, by far the Buccaneers’ most important asset, was of primary importance. They were lucky to land him, and the goal is to invest heavily in building this team around Winston. All signs point to Koetter being the heavy favorite for the job. (Of course, the team is subject to interviewing a minority candidate for the job because of the Rooney Rule.)

But there also was some anti-Lovie sentiment in the building. Yes, some Bucs players expressed some exasperation at the seemingly out-of-left-field move on Twitter last night, but it almost felt as if many were upset that the team appeared to lack direction, on the verge of hiring its third head coach in five years, more than it was defending Smith.

The development of No. 1 draft pick Jameis Winston is the Bucs' top priority. (AP) One source indicated that Smith’s act had worn a bit thin and that his relationship with general manager Jason Licht, whom Smith handpicked, had weakened. Now Licht will help pick Smith’s successor. What a league.

When it came down to potentially losing Koetter and canning Smith, there was no choice, the Bucs felt. He had final say over the 53-man roster, and they were not comfortable with that arrangement.

Some in the organization also questioned Smith’s tactics in terms of hiring staff members — even lower-level ones — suspicious of their loyalties and going to great lengths to disseminate potential employees’ backgrounds to a strangely thorough degree.

And as for the on-field progress, from two wins to six, more than one member of the Bucs rolled their eyes at that. Late-season home losses to the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears, a prime-time embarrassment against the St. Louis Rams and a no-show in the season finale to the Carolina Panthers — along with Smith’s defense, his baby, regressing — all were seen as big steps backward after the Bucs were in the wild-card race entering December at 6-6.

In the end, the Bucs felt it was the right time, as odd as it might have appeared outwardly. It was a confluence of events, but it appears the team ultimately didn’t want to miss out on losing the man they credit with helping Winston develop over his first season.