From The Vault – John McKay

Head Coach John McKay was the first-ever Coach of our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and coming in with high expectations at that time in NFL history wasn’t a smart thing to do.

Back then, when there was an expansion draft, it was different than it is today! When the Bucs came into the league in 1976, all other teams gave them their unwanted players from their rosters.

Today teams are required to give one essential player.

So basically, he was a really good Coach that only had mostly really bad players. This was reflected in the pattern we see as we look back on history!

Once Coach McKay was able to draft “His Players” we definitely saw an improvement in wins and losses! It’s the same pattern he had as the Coach at USC.

I loved McKay! Especially his interactions with the media; then Head Coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Dick Vermeil, was once quoted saying of McKay, “He’s a Dial-A-Quote.” For his crazy responses to reporters’ questions.

Here are a few of his quotes:

“Well, we didn’t block, but we made up for it by not tackling!”

“You guys don’t know the difference between football and bananas.“

(After saying this, members of the media gave him a bunch of bananas. Then he replied,)

“You guys don’t know the difference between football and a Mercedes Benz.”

(I guess he thought he’d try and see if they’d follow through with a car.)

One more:

When asked about the team’s execution, he said,

“I’m in favor of it!”

All I know is this about the man, he took a rag-tag group of players and turned the team into a contender!

He was Head Coach for the Buccaneers from (1976 – 1984) registering a (44) win (88) loss (1) Tie record, but considering what he had to work with, he did a great job making the playoffs in (1979) (1981) (1982)

Looking at the past is important because knowing the history makes you respect what we have now and all of the people who paved the way for our (2) Super Bowl Championships! — As always, Go Bucs! – Bryan Carman