Not Todd Bowles.
It seems Todd Bowles and Bobby Knight have a couple of things in common.
Joe admits it: He’s a Bobby Knight freak. Can’t read enough about the guy. Best basketball coach Joe ever saw. One of the (few) regrets Joe has as a sportswriter was that he never got the chance to interview Knight — and Joe tried.
Knight would sometimes bristle when folks kept calling him a basketball coach, which, of course, he was. He would often tell people he was a teacher.
And Joe firmly believes coaching is teaching. At least good coaching is.
In a piece on The Athletic “written” by former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians, the ol’ coach explained how Bowles is a teacher.
And a chair-thrower (like Knight).
We played a game in Arizona one year, and we had just given up a touchdown right before halftime. The defense had its own separate space in the locker room. I went into the locker room and heard chairs flying. It sounded like a fight was happening. I asked someone what the hell was going on, and they just told me: “Oh, Bowles was just getting them ready.”
Joe understands a lot of folks don’t like Bowles because of his stoic sideline demeanor. Not only does Joe think that is weaksauce (some of the greatest coaches in NFL history were cigar store indians) but a coach’s sideline antics or lack thereof doesn’t mean a hill of beans.
Joe can reinforce with Arians that what you see on the sidelines or at a press conference is not the real Bowles. It’s like he thinks he has to have a “professional” image or a calm front.
Behind the scenes, Bowles is borderline gregarious. Every once in a while in public he will let his true self show, just like he did with Casey Phillips this week.
Joe thinks this season shows what kind of teacher Bowles is, or at least he’s taught his coaches how to teach. Look how improved Jamel Dean is. Look how ready to play all these backups are with the team’s roster riddled with injuries.
Joe certainly thinks through six games, this has been the best coaching job Bowles has had since taking over for Arians in 2022.
Todd Bowles is all of us watching this play 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Vcwwx7LWnI
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 14, 2025
38 years ago, Bobby Knight got ejected for throwing a chair. #BobbyKnight pic.twitter.com/kkm2f9PVJ8
— OBVIOUS SHIRTS® (@obvious_shirts) February 23, 2023