Always learning.
Really eye-opening revelation from Bucs coach Todd Bowles in his sitdown with the Sage of Tampa Bay sports, Ira Kaufman in the latest “Ira Kaufman Podcast” last week.
Bowles was discussing how he is always trying to pick up new things and innovate. He said that if you don’t change how you are doing things “every two and a half years” the game will catch up with a coach and pass him by.
So Joe brought up Bill Belichick. When Belichick was running the Patriots, the Bucs’ next opponent, he would often bring in college coaches like Mike Leach or Urban Meyer and pick their brains about what was working for them and what wasn’t and where the game may be headed.
Shoot, Belichick even brought in an Arkansas high school coach, Kevin Kelley, who is known in the football coaching world for being allergic to punting.
So Joe asked Bowles, in part because two of his sons play football at Michigan and Rutgers, does he watch college football and pick up on things he sees that he later uses with the Bucs.
Not only did Bowles admit that yes, he does. Bowles said he is even inspired by seven-on-seven football.
“Not just college games, but high school games and seven-on-seven games,” Bowles said, which took Joe aback on the reference to seven-on-seven football.
“[Seven-on-seven football] they play a lot of coverages, and you get to see the mix and match coverages of the whole scheme. And you’d be like, ‘Wow, that looks interesting.’ And that’s pretty good, or that’s pretty good.
“So I watch everything. I watch everything. And when I see certain teams have good blitz packages, you look at it and see how it will transform to the game, and try to pick it up and do everything.”
To watch all levels of football, Bowles said, “That’s the only way you learn. And you can’t get stale being the coach. You have to change, because the offenses and the defenses start to change every two and a half years.
“You’ve got to start to tweak the things that you do to fit the modern-day game or you are gonna get left behind.”
Just look at how Bowles has changed from his first year with the Bucs. In 2002, Bowles was conservative to a fault (remember that debacle in Cleveland?). Now, you see Bowles being much more aggressive and seemingly allowing his offensive coordinators more leeway.
And then Bowles hired Zach Beistline this past offseason to basically be his clock and analytics guy up in the booth on game days.
So you can see how Bowles adjusts almost each year. Joe thinks that’s pretty cool that Bowles even watches seven-on-seven football to look for inspiration.