Bucs Hire Game Management Coach?

When it was first reported that the Bucs were going to assign a position as a game manager, many thought it was a bad decision as that responsibility should be assigned to the head coach. Looking more into it and all the responsibilities Dirk Koetter already has, it makes sense. Koetter will have his hands full with overviewing the whole team as well as play calling the games, having a game manager will help Koetter out with his transition to head coach.

The man getting the position is Andrew Weidinger, who is in his 9th season in the NFL and is very familiar with both Koetter and Mike Smith as he was a part of the Falcons from 2007 to 2014. Weidinger must have built a strong trust with Koetter when he was an offensive assistant to Koetter. Delegating some responsibility is a smart move by Koetter as having too much on your plate can overwhelm you at times. Koetter explained the position in his interview with Jason Cole of Bleacher Report here.

“Because I’m going to stay as the play-caller, and there are plenty of guys in the NFL who stay as play-callers as head coaches. There are just so many situations that come up in NFL game, whether it’s clock management or just game-ending situations, to have someone that they’re fully dedicated to that preparation in leading up to the game and on game day made sense,” Koetter said. “When I was the offensive coordinator, if I was up in the box, we always had a designated coach on the field that if I said, “This situation is up” and the head coach was on the other side of the phones talking to the defensive staff, that coach on the field would go remind the head coach about this or that. There is so much pressure when that clock is ticking, you have to have somebody who is on top of that and looking ahead.”

This could be a smart move or a bad move. If communication breaks down this could result in delay of games and wrong decisions, but thats why its important that Koetter chose a man he is familiar with and has a trust in. To me this is a good move as this could be a security blanket for Koetter in knowing that he has a man that can handle those critical situations when the game is on the line. Time will tell as we won't see much from Weidinger until the season starts.