This article details the history of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football franchise.
Origins In 1971, National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle predicted that the 26-team league would expand to 32 teams within the 1970s decade. Rozelle confirmed on April 24, 1974, that an expansion was imminent. Rozelle revealed the five cities that were being considered to win an NFL franchise were Tampa-St. Petersburg, Memphis, Phoenix, Seattle and Honolulu. On October 30, 1974, the 26 franchise owners sold the 27th NFL franchise to Tampa Bay and Tom McCloskey, a Philadelphia builder, for $16 million. McCloskey had attempted to buy the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964 and again in 1969, but fell short by about $500,000 each time.
Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills franchise, courted interests in Tampa Bay who approached him about moving the Bills to Tampa Bay. Wilson was frustrated in his inability to gain a new stadium for his franchise. He considered Memphis, Tennessee and Seattle, Washington as possible sites in addition to Tampa Bay.
McCloskey quickly became dissatisfied with the financial arrangement with the NFL, and backed out of the deal a month later.Mizell, Hubert. “Economics drive McCloskey out”. St. Petersburg Times. 6 December 1974 Hugh Culverhouse, a tax attorney from Jacksonville who had failed in his bid to buy the Los Angeles Rams, received the Tampa franchise.‘Tampa Owner Happy Fellow”; in The Evening News; December 6, 1974; p. 98
The new Tampa Bay franchise was named the “Buccaneers” or "Bucs," a reference to the pirates who frequented Florida's Gulf coast during the 17th century. The team's first home was Tampa Stadium, which had been expanded to seat 72,000 fans.Donovan, Michael Leo. Yankees to Fighting Irish: What’s Behind Your Favorite Team’s Name. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. p.55
Seasons 1976–1978 The Buccaneers joined the NFL as members of the AFC West in 1976. They were moved to the NFC Central, while the other 1976 expansion team, the Seattle Seahawks, switched conferences with Tampa Bay and joined the AFC West. This realignment was dictated by the league as part of the 1976 expansion plan, so that both teams could play each other twice and every other NFL franchise once during their first two seasons.
USC coach John McKay was recruited as the team's first head coach after being offered a $3 million contract.
In the 1977 season, the Buccaneers were shut out six times. In Week 13, the Buccaneers won their first regular-season game, defeating the New Orleans Saints on the road 33–14. The win was highlighted by three interceptions returned for touchdowns, an NFL record at the time. The Buccaneers followed the victory with a win at home over the St. Louis Cardinals during the final week of the season.
Seasons 1979–1982 The Buccaneers began the 1979 season with five consecutive victories and the team featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
The team won its final game against the Kansas City Chiefs to make the playoffs. Finishing with a 10–6 record, the Bucs had their first winning season, and won the Central Division in a tiebreaker over the Chicago Bears. The Bucs upset the Philadelphia Eagles 24–17 in the divisional round of the 1979 playoffs. The will allowed the Bucs to host NFC Championship Game in Tampa, where the team lost to the Rams 9–0.
In 1980, the Bucs had five wins, 10 losses, and a tie against the Green Bay Packers.
The last game in the 1981 season was against the Detroit Lions. The winner would take the Central Division crown and the loser would miss the playoffs. The Lions had not lost at home all season. The Bucs trailed early, but an 84-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Doug Williams to wide receiver Kevin House, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown by David Logan sealed the win for the Bucs and a place in the 1981 playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Bucs 38–0 in the divisional round.
Starting the 1982 season, the Bucs went 0–3 before a players strike shut down the NFL for seven weeks. When the league resumed play, the Bucs won five of its next six games and qualified for the expanded playoff slate. In the first round, the Bucs lost 30–17 to the Cowboys in Dallas.
Seasons 1983–1996 Doug Williams' salary of $120,000 made him the lowest-paid starting quarterback in the NFL in the 1982 season. At the end of the season, Williams asked for a raise to $600,000 per season. Culverhouse offered $400,000. Williams left the Bucs to play for the Oklahoma/Arizona Outlaws in the USFL.
Without Williams, the Bucs were a rudderless team. They started the 1983 season by losing its first nine games which knocked them out of playoff contention. They finished with a 2–14 record, the first of a league record 12 consecutive seasons with at least 10 losses.
In 1986, the Bucs had the first pick in the draft and chose Auburn athlete and 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson However, Jackson had never forgiven Culverhouse for flying him to Tampa for a physical and a visit at the team's expense during his senior year at Auburn and led him to believe that the NCAA and Southeastern Conference had approved the trip. No approval had been sought or granted, and the trip cost Jackson his eligibility during his senior baseball season. Jackson believed the Bucs deliberately tried to sabotage his baseball career so he would pursue professional football and be available as a first-round draft pick for the Bucs, and vowed never to play for them if they picked him .
The front-office woes affected the team regardless of who was brought in to coach. McKay stepped down at the end of the 1984 season and was succeeded by Leeman Bennett, who had coached the Atlanta Falcons to their first-ever playoff win. After two disastrous 2–14 seasons, he was replaced by former New York Giants and University of Alabama head coach Ray Perkins. Perkins brought back much-needed discipline and “three-a-day” practices, but this proved too much of a good thing. The team was so physically drained by game day that the losses continued to pile up, and Perkins was fired before the end of the 1990 season. Offensive coordinator Richard Williamson became interim head coach, and had the "interim" tag removed following a promising finish to the 1990 season. The momentum didn't last, however, and Williamson was fired after the 1991 season when the team regressed to 3–13, their worst season since 1986.
Largely due to the Bucs’ wretched showings on the field, attendances were typically among the lowest in the league. Usually, the only times that games attracted crowds anywhere near capacity were when the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers came to town and brought thousands of their fans with them. Both teams had large followings in Tampa Bay due to the large number of Midwestern expatriates in the area. As a result, most Bucs home games were blacked out locally. At one point, 32 home games in a row from 1982 to 1986 – all or part of five seasons – were not televised locally.
It wasn't until the hiring of Sam Wyche that Bucs fans had reason for optimism. Wyche had coached the Cincinnati Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance, when Cincinnati might have won if not for a fourth quarter comeback engineered by 49ers QB Joe Montana. Wyche did not have immediate success in Tampa, and even his bold “five-dash-two” (indicating five wins and two losses) declaration in his final season with the Bucs proved premature. However, Wyche deserves credit for drafting three key players who would later prove to be the core of the team's renewed success on defense – Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch.
Things only really began to change, however, after Culverhouse died of lung cancer in 1994.
New ownership, Tony Dungy, and a return to contention (1996–2001) Despite the profitability of the Buccaneers in the 1980s, Culverhouse's death revealed a team close to bankruptcy, which surprised many observers. His son, Miami attorney Hugh Culverhouse Jr., practically forced the trustees of his father's estate to sell the team, which cast doubt on the future of the Buccaneers in Tampa. Interested parties included New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, the latter of whom publicly declared he would move the team to Baltimore,‘NFL: Angelos Makes Tampa Offer – Oriole Owner Wants Bucs in Baltimore’; Seattle Times, January 9, 1995, p. C7 which had lacked an NFL franchise since the Colts were relocated to Indianapolis. There was also talk of moving the Buccaneers to nearby Orlando,Henderson, Joe; Fay, Bill and Yasinskas, Pat; ‘Bucs go shopping Orlando officials say it is one of at least two cities the Buccaneers are considering as a new home if a stadium is not built in Tampa’; Tampa Tribune, November 2, 1995, p. 1 but mayor Glenda Hood ruled out razing the Citrus Bowl to build an NFL stadium.‘Orlando Won’t Build to Land Bucs’; USA Today, December 3, 1995, p. C4 After Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore and Georgia Frontiere moved the Rams to St. Louis, rumours of relocation to the vacated markets of Los AngelesDonovan, John; ‘Will Rams’ fate start NFL dominos falling? Los Angeles exit may affect Bengals’; Cincinnati Post, April 5, 1995, p. 1D or Cleveland‘Buccaneers might move to Cleveland’; State Journal Register, December 8, 1995, p. 40‘Modell holding tough, so are Browns supporters: Buccaneers enter Cleveland picture’; Cincinnati Post; January 18, 1996, p. 1C emerged, as did talk of moving to Hartford, Connecticut.Garber, Greg; ‘Is There Interest in the City: Bucs’ Management Has Visited Hartford’; Hartford Courant, December 28, 1995, p. D1
However, in a last-minute surprise, Malcolm Glazer outbid both Steinbrenner and Angelos for $192 million, the highest sale price for a professional sports franchise up to that point. Glazer immediately placed his sons Bryan, Edward, and Joel in charge of the team's financial affairs, and the family's deep pockets and serious commitment to fielding a winning team — in Tampa — allowed the Bucs to finally become competitive. The team's performance dramatically improved when the Glazers hired Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Tony Dungy as head coach, jettisoned the old “creamsicle” uniforms, and convinced Hillsborough County voters to raise sales taxes to partially fund the construction of Raymond James Stadium.‘Bucs Gain Support for New Stadium’; Washington Post, April 2, 1996, p. D3
1996 season: Dungy’s first year
During Dungy's first season in 1996, the team continued to struggle, starting the season 1–8. However, in the second half of the season they finished 5–2, primarily due to the performance of a defense ranked seventh in the NFL led by Hardy Nickerson and the maturing of Wyche's draftees Brooks, Lynch and Sapp. Dungy, widely renowned for his somber, even-tempered personality, quickly brought balance and morale to the team. Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin developed and refined their trademark Tampa 2 defensive scheme, which became the foundation for Tampa Bay's future success, not to mention a blueprint copied by other teams in the NFL, including the Chicago Bears and the St. Louis Rams.
The 1997 season: Back to the playoffs
Everything finally came together in 1997. The team started the season 5–0, picking up where they left off the previous year, and this quick start once again landed them on the cover of Sports Illustrated—not once, but twice. The Bucs went 10–6 for their first winning season and playoff appearance since 1982, as a wild-card team. In the Bucs’ final home game at Houlihan's Stadium (formerly Tampa Stadium), the team defeated the Detroit Lions 20–10 for only the second playoff win in franchise history. They lost at Lambeau Field to the eventual NFC champion Green Bay Packers 21–7. Still, there was reason for optimism, and the expectations were high for the following season.
1998–2001: “The New Sombrero”