“You don’t hire a coach over the phone,” the source said, “so why would you fire him over the phone?”
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The move did not go over well with most Buccaneers players on Twitter. Lavonte David tweeted (and later deleted), “This is stupid, we can’t even have a consistent coach, 3 coaches in 5 [years],” adding, “Outside looking in, y’all wouldn’t understand how great of a coach/person he is.”
Other players tweeted things such as “shocked!” and “wow this is crazy” and “all I can say is wow.”
Many reports are saying Tampa Bay will promote offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter to the team’s head coaching position.
Smith went 8-24 in two seasons with Tampa Bay.
