Former Titans Coach Les Steckel Fired In Tampa

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have fired offensive coordinator Les Steckel the team announced on Tuesday.

The former Titans offensive coordinator had the Bucs ranked 21st in offense in 2000, an improvement of seven spots over its performance in the 1999 season, but the Bucs attack again lacked consistancy.

Coming into the 2000 season the Bucs had high hopes of getting the offense on par with their outstanding defense. With the additions of all-pro wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, Steckel who had just come off a Super Bowl year and the continued improvement of quarterback Shawn King many expected the Bucs to play in the Super Bowl.

But for one reason or another the offense never got on track. Several players, most notably defensive tackle Warren Sapp, were critical of Steckel and the results he was getting. The Bucs established a franchise record for points but the offensive still was inconsistent.

'This is the hard part of the business that nobody likes because it involves someone's livelihood and family,' Bucs coach Tony Dungy said. 'Les did a good job for us, as evidenced by the fact that we set four club records on offense. Our red zone efficiency was also one of the best in the league this season.

'However, in looking at what we want to accomplish with this team in the future, we felt this move would benefit us in the long term. We will immediately begin the process of finding a new offensive coordinator and hope to have that process completed in the very near future.'

Steckel, 54, was hired in the spring, replacing Mike Shula as coordinator.