LEEMAN BENNETT 4-28 Leeman Bennett succeeded John McKay in January 1985 much to everyone's surprise. Wayne Fontes had been an assistant coach with the Bucs since the franchise's inception and was the team's defensive co-ordinator from 1982 to 1984. But Hugh Culverhouse went with Bennett who had coached the Atlanta Falcons from 1977 to 1982 to the best record in their history, leaving Fontes to head for Detroit where he would eventually get his shot at coaching in the NFL. His two years in Tampa were nothing short of a total disaster as he took the Buccaneers to consecutive 2-14 seasons, and a 1986 team that managed to rank last in the NFL in both offense and defense. His departure from Tampa was unusual as he was fired during a press conference shortly after the end of the 1986 season in which he thought he was going to be announced as staying on as head coach. Hugh Culverhouse thought otherwise and told him so in front of the Bay Area media. Leeman was though, very supportive of my work promoting the Buccaneers in the UK and wrote me several letters answering questions about his role and philosophies of coaching. He is shown above at a Clearwater Bucs Bunch meeting sitting in between Rick Odioso and Bob Timoney. Click here for a collection of pictures from his Buccaneer coaching career