Every year, Rotoworld’s Patrick Daugherty ranks the NFL head coaches, from 1 to 32. He did so this year, too, and Dirk Koetter lands in a respectable but middle-of-the-road 17th place, up from unranked as a rookie coach last year.
The Bucs fired Lovie Smith to make then 56-year-old OC Dirk Koetter a first-time NFL head coach. It was a massive gamble on a man whose previous biggest accomplishment in football was back-to-back Big West titles in 1999-2000. At least in 2016, it worked. After a rocky start, Koetter continued to develop Jameis Winston, and coaxed a “bounce-back” campaign from third-year pro Mike Evans.