Jon Gruden is out as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the coach they refer to as “Chucky,” for his demeanor and facial expressions was axed Friday morning. Accompanying him will also be general manager Bruce Allen. Jon Gruden was the head coach of the Buccaneers for the last seven seasons and helped the team win its first ever Super Bowl in 2003, Allen has been with the team for the last five seasons.

Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer came out with all the cliches that come with a firing of a head coach or manager, he had this to say,

“We will be forever grateful to Jon for bringing us the Super Bowl title, and we thank Bruce for his contributions to our franchise.” and “However after careful consideration, we feel that this decision is in the best interest of our organization moving forward.”

We feel that the decision was made alot sooner, to open a season at 9-3 and finish 9-7 is just not acceptable. In fairness to Gruden it was not completely his fault as the Buccaneers defense took the month of December off. The defense allowed 756 rushing yards over the last 4 games of the season, an average of 189 rushing yards per game, numbers that resemble defenses at the college level. The under-sized defense wore out later in games and towards the end of the season as they were outscored 62-19 in losses to Carolina, Atlanta, San Diego and Oakland.

The organization used up alot of potential talent when they gave up 2 first round draft picks, 2 second round picks and $8 million to get Gruden to come to Tampa. By the way the players the Raiders ended up drafting were, Langston Walker, Tyler Brayton, Jake Grove and they traded a first round pick also. We will never know what Tampa’s front office would have made with these picks, but to trade that in exchange for a coach that spent 7 seasons and won 1 Super Bowl with the team we think it worked out for the Buccaneers.

Be assured that Jon Gruden will not be unemployed for too long, his success with struggling franchises speaks for themselves. His questionable December record will be the hot issue as chairman’s, owners, and managers discuss his name as a candidate for a coaching opening.

Total Pro Sports – Head football coaches have one of the most difficult jobs in all of sports. The amount of time and effort that goes into game planning and practice means most coaches are work-a-holics. Not to mention that in order to be an effective coach your players have to believe in you and respect you.

Every now and again a coach comes along that is good at his job and also really funny. Sometimes coaches are intentionally funny and sometimes they are unintentionally funny. The ones who are unintentionally funny are easily the most entertaining to sports fans.

Here is a list of my personal favorite of Funny Football Coaches:

1. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina Game Cocks

My favorite of all time, the Old Ball Coach himself. I’ve never seen a coach with better facial expressions than Spurrier. From his days at Florida, to his brief time in the NFL, he will always have a special place in my heart when I think about coaches that make me laugh. Also, the under armour commercial from a few years ago where he uses the phrase “click clack” is an absolute classic. Check out the video of Steve Spurrier at the bottom of the post.

2. Wade Philips, Dallas Cowboys

Son of Bum was close to being number 1 on this list. Wade Philips also has some great facial expressions as he patrols the sidelines for the Cowboys. My favourite Philips moment was his reaction after the “Music City Miracle”, when he was coaching the Buffalo Bills. Ever since that moment I have always thought that he was the long lost brother to the Stay Puft Marshamellowman from Ghostbusters

3. Mark Mangino, Kansas Jayhawks

I don’t think there is a coach in all of football college or professional that invokes more fear in the hearts of his players than Mangino. This is because if you get this guy mad he might just take a bit out of you. You have to like a guy that looks like he is wearing football equipment on the sidelines.

4. Jon Gruden, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Jon Gruden is one of the funniest coaches due to his fantastic facial expressions and his love of profanity laced tirades. Also, the fact that he resembles Chucky from the Childsplay movies adds even more to his overall hilarity score.

5. Mike Singletary, San Franciscon 49ers

The NFL’s newest head coach Mike Singletary is making a name for himself as one of the funniest coaches in the league. During his first game as the boss he sent Vernon Davis to showers early and proceeded to rip him after the game at his press conference. That wasn’t even his funniest moment, as it was reported that during his half time speech he pulled down his pant in an attempt to pump up his team.

Steve Spurrier “Clik Clak” Under Armour Commercial