Buccaneers to hire Jeff Tedford as offensive coordinator under Lovie Smith, per report

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will hire Jeff Tedford to serve as offensive coordinator under Lovie Smith, according to a report.

By James Brady@jamesbradyisme Jan 1, 2014, 10:00pm EST

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will bring in Jeff Tedford to be their offensive coordinator, according to ESPN's John Clayton (via Brett McMurphy of ESPN). Tedford, the former head coach at Cal, will serve under Lovie Smith, who the Buccaneers signed to be their head coach on Wednesday.

It was previously known that Tedford would be making the jump to the NFL with Smith. The former Chicago Bears coach knew that he'd land a head coaching job somewhere, and had already begun assembling his assistant staff ahead of his interviews. Tedford was already on board with Smith when the latter's name was floating around as a potential candidate with the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans.

This will be Tedford's first stint in the NFL. He previously coached in the CFL before joining the college ranks in 1992. He coached at Fresno State and Oregon before taking over as the head coach at Cal for 11 seasons. At the helm of the Golden Bears, Tedford managed an 82-57 record.

Smith is a defensive coach, so re-tooling the struggling Buccaneers offense will fall to Tedfird. Quarterback Mike Glennon will be in his second year after putting up a so-so season as the starter in his rookie campaign. Tedford doesn't exactly have the best reputation for college offenses or college quarterbacks.

As noted by Bucs Nation, some quarterbacks to come from Tedford's Cal: Trent Dilfer, David Carr, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller, Billy Volek, A.J. Feeley and ... Aaron Rodgers. Of course, that last name is more impressive than the others, but it's worth noting that he had three years to work with Mike McCarthy before taking over as a starter for the Packers.