Lovie Smith Was Fired By Phone, Because He Wasn't About Attending A Meeting With The Owners To Hear The News
(CBS) The rebuilding Buccaneers fired coach Lovie Smith on Wednesday night after he led Tampa Bay to an 8-24 mark in two seasons, much to everyone's surprise given that the team was in the playoff race entering the final quarter of the season before faltering.
That includes much to the surprise of Smith, who was informed by general manager Jason Licht on Wednesday night that he needed to attend a meeting with the Glazer family come Thursday. This seemed suspicious to Smith. So he kept asking and asking what was going on until he got co-chairman Joel Glazer on the phone, and Glazer told him the news, USA Today reported.
That's why the news ended up breaking late Wednesday night.
"Lovie gracefully declined the meeting -- very polite, in a way only Lovie could do it," Licht said, according to USA Today. "And he said he would rather do it this way."