Dirk began his coaching career at Pocatello High School in Idaho. He moved from being a high school head football coach to offensive coordinator at a few small college football programs.
In 1998, he got his big break when he became head coach at Boise State. Known as an offensive genius, Koetter guided the Broncos to a 6-5 season in his first season, although that wasn’t good enough to get a bowl berth, it did give fans optimism that the winning would only continue and a bowl berth would eventually happen. The following season, Boise State went 10-3 and received the long awaited berth in the Humanitarian Bowl. He would go on to replicate that result the following season, and then in 2000, he accepted the head coaching job at Arizona State, where he spent six seasons in the desert, appearing in four bowl games, and winning two. After the end of the 2006 season, the program decided to go in a different direction with former Miami Hurricane head coach Dennis Erickson and Koetter was let go.
After his stint at Arizona State, Koetter made the leap to the NFL, where he had successful stops as offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons, and then in 2015, our beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In his first season with the Bucs, Dirk had the opportunity to mold and help grow our number 1 draft pick, and face of the franchise, famous Jameis Winston. The rookie campaign, it’s safe to say, was the beginning of where we are today. The connection between the offensive coordinator and the franchise quarterback was hard to miss. After that 2015 season, the Buccaneers fired embattled head coach Lovie Smith and promoted Dirk Koetter to the same role.
In 2016, Koetter’s first season as head coach, he leads the Bucs to their first winning season in six years, finishing with a record of 9-7 and barely missing the playoffs. However, Dirk helped finally bring a winning culture to the Tampa Bay area. Heading into the off-season, the expectations for the Buccaneers were already riding high, before they went out and signed free agent speedster Desean Jackson and stole O.J. Howard in the 2017 NFL drafts first round. Now, those expectations are above the clouds. If all the pieces fall into place as we all hope they will, Koetter’s sophomore season as head coach of our Bucs will result in Tampa Bay taking another step towards a Lombardi trophy, by finally making the playoffs after a 10-year absence. I think it’s a safe time to ask ourselves, do we get in as a wild card, or do we get in as NFC South Champions. Only time will tell, but I think it’s safe to say, anything less than a playoff berth will be an all-around disappointing season.
In less than a month, those answers will begin to become crystal clear! Buckle up Bucs fans.
