Are the Buccaneers Right to Keep Barry?

It is official the Buccaneers’ Bruce Allen and Jon Gruden won’t allow Joe Barry to leave and be with his father-in-law(Rod Marenilli) in Detroit. Joe Barry is the linebackers coach for the Bucs. If he went to the Lions he would be the Defensive Coordinator. Which would obviously be a promotion. However, the NFL’s rule is that a team does not have to allow a coach to interview unless it is a promotion to head coach.

The Buccaneers policy is that they do not allow any coach to interview while under contract, Barry has one more year on his contract. The Buccaneers for the most part will be looking to completely hire every position coach on the defensive side of the ball to include back-up coaches for some of these position.

The argument here in Tampa is of course what would one more coach hurt. Joe Barry’s argument is that he is the son-in-law to Marinelli and his situation is unique. The media down here is in an up roar to include the Buccaneer radio station 620am that Bruce Allen won’t allow Barry out of his contract to be with his father-in-law.


Barry said "I think it's a done deal," Barry said after a second day of meetings with general manager Bruce Allen. "It was somewhat abrupt when I left. I went back in (Friday). We talked over the same points and to no avail. It's an unfortunate deal, and it'll never make sense to me. They have the power to allow this to happen and chose not to." Now does this sound like a coach you want on your sidelines.

Marinelli learned that lesson the hard way. Four times he was denied a chance to become a defensive coordinator before his contract expired at the end of this past season. "I'll be bummed out. I'll sulk around for a couple of days," Barry said. "Then I've got to wake up and snap out of it and be a professional about it. I owe that to the players I coach. It's the only way I know how to work. It wouldn't be fair to them to sulk around and not man up and do the job at hand. I'm not going to lie. It'll be tough to get over. I'll get over it.”

"I also understand I'm the one who signed the contract. I always thought it would be a one-time exception that would be made. That's the thing that bums me out. It wasn't looked at as a separate situation. It was lumped into all the other ones.”

The Buccaneers don’t wont to set a precedence and allow a coach out of his contract before their time is up (no matter what the reason). My question is to my readers and blogger football friends, what do you think is right under this situation?