Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin during training camp on Friday Aug. 2 2013 in Glendale Ariz

In a surprising move, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced that they had fired second-year head coach Lovie Smith.

The team made the shocking announcement on Wednesday night via a release on its website around 10:30 p.m. Some players were understandably shocked by the move.

The direction the Bucs go might not surprise many, either.

Glazer said general manager Jason Licht will oversee the search for a new coach.

Smith, who coached the Bears for nine seasons before being fired in 2012, went 8-24 in his two seasons with the Buccaneers. And, after all that, the 6-10 the Bucs finished one game behind the New Orleans Saints, two games behind the Atlanta Falcons and were in the thick of the playoff hunt until deep into December.

Early word is that offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, considered a candidate for head coaching gigs elsewhere, may be set to take over the top spot for the Bucs. Maybe the Bucs is looking for a younger coach to help improve Winston and the Bucs into the future.

The shortcomings on defense were especially frustrating because that's been Smith's area of expertise as a coach. That 2014 mark was already worse than Greg Schiano's 2013 unit (24.3). How abruptly? Several Bucs players expressed their immediate outrage when they found out via social media. That's a fatal flaw with today's raw, athletic, hyper-specialized National Football League talent.

David has since deleted all of his tweets related to the firing.

Many thought Smith received some slack for his first two seasons given what he had to work with, especially a draft class this year that was expected to contribute more than a team is usually comfortable on being dependent on.

Even if Smith is not the head coach, pairing Smith as the defensive coordinator with Adam Gase, the Chicago Bears offensive coordinator who is believed to be the favorite to land the Eagles' job, would make a lot of sense if the Eagles could pull it off. Jameis Winston played well as a rookie.