"The National Football Post has just been informed that former Denver Broncos assistant coach Jim Bates will accept an offer to become the new defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Bates will be replacing former Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, who left Tampa to join his son Lane at the University of Tennessee." National Football Post

Added to by JScott:

The Buccaneers missed out on signing his son, Jeremy Bates, to their vacant Offensive Coordinator position, but today they signed the guy’s father, Jim Bates, for their Defensive Coordinator position. Admittedly I had to look up who this guy was. By all accounts he appears to be exactly what the young Raheem Morris needed to anchor his defensive staff. First of all, Bates has fourteen years of experience in the NFL. Second of all, his defense has finished in the Top 10 in six of his eight seasons. Finally, although the guy is 62 years old, he is actually 6 years younger than Tennessee Volunteers Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin (that was weird).

For those worried about Kiffin’s staple of a defense getting blown up, it appears Bates has coached the 4-3 scheme the majority of his years and his philosophy resembles Monte’s in that he like the Ends to rush the QB, the Defensive Tackles to stuff the run, and for the Linebackers to be a bit undersized and speedy. The only change (and welcomed in my view) is that he likes to bump and run with his defensive backs. For a physical corner like Ronde Barber, that should help him shadow his man. The best news I’ve read about Bates is that he is passionate (maybe too much at times), a great communicator, and is a great motivator (or so says Zach Thomas). To be honest I was hoping Raheem would go a bit younger, but the guy appears to be the right choice despite his age.

Craig T's take:

Not the sexiest hire, but a solid one nonetheless... certainly better than Gibbs.  I would've been interested in giving McDermott a closer look.  That said, Bates' philosophy probably fits the personnel scheme a little better than that of McDermott.  I don't see the Bucs quite having the personnel package in the secondary to fit McDermott's organized chaos, "who's blitzing us now from the secondary"-type of pressure... at least not quite as good as the Eagles have right now. 

Bates' 39-years of football experience will be a great resource for a young guy like Raheem to rely upon with confidence.... kind of reminds me of the Tomlin/Dick Lebeau setup right now.  Heh, then again... Pittsburgh's defense is hands down the best in the league, so it might not be fair to compare them in any way to the Bucs' aging defense right now.  Clearly having a solid defensive front is the key to Bates' scheme.  On his best Dolphin teams, he had two prime pass-rushing DEs, Jason Taylor and Adewale Ogunlye, terrorizing the passer.  I bet Bates will be fighting for the Bucs' brass to draft an undertackle to help eat up blocks, what with Haye slightly undersized for the position... as well as another pass rushing end.  I think they're ok at linebacker for his system.