Scottie Montgomery interviews for Bucs OC job 5 days after taking Lions job

It didn’t take long for the Lions new coach to get an interview for a potential promotion.

It was just five days ago that the Detroit Lions announced they hired Scottie Montgomery as their new assistant head coach/running backs coach. Now, Montgomery is getting extra attention across the league. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced on Monday night that they have interviewed Montgomery for their vacant offensive coordinator position.

Now, before you start to panic that the Lions are going to lose out on a guy they just hired—and a very highly regarded coach—understand that this is already the ninth offensive coordinator the Buccaneers have interviewed. Montgomery joins Thomas Brown, Klint Kubiak, Keenan McCardell, Shea Tierney, Jim Bob Cooter, Ronald Curry, Dave Canales, Todd Monken, and Dan Pitcher as known candidates for the job.

Montgomery was hired by the Lions to replace Duce Staley, who took a position with the Carolina Panthers, in part, to be closer to his mother, who is dealing with health issues. Given the importance of the position, Montgomery was a huge get for Detroit. He joined the coaching ranks over 15 years ago and has experience coaching every offensive position. He was considered an up-and-comer on the Colts staff the past two seasons as their running backs coach.

It would be wild for the Lions to lose a coach before he even gets the opportunity to meet face-to-face with any of his new players, but it also goes to show you how promising of a hire Montgomery is for this organization. Hopefully, we get to see what he can do with the Lions running backs. If not, the Lions will have to replace the position for the second time in a single offseason… and it’s only February.