IHS grad Morris did a lot of good things as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

For an NFL coach, it's all about "what have you done lately."

You can a win a Super Bowl one year, but if the team suddenly becomes bad in, say, two or three years later, then you're out of a job.

That's the fickle nature of the NFL coaching business.

Take Raheem Morris, who was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Jan. 3 after just three seasons. The Irvington High School graduate did wonders in just his second season with the Bucs. They went from 3-13 in his first year to 10-6 the following season in 2010. Though the Bucs missed out on a playoff berth, Morris' performance certainly didn't go unnoticed, as he finished second to Patriots coach Bill Belichik in the NFL Coach of the Year ballotting.

Understandably, the expectations were high coming into the 2011 season. The Bucs were considered up-and-coming, with promising young quarterback Josh Freeman. They got off to a good start at 4-2. Then things began to unravel. They lost their final 10 games to finish with a 4-12 record.

But amid that long losing streak, Morris showed that he was still in control. In fact, he did something that was downright unheard of. During the loss to the Carolina Panthers, Bucs defensive tackle Brian Price was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Not only did Morris pull Price out of the game, but he sent him home. Yes, he sent him home. These days, NFL players feel they can do anything they want, on and off the field. Well, Morris wanted to send a message and he delivered it loud and clear.

Morris, who graduated IHS in 1994, worked hard in climbing the coaching ladder. He played and coached at Hofstra, serving as a defensive backs coach. He then made it to the NFL, joining the Bucs' defensive coaching staff from 2002-05. He was part of the 2002 team that won the Super Bowl against the Raiders. Incidentally, Alshermond Singleton, who graduated IHS a year before Morris, was a linebacker on that same Bucs' Super Bowl-winning team. Morris moved on to Kansas State where he was the defensive coordinator for one season in 2006. He returned to the Bucs as their defensive backs coach for two seasons before being named their head coach in January 2009 at the age of 32. Indeed, Morris made a big impression because it's very rare for anybody that young to be a head coach of a professional team in any sport, or even one who had never been a head coach at any level.

Morris' first season was tough in the beginning. The Bucs were 0-7. But while wearing their old-fashioned creamiscle-colored uniforms, they beat the Green Bay Packers for their first win. They beat the Seattle Seahawks in Week 15, then stunned the New Orleans Saints the following week in overtime. The Saints that season were the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs and beat Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. 

The Bucs carried that mometum into the 2010 season. The turnaround was staggering: from three wins to 10 wins. But the Bucs went backwards this season, and suddently, that 10-win season the year before was all but a distant memory.