Warren Sapp Discusses Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coaches In New Book

Uncensored

Former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp has a new book coming out and in the 314 pages he discusses a wide range of topics as only he could.

To sum up, he loved Tony Dungy, he liked Jon Gruden and he hated Sam Wyche. He admired Derrick Brooks, he didn’t care for Keyshawn Johnson and he thought Monte Kiffin was an overrated self-promoter.

A sampling from the Book of Sapp:

On coming to the Bucs: “Everything about the organization was bad; bad coaching staff, bad practice facility, bad bright-orange team colors, even a bad team logo. Bucco Bruce was the logo. The NFL had lions and giants, cowboys and panthers. We had the sappy pirate. C’mon, how intimidating is that, Bucco Bruce? He was this sad-looking pirate who actually had his earring in the wrong ear. What kind of pirate has an earring in his wrong ear? He was supposed to be sneering but actually looked like he was winking.”

On Wyche, his first head coach: “Sam Wyche and I never did arrive on the same planet. … Wyche thought you motivated people by making snide comments, by belittling people. … So it wasn’t a surprise his coaching staff was disloyal. We spent the whole season watching defensive coordinator Rusty Tillman trying to sabotage Wyche so he could get the head coaching job.”

On the way his teammates treated him as a rookie: “Once a week, right into the season, I got my ass taped to the uprights. One time, they taped (Brad) Culpepper and me back-to-back in the middle of the floor.”

On the Bucs coaches he played for: ”I always said that Tony Dungy put the damn cake in the oven, and then Jon Gruden came in and put the icing on it. Of course, Sam Wyche couldn’t even get the mix out of the box.”

On Kiffin, the former defensive coordinator: “I always believed Kiffin (blitzed) so much because he wanted the glory; it made him feel like a great defensive coordinator.”

On how some defensive linemen illegally coated their jerseys with Vaseline or silicone so the offensive linemen couldn’t hold them: “Now that Whitey (his nickname for Culpepper) also is retired, I’ll confess for him that he was one of the people who did that. He practically bathed in silicone before a game. Trust me, if he had ever tried to hug his wife before a game, she would have slipped right out of his arms and gone straight up in the air.”

On Johnson, the receiver: “Among the biggest problems we had on that 2003 team was Keyshawn Johnson. … It wasn’t a big secret Keyshawn didn’t fit into our locker room: he came to us from a different football culture, and he never could make the adjustment. Everything was about him.”

On defensive end Chidi Ahanotu: “We played alongside each other, but we didn’t get along. … Chidi was a good player; he was known for putting pressure on quarterbacks but not getting sacks. He owned a nice jazz bar named Sacks. … I stood up and said, ‘I got one thing to add.’ … They changed the name of the restaurant from Sacks to Pressures.”

On quarterback Trent Dilfer: “Dilfer … basically was an interception waiting to happen. There were times we practically pleaded with him, ‘We know you’re not going to score a touchdown, but please, just don’t turn it over.’ ”