After stumbling to a 3-13 season in his debut as an NFL head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Raheem Morris went 10-6 in his second year. The sophomore campaign for the young head coach inflated his sense of self to the point where he thinks he can be an effective coach in two sports now. OK that was just a joke, but Morris is actually good friends with Rays manager Joe Maddon and he and his staff were invited to spend the day with the Rays on Tuesday.
“It was all about Raheem,” said Rays manager Joe Maddon, who invited the Buccaneers coach and his staff to spend a day in spring training with the AL East champions.
“I gave him the game ball,” Maddon said. “He did a great job with the pitching change. … There was nice conversation during the course of the game. It was a fun day.”
The pitching change to which Maddon referred was when he pulled James Shields in the 4th inning. Shields described what happened, saying “He walked to the mound, and he’s like, ‘So, what do we do now?'” Shields relayed. “I was like, ‘You’re supposed to get the ball from me.’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, okay, then hand me the ball.’ Then he’s like, ‘So, what are we doing after the game? Is this what we’re supposed to talk about out there?’ It was pretty funny.”
Here’s a video of both Morris and Maddon talking about the experience, including Maddon saying he wanted his players to gain some football toughness.
