[BlackBeardsGhost]

With Jim Bates being named Tampa Bay's new defensive coordinator on Thursday, the Buccaneers were able to turn their attention to filling the vacancy at their offensive coordinator spot.

The Bucs interviewed candidates for both coordinator jobs in Mobile, Alabama earlier this week, but some candidates will meet with Tampa Bay over the next several days.

New Bucs head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Mark Dominik have been coy in their coaching search, but PewterReport.com has learned Cincinnati Bengals quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese is scheduled to interview for Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator job early next week.

Zampese, 41, has spent the past six seasons as Cincinnati's quarterbacks coach. He is the son of longtime NFL offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese, who served as offensive coordinator for the 1995 Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys.

Before he joined Cincinnati, Ken Zampese served as an offensive assistant with the St. Louis Rams in 2000 and was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2001. That year, the Rams led the league in passing yards for the second consecutive year. In his final year with the Rams, Zampese earned an additional title, passing game coach, and the Rams finished the '02 season ranked second in the league with 259.6 yards passing per game.

A former wide receiver return specialist at the University of San Diego, Zampese first embarked on his NFL coaching career in 1998 as an offensive assistant with the Eagles, working under then-head coach Ray Rhodes. He worked with Rhodes for one year in Philadelphia and Green Bay (1999) before joining St. Louis and eventually Cincinnati.

Zampese has spent five of his six seasons in Cincinnati working with one of the league's most efficient passers, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, a former first-round pick who became the fifth quarterback in the history of the NFL to throw 100 career touchdown passes in his first 59 games. The quickest to 100 TD throws was former Miami QB Dan Marino, who accomplished that feat in 44 contests.

Under the guidance of Zampese, Palmer also holds Bengals records for completion percentage (64.1), passer rating (90.1), single-season TD passes (32) and single-season passer rating (101.5).

Palmer isn't the only quarterback Zampese helped succeed in Cincinnati. In his first season with the Bengals (2003), Zampese worked closely with Jon Kitna, who completed 324 passes (62.3 percent) for 3,591 yards and tossed 26 touchdowns for a quarterback rating of 87.4.

In addition to Zampese, the Bucs are also interested in talking to former Rams head coach Scott Linehan and current Chiefs offensive coordinator Chan Gailey about their vacant offensive coordinator post.

[Bette]

Now all Zampese needs is a quarterback to coach

[BlackBeardsGhost]

Originally Posted by Bette

Now all Zampese needs is a quarterback to coach

.....and an O-Line, WR's, and TE's coach.