Perkins Will Reportedly Take Tampa Bay Job

After meeting for several hours on Tuesday with Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse, Alabama Coach Ray Perkins decided to accept the head coaching job with the National Football League team, according to a published report.

The Dallas Morning News, quoting an unnamed Alabama official, said Perkins would become the Buccaneers’ coach, general manager and vice president of operations under a five-year contract that would also allow him to purchase part of the team.

After a meeting in Birmingham, Culverhouse, who fired Leeman Bennett as the coach on Monday, declined to comment on whether he had made an offer to Perkins, who coached the New York Giants before succeeding Bear Bryant at Alabama in 1982.

“It’s obvious what we talked about,” Perkins said. “I have not made up my mind.”

He said he will “make a decision in the next day or so” and announce it at a news conference.

Later, it was announced that Perkins would hold a news conference today.

“This is the first time I’ve met him,” Culverhouse said of Perkins as they rode an elevator from their 17th floor suites to the lobby of the Hyatt House, where both had checked in Monday night.

They talked Monday night, had breakfast together at the hotel and then talked for several more hours Tuesday.

Asked whether he had made Perkins an offer, Culverhouse said: “No, we have not. We just talked.”

After his arrival in Tampa, Culverhouse issued a brief statement through a team spokesman.

“I have started my interview process,” the Buccaneer owner said. “I have others scheduled. I am working quickly with the goal of having a new coach in place as soon as possible.”

He refused to divulge names of others he plans to interview and added: “I don’t expect to have any further comment until I’m ready to name the new coach.”

Culverhouse, a native of Birmingham and an Alabama graduate, had said earlier he hopes to name a coach before the Super Bowl on Jan. 25.

When asked about other possible candidates while in Birmingham, he said only: “We have a number.”

Others mentioned in speculation include Rollie Dotsch, coach of the Birmingham team in the United States Football League, and Steve Spurrier, former USFL coach in Tampa Bay.

Culverhouse said he had no plans to talk to Dotsch “at this time.”

Perkins and Culverhouse walked briskly from the hotel lobby to Perkins’ car, and he chauffeured Culverhouse to the Birmingham airport, where Culverhouse took off in his airplane.

Perkins, a receiver on two national championship teams at Alabama in the mid-1960s, was named coach of the New York Giants in 1979. In his third season, the Giants made their first playoff appearance in 18 years. His record with the Giants was 24-35.

At Alabama, where Perkins was coach and athletic director, his four-year record is 32-15-1.