Following a victory to end the season, Dirk Koetter confirmed he will be returning as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018.
Koetter spoke with team ownership ahead of Sunday's game and waited until the conclusion of the season to make the announcement.
"It took a lot of courage for the Glazer family to bring me back, bring the staff back, with the record what it is," Koetter said during his postgame press conference. "I really appreciate that, and we'll start the evaluation process tomorrow. We'll send these guys off on their vacation and we'll start working on 2018."
The Bucs finished the season at 5-11 despite entering the campaign with high expectations.
Koetter joined Tampa Bay as its offensive coordinator in 2015 and was given the head coaching position in 2016. He led the team to the brink of the playoffs and a 9-7 record, but his job was considered to to be in jeopardy after the franchise regressed this year.
The three other teams in the NFC South qualified for the 2017 playoffs.
"This is a really tough division. New Orleans has had two or three losing seasons in a row and here they are winning our division," Koetter said. "They made a couple changes, they hit on a couple draft picks, and here they are. We're sitting here 1-5 in our division - other than the game at New Orleans, we were right there in every division game."
