By IRA KAUFMAN
TAMPA—The timing has never been better for Rich Bisaccia,

The special teams coach of the the Tampa Bay Buccaneers enjoyed a very solid season in 2009, even as his club won only three of 16 games in the first year under Raheem Morris.

Bisaccia’s desires to be a head coach are well known inside the organization and he would like an opportunity to interview for the USF job that has opened following the dismissal of Jim Leavitt. If the Bulls show interest in hiring Bisaccia, things will get intriguing.

Bisaccia remains under contract to the Bucs in 2010 and Tampa Bay has a long-standing policy of blocking assistants who try to leave while still under contract. Bisaccia knows through first-hand experience because the Bucs stopped him at least once before when he had a chance to leave.

But the Bucs would face a public relations nightmare if they barred Bisaccia from accepting the head coaching job at USF, even if Morris was inclined to keep Bisaccia from leaving because he is good at what he does with the Bucs.

Freeing himself from the Bucs isn’t Bisaccia’s major concern right now. All he wants is an opportunity to present himself as a potential head coach with a plan and a staff ready to implement that plan.

USF is expected to fill Leavitt’s job rather quickly and Bisaccia has some key inside people promoting him as a strong candidate. A member of Jon Gruden’s original 2002 staff, Bisaccia has grown on the job and is anxious to move on.

He should know his fate by the end of the week.