Bruce Arians stepping down as Bucs head coach; Todd Bowles tabbed as successor
from Mike Santa Barbara, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is retiring from coaching and will move to a position within the Bucs front office, NBC Sports’ Peter King reported on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Todd Bowles has reportedly been named Arians’ successor.
According to the report, Arians will take a new job with Tampa Bay as a senior consultant for football. The 69-year-old Arians will begin his new job with the Buccaneers working on 2022 draft preparations.
BREAKING: @Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians is retiring from coaching, effective immediately, with the intent of Todd Bowles being named his replacement.
Arians spoke co-exclusively with @LATimesfarmer and @peter_king on when and why he made his decision. https://t.co/tK8CwXyGSy
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 31, 2022
In a 25-minute phone conversation with King and the L.A. Times, Arians explained why he’s stepping down now, mentioning how Tom Brady’s decision weighed on his.
“It hit me after the Super Bowl,” Arians said. “I thought really hard about going out on top. Then it was like, nah, let’s go for two. [The 2021 season] was a grind with all the injuries but still winning and getting to where we got. Immediately after, two to three weeks afterwards [I thought]… if I quit, my coaches get fired. I couldn’t do it then.”
“Tom was kind of the key. When Tom decided to come back…and all of these guys back now, it’s the perfect timing for me just to go into the front office and still have the relationships that I love.”
The Buccaneers are expected to hold a press conference on Thursday to announce Arians stepping down and the hiring of Bowles as head coach.
Arians, coaching at either the pro or college level since the mid-1970s, will walk away from coaching having accumulated an impressive resume.
From 1975 to 1988, Arians worked his way through the college ranks. First, as a graduate assistant with Virginia Tech (1975-77), then as wide receivers and running backs coach at Mississippi State (1978-1980), a stop at Alabama (1981-82) as a running backs coach before landing his first head-coaching gig at Temple. At Temple, Arians led the Owls as head coach from 1983 to 1988.
In 1989, Arians would receive his first NFL job as running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs until 1992. After two years as Mississippi State’s offensive coordinator (1993-1995), Arians returned to the NFL, this time as tight ends coach with the New Orleans Saints in 1996. The 1997 season would be Arians’ last in college football, handling Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach duties.
From 1998 to 2021, Arians held several coaching roles, including Indianapolis Colts quarterbacks coach (1998-2000), Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator (2001-2003), Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach (2004-2006) and offensive coordinator (2007-2011), and Colts offensive coordinator and interim head coach (2012).
In 2013, Arians was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as head coach, a post he would man from 2013 to 2017.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought Arians in as head coach in 2019.
As a coach in the NFL, Arians has many accolades, including a two-time Super Bowl winner as an assistant, Super Bowl LV Champion as a head coach and two AP NFL Coach of the Year Awards (2012, 2014).
As a head coach, Arians finishes with an 80-48-1 record in 129 games over eight seasons.