Bruce Arians have brought his name to the list of all-time great coaches, and he only coached for 8 seasons in the NFL. Having won a Super Bowl two years ago with Tampa Bay, there was never any doubt that Arians was a great play-caller, who also turned out to be a great friend to one of his assistants.
Starting out as an interim head coach in Indianapolis, Arians would end up coaching 8 seasons in the NFL, recording only two losing seasons in the process (2016 Indy and 2019 TB). This feat alone is impressive, as the losing seasons, weren’t even bad seasons, just seasons where division teams were better and the teams he coached finished 7-9.
After winning the majority of his games under the helm of the Arizona Cardinals, much like Lebron, Bruce Arians took his talents to the sunshine state in hopes of winning “one of them thangs”. However, when coming over to TB, there was no Tom Brady (Jameis Winston was starting), so Arians was already preparing for an uphill battle.
I think that says a lot about him, as he was ready to make a run with Winston at QB, and a lesser roster as well. You have to commend the fight in Arians; that fight ultimately led to a Super Bowl two years into his tenure. This year was supposed to be his fourth year calling the shots, but ultimately, Arians decided to step away, and hand the torch over to his close friend and assistant coach Todd Bowles.
Arians had stated in the past that when he would eventually step down from the Bucs, he wanted to make sure that Todd Bowles was well taken care of and that he would get the head coaching job once he left. I have to say, I was never too keen on Arians, especially because of his power struggle with Tom Brady, but this act of selflessness has made me see him in a whole new light.
Under Arians, the Bucs went 31-18, as well as winning 6 of his 9 playoff appearances with the Bucs. Some say that Tom Brady pushed Arians out of the position, citing irreconcilable differences. Was there a power struggle between Brady and Arians? Probably, but the two hard-nosed men changed the culture of Tampa Bay football forever, and we as fans are better for it.
Mr. Bruce Arians, thank you for your contributions to the Buccaneers. We are forever grateful. Enjoy retirement!