Bruce Arians says he will immediately retire from coaching the Buccaneers
Bruce Arians announced his decision to retire from coaching the Buccaneers Wednesday night, marking the third retirement the Bucs have experienced this offseason. NBC Sports' Peter King and the Los Angeles Times' Sam Farmer were the first to report the news. Arians' retirement is effective immediately. According to King, the 69-year-old Super Bowl champion will […]
Bruce Arians announced his decision to retire from coaching the Buccaneers Wednesday night, marking the third retirement the Bucs have experienced this offseason. NBC Sports' Peter King and the Los Angeles Times' Sam Farmer were the first to report the news.
Arians' retirement is effective immediately. According to King, the 69-year-old Super Bowl champion will join the Buccaneers' front office as a “senior consultant for football”.
Arians' decision leaves Todd Bowles as head coach of the Buccaneers. Bowles is not an interim head coach: he is the head coach of the Buccaneers and will serve in the full capacity for 2022.
King reports that Arians thought about retiring from coaching after in February of 2021 after the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV. But Tom Brady's decision to return -as well as the entire slate of starters' decision to return- prompted Arians to forgo retirement and come back to coach the Buccaneers for another year.
“It hit me after the Super Bowl,” Arians said via King's report on Pro Football Talk. “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.”
Arians says his decision to retire is due to his desire for succession. He's strongly advocated for his two assistant coaches in Bowles and Byron Leftwich and now, he ensures that one of them gets the job.
Arians issued a statement soon after the announcement was made. You can read it below:
The Buccaneers will hold a press conference at 1pm E.T. on Thursday, March 31 to discuss the move.
You can check out King's full article, here.
Featured image via Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
