![]() ![]() ![]() It also helped that the Arians were friends with Licht's wife, Blair, who they befriended when Bruce and Jason worked together in Arizona in 2013. In Licht, Arians had a good friend as his general manager who he knew, trusted and got along with seamlessly. "I wouldn't have taken the job if it wasn't for Jason, and probably wouldn't have taken the job if Byron Leftwich wasn't available," Arians said. "The whole staff was available so it's like, why the hell not do this right," Arians told ESPN.īut among all those reasons Arians decided to return to coaching, there were two that rose above the rest: Licht and Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. He essentially got the band back together, hiring 12 coaches who worked for him in Arizona, along with others he's known for years like quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen, who was on his staff at Temple in the 1980s, and special-teams coordinator Keith Armstrong, who played for Arians at Temple.Īs Arians went through the steps of figuring out if he wanted to take the Bucs job, "all the things kind of just added up." It's also an hour flight from Birmingham, Alabama, where his grandchildren live.Īrians could build the staff he wanted. And on a personal level, it's a quick six-hour drive to Lake Oconee straight up I-75 - where Bruce and Chris stay from right after the draft until returning to Tampa for training camp. On the professional side, they had infrastructure Arians believed was needed to create a winner - from ownership to the general manager to the roster. The Bucs and the Tampa area had everything Arians wanted. The 68-year-old Arians had to find the right situation to return, and Tampa Bay was it - even before he had quarterback Tom Brady. So, at the kitchen table at their home on Lake Oconee in Georgia during breakfast, she laid out a list of requirements: They would rent a house, not buy she would have an unlimited travel budget to see her grandchildren and Bruce would work on his health.īruce's decision to return to coaching looks like the right one as he will lead the Buccaneers against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV on Sunday (6:30 p.m. If he was going to return to coaching, Chris would have some say in it. "We'll be married 50 years in June, like, I do know the man."īruce took the 2018 season off following five seasons as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. "I was certainly resigned to it," Chris told ESPN. When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were looking for a head coach after the 2018 season, Chris Arians knew her husband, Bruce, was talking to general manager Jason Licht. Why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the only team that could get Bruce Arians back to coaching Specifically, he wanted Bowles to have the best roster possible and Brady allowed that to happen.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser Bruce Arians: Tom Brady's unretirement played role in decisionĪccording to Arians, Tom Brady's stunning decision to retire played a role in his decision to hang up his whistle. Arians claims that was part of the reason he retired. Instead of, well, the Jets, Bowles, who is reportedly getting a five-year contract, will now take over as the head coach of a roster of a Super Bowl contender. The Buccaneers' defense has ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in points allowed in each of the past two seasons, up from 29th when Bowles first took over and 31st in the year before he came aboard. Since the Jets fired him, Bowles has seen his stock jump back up thanks to his results in Tampa Bay, which included a Super Bowl ring in his second year. He amassed a 24-40 record in that span and never made the playoffs despite a 10-6 record his first year. This will be Bowles' second stint as an NFL head coach, having previously coached the New York Jets for four seasons. Todd Bowles' second act as NFL head coach Per Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, teams would typically need to interview at least two minority candidates for a head-coaching vacancy, but because of the timing of the move after the start of the league year, the hire is allowed. There have been whispers of his potential retirement for years, but few saw it playing out like this. Arians is retiring after eight seasons as an head coach, nine if you count the 12 games he coached as the interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. ![]()
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