Well, can’t say I saw this coming…
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is officially retiring from coaching football, and will be moving into the Bucs’ front office as a “senior consultant for football,” according to NBC Sports.
The 69-year-old texted Darlington, simply saying:
“It’s time.”
Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles will be taking over as head coach.
Arians closes out his career with an NFL record of 80-48-1, and has held head coaching positions at Tampa Bay the Arizona Cardinals, and Indianapolis Colts, while also serving as an assistant for several other teams.
He’s also a two-time Super Bowl champion in his 34-year career in the NFL.
According to Pro Football Talk, the move isn’t as surprising as it may seem, as he began to consider retirement at the NFL Scouting Combine a month ago.
He’s also a prostate cancer survivor, and was hospitalized due to an illness late in his first year as an NFL head coach in Indianapolis.
He told the outlet:
“Succession has always been huge for me. With the organization in probably the best shape it’s been in its history, with Tom Brady coming back … I’d rather see Todd in position to be successful and not have to take some (crappy) job. I’m probably retiring next year anyway, in February.”
So, I control the narrative right now. I don’t control it next February because (if) Brady gets hurt, we go 10-7, and it’s an open interview for the job … I got 31 (coaches and their) families that depend on me. My wife is big on not letting all those families down.”
It hit me after the Super Bowl. 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.”
Many are wondering if his move had anything to do with Tom Brady announcing that he was coming out of retirement, and he quickly debunked the rumors:
“No. No. Tom was very in favor of what I’m doing. I mean, I had conflicts with every player I coached because I cussed them all out, including him. Great relationship off the field.”
All that being said, Twitter remains suspicious:
However, Brady just gave Bruce quite the tribute post on the Instagram.
