Bruce Arians loves football. Yes, that’s such a basic and obvious statement. Nobody becomes a coach in the NFL, basically sacrificing every other aspect of their life, to pull 18 hour days unless they love the game or hate themselves — and maybe it’s a bit of both.
For Arians, his love for the game is on a whole other level, and his shocking retirement on Wednesday night was another extension of it. His love for football extends all the way to his coaching peers. Stepping away now was the ultimate selfless act for one of football’s least-selfish characters, and it’s another example why the former Buccaneers coach is so beloved.
We all know Arians’ NFL accomplishments. Winning a Super Bowl with Bucs, taking the Cardinals to the big one as well, serving as offensive coordinator for the Steelers on two Super Bowl teams. A two-time AP Coach of the Year. The resume speaks for itself, but the most impressive thing about Arians is the kind of man he is.
Bruce lived and breathed football as a child, and his pursuit of personal excellence occasionally crossed into the surreal. Fiercely competitive in neighborhood football games, a young, lactose intolerant Arians was so upset he couldn’t drink milk to boost his bone density that he drank paint, twice. He had to get his stomach pumped because of it. Now look, I’m not going to say this is smart — I mean, it would have been nice for the Arians family to tell young Bruce that paint had no nutritional value, but in his young mind it was going to make him better.
Arians rode that competitive drive through high school, and into Virginia Tech — where he earned the job of starting QB. On the field he wasn’t a remarkable player, but off of it is where he made his biggest impact. Arians was the first white player in VT history to cross the color barrier share a dorm room with a black teammate — running back James Barber, who just so happens to be the father of Tiki and Ronde Barber.
Most kids would be afraid of standing out, but instead Arians and Barber decided to room together. They sent a clear message to everyone inside the Virginia Tech that the status quo of white and black players competing together, but staying at an arm’s length off the field, was over.
This is precisely who Bruce Arians is. Two forces are always driving him: Excellence and fairness. In 2010 he used his notoriety as offensive coordinator of the Steelers to launch the “Arians Family Foundation,” a charity that combats the abuse and neglect of children. In 2020, while most football coaches shied away from discussing racial prejudice and police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Arians didn’t back down from speaking publicly.
“I think right now, I love the fact that people are upset and they’re raising their voices, but don’t stop,” he said. “It’s one thing to march and protest. It’s another thing to take action. And when the protesting is over, I’d urge everybody to take action. Do something positive to help the situation. Just don’t go back to being silent, because then it’s going to happen again.”
It wasn’t just that Arians talked, he acted on his commitment to diversity. In 2020 he was the only coach to have three black coordinators. He was constantly championing Byron Leftwich and Todd Bowles off the field, ensuring they got credit for Tampa Bay’s success. Arians joined “Campaign Zero,” an organization seeking police reform in the United States. Even his retirement was the ultimate act of generosity.
See, it would have been easy for Arians to call it quits when Tom Brady retired. Hell, most coaches probably would have, but regardless of what No. 12 ended up doing, Arians knew that turning the team over to Bowles or Leftwich, without Brady around, would have been a coaching death knell. They would have inherited a rebuilding team that was destined to have a down year, and likely get replaced in a year or two — assuming they even got the job in the first place.
Instead Arians planned to coach the struggling team anyway. It wasn’t until Brady announced he was coming back that Arians decided to move into a front office role. I know there are dozens of swirling conspiracy theories that paint Brady as the agent who forced Arians out, but I’m not buying it. Sure, they bristled at each other in the media from time to time, but hell, Tom put up with Bill Belichick for damn near 20 years. Forcing Arians out for being a little mean at the podium is kind of like imagining a zookeeper didn’t want to work with lions anymore because one farted in their general direction. In the end, Arians and Brady won together — and that’s important to both of them.
No, I choose to believe that Arians was the agent of change in all this. That he saw a window where the Buccaneers would once again be great, but he had an opportunity to pass the torch to a coordinator he’s loved since their time together in Arizona. An opportunity to give Bowles a second chance at being a head coach after languishing on the Jets. A real second chance to prove he deserves a top coaching job.
I choose to believe this because Arians has told us, and shown us who he is over the years: A die-hard, occasionally brusk football coach, but someone who is legitimately one of the most generous and caring people the modern game has ever known. There is nobody else like Bruce Arians, and while it’s shame we won’t hear from him week in, week out, we will see the mark he’s left on the game of football.