Just over a calendar year after leading the team to a Super Bowl championship, Bruce Arians is retiring from coaching, the team announced on Wednesday. The news was first reported by NBC Sports’ Peter King and Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. Arians will take a role in Tampa Bay’s front office, he later confirmed to SI‘s Albert Breer.
Arians’s new role will be senior football consultant. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles has been announced as the team’s new head coach.
Arians, 69, was Tampa Bay’s head coach for three seasons, culminating with a victory in Super Bowl LV. The Bucs went 13–4 last season and were bounced from the playoffs by the Rams in the divisional round. Prior to arriving in Tampa Bay, Arians spent five years as the head coach for the Cardinals.
Bowles has been the team’s defensive coordinator since Arians was hired. Previously, he spent four years as the head coach of the Jets, posting a 24–40 record. He also was the interim head coach for the Dolphins for three games in 2011, and has been an NFL assistant since 2000.
According to King, Arians began considering stepping down about a month ago at the NFL scouting combine. While he has battled health issues throughout his coaching career, he said that was not a big factor in his decision.
“Succession has always been huge for me,” Arians said, per King. “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.”
In a statement, Arians confirmed that health was not a factor in his decision, adding that he feels the best he’s felt in “many years,” and emphasized how important it was to him that Bowles be his successor. He added that the decision by Tom Brady to return for the 2022 season contributed to his decision, as the team would be in a better position to succeed next season.
“I really began thinking about my personal transition plan earlier this offseason. I wanted to ensure when I walked away that Todd Bowles would have the best opportunity to succeed,” Arians wrote. “So many head coaches come into situations where they are set up for failure, and I don’t want that for Todd. Tom’s decision to come back, along with Jason (Licht) and his staff doing another great job of keeping the core of this team intact during free agency, confirmed for me that it was the right time to pass the torch to Todd.”
With his promotion, Bowles becomes the sixth minority head coach in the league, along with Mike Tomlin, Ron Rivera, Robert Saleh, Mike McDaniel and Lovie Smith.
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