PALM BEACH, Fla. — It was Sunday night at the Breakers Hotel, the 127-year-old oceanfront hotel and golf clubs in Palm Beach, where the NFL owners and team personnel stayed in luxurious rooms with ocean views that began at $2,335 per night for the league’s annual meeting.
Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones took advantage of the proceedings, which often doubles as “a big-check contest” between NFL owners, with dual accommodations.
The Brave Eugenia, Jones' $250 million mega yacht, was also docked at the Port of Palm Beach for some downtime between and after the meetings.
But on the opening night, Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians held court at a seafood restaurant near the back of the hotel.
The bar doubled as a fishbowl as goldfish swam through the glass under your drink while Arians greeted and toasted the likes of Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay and New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who just so happen to be fellow Super Bowl winners.
Were they in on the secret Arians was keeping?
No one suspected a thing when Arians was one of four coaches — a list that also included the Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy — who were absent from the annual NFL coaches’ photo.
McCarthy stayed away to scout for the NFL draft. Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell was sick. Belichick just didn’t bother. (The definition of on-brand, if there ever was one.)
But something certainly was afoot when Arians did not attend the Tuesday media breakfast for NFC coaches.
Then on Wednesday night, with the meetings over, Arians dropped the bombshell to the Los Angeles Times and NBC Sports that he was retiring and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles was being promoted to head coach.
While Arians surprised the world with his decision to step down as coach and move into the front office as a consultant, this decision was calculated and flawlessly executed.
Arians pushed diversity and inclusion as a coach with Black men as his four top lieutenants — Bowles, offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, assistant head coach Harold Goodwin and special teams coach Keith Armstrong — while also having two women on the staff.
Not only does the Bowles hire bring the NFL’s total number of minority head coaches to six, but the way Arians did it ensures that the incoming coach had a good chance to succeed, something the Rooney Rule and league’s new Diversity and Inclusion committee couldn’t promise.
Arians admitted he had always planned to elevate Bowles when he retired if Bowles didn’t get a job elsewhere.
It became increasingly frustrating to him that neither Bowles nor Leftwich landed jobs in the past two coaching cycles, a cycle that included the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl title following the 2020 season.
But when legendary quarterback Tom Brady decided to unretire a few weeks ago, it gave Arians the comfort to put his plan into action as he could walk away and hand the keys of a good and contending team over to Bowles, who was the Cowboys’ secondary coach from 2005-07 and the New York Jets head coach from 2015-18.
“I really began thinking about my personal transition plan earlier this offseason,” Arians said in a statement. “I wanted to ensure when I walked away that Todd Bowles would have the best opportunity to succeed. So many head coaches come into situations where they are set up for failure, and I didn’t want that for Todd.”
Arians also did it at a time when the league couldn’t get involved with the succession plan with its well-meaning rules.
The Buccaneers were not subject to the requirements of the Rooney Rule, which stipulates that teams interview at least two external minority candidates, since their coaching vacancy occurred after March 1, when much of the talent pool from which the club would have sought out potential candidates was largely unavailable.
The anti-tampering policy says that after March 1, clubs are under no obligation to grant permission for a coach under contract to interview.
It was a move that worked in the Buccaneers’ favor this time. But it’s a loophole that would have been viewed differently if the new coach was white, especially considering the controversy surrounding the league’s lack of minority hires and the current lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against the NFL by former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores.
Imagine Jones firing Mike McCarthy and promoting defensive coordinator Dan Quinn next week or hiring Sean Payton because of this loophole?
There would be screaming and shouting from here to New York, not to mention endless protesting. And that would be just from the McCarthy family. (Uh, that part was a joke, folks.)
But in terms of the matter at hand, the league did make some enhancements to the Rooney Rule. Teams will now be required to interview a woman for all positions and Zoom interviews will no longer suffice as it relates to interviews for head coach openings.
The NFL also announced the creation of the Diversity Advisory Committee, a six-person committee that, according to a league statement, will “lend its expert, external perspective on industry best practices and will evaluate league and club diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategies and initiatives, including all hiring processes, policies and procedures, with a primary focus on senior-level coach and front office personnel positions.”
Teams are also now required to hire a minority offensive assistant, with the goal being to help create a pipeline for more minority coaches on the offensive side of the ball.
“It’s a recognition at the moment, when you look at the stepping stones for a head coach, they’re our coordinator positions, and there’s clearly a trend with those coaches coming from the offensive side,” Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney said during a press conference announcing the moves at the NFL meetings.
Or the league could have sat at the bar and been sly as a fox like Arians, who showed not only how to be an ally and proponent for advancing minority causes but a doer.
Arians not only put his money where his mouth is, but he put his job where his mouth is in stepping aside and giving Bowles a chance to guide a winning team.
