He has created the NFL's most diverse staff in Tampa Bay, filling his four most important positions with Black coaches and hiring two female full-time coaches. That spring, while playing golf at Whisper Rock, the ultra-exclusive club in North Scottsdale, Ariz., that is home to approximately 30 PGA Tour players, he looked back on his exodus from the Steelers and said, "I thank them every day."Įye on diversity: If nothing else, Arians could be the poster child for how the league should address its ongoing problem with coaching diversity Only 11 other coaches have won the award multiple times since it was established in 1957. In 2014, after leading Arizona to an 11-5 record despite season-ending injuries to his top two quarterbacks, Arians was named NFL Coach of the Year for a second time. That started a three-year run in which the Cardinals posted a 34-14 record, including 13-3 in 2015 when they made it to the NFC championship. The following year, he was hired as head coach for the Arizona Cardinals and doubled the team's victory total in his first season, going 10-6. He became the first interim coach in history to be named the league's coach of the year. When Colts coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia and left the team four weeks into the season, Arians took over a squad that was 2-14 a year earlier and had 18 rookie or first-year players and guided the Colts to a 9-3 record in the final 12 games of the regular season. Proof Arians did not intend to retire came seven days later when he agreed to become offensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts. He was told after the season by coach Mike Tomlin he would be retained, only to discover days later team president Art Rooney II would not renew his contract. 21, 2012 was termed a "retirement," even though it was not. But it didn't end that way.įinding success after Steelers exit: Arians' departure from the Steelers on Jan. Three seasons in a four-year span with a 12-4 record. A return to the Super Bowl two years later. They included the 2008 Super Bowl victory when he was the offensive coordinator. Those were the good days with the Steelers. She said watching us reminds her of that team." It was a real brotherhood," Arians said, ticking off some of the stars from the team that became the first No. "We had Jerome (Bettis) and Al (Faneca) and 'Potsie' ( James Farrior), Aaron Smith, Hines (Ward), all those guys. Arians was the wide receivers coach on Bill Cowher's staff that season. In many ways, Arians said it reminds him of the 2005 Steelers team that, like the Buccaneers, was also 7-5 before going on its run to the Super Bowl. Everyone just follows him."īucs remind him of 2005 Steelers: The Buccaneers come into the Super Bowl against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs having won seven in a row, including three consecutive playoff victories on the road. Nobody has been there, done that more so than him. "Just adding Tom put the attitude in the locker room. "Last year we had a really good football team," Arians said. That is not lost on Arians, 68, who said Brady's impact on the Buccaneers has been immeasurable. It will be Brady's 10th appearance in a Super Bowl. This will be Arians' first appearance in a Super Bowl since the Steelers lost to the Green Bay Packers in the 2010 season. "If someone would have told me that, I would've said, 'What are you drinking or smoking, and can I have some of that?'"Īfter spending parts of his career working with Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, he is getting to spend the final leg of his coaching journey with the greatest quarterback of them all, Tom Brady. "It's amazing," Arians said over the phone the other day. He is one of only 12 coaches in history to be named NFL Coach of the Year at least twice, has purposefully emblazoned himself as a role model for diversity and inclusion in the league workplace, and has the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in the Super Bowl for the first time since the franchise won its only Lombardi Trophy in 2002. Since the Steelers decided to not renew his contract after the 2011 season, it has been nothing but an unlikely yet magical ride for Arians. Retirement has been good for the former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator. York High graduate Bruce Arians got a couple coach of the year awards and a trip to the Super Bowl. Some get a leather recliner for their newfound downtime.
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