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Report: Bruce Arians Could Resign If Bucs Beat Chiefs; Todd Bowles Would Be HC
February 7, 2021
If he can win his first Super Bowl as a head coach Sunday, Bruce Arians could step down from his position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported Sunday (h/t Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk).
The move would likely lead to defensive coordinator Todd Bowles becoming the Buccaneers head coach in 2021.
According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, Arians laughed off the retirement rumor, with one source calling it "100 percent BS."
Arians, 68, is in his second year in Tampa Bay, but he can lead his team to a championship in Sunday's matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The coach has served various roles across the NFL since 1989, winning a Super Bowl after the 2008 season as an offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He became a head coach in 2013 and has gone 67-44-1 across seven years with the Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals.
Arians had retired in 2018 but returned to the sport a year later to coach the Buccaneers.
Though a title could be incentive to step away for good, he previously said he wouldn't retire even if his team wins the Super Bowl.
"Hell no. I'm going for two," he told reporters in January. "If the Glazers will have me back."
If Arians changes his mind, Bowles is a quality option to replace him to keep continuity.
The 57-year-old is in his second season in Tampa Bay, taking over a defense that ranked 31st in points allowed in 2018 before ranking eighth in the category in 2020. He spent eight years in the NFL as a player and has worked his way up through the coaching ranks as a coordinator for three different teams, adding head coaching experience with four years in charge of the New York Jets.