Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bruce Arians out as Bucs coach, Todd Bowles takes over

Updated Mar. 30, 2022 9:22 p.m. ET

A wild offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just got even wilder.

After seeing legendary quarterback Tom Brady retire and then come out of retirement in a span of weeks, the drama around the franchise has taken another twist, with head coach Bruce Arians retiring from coaching and transitioning into a front-office role.

Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles has been promoted to head coach in place of Arians.

Arians' run in Tampa Bay was one that was undeniably a success, as the franchise increased its win total in each of his three seasons at the helm. The team won seven games in 2019, 11 games in 2020 on its way to a Super Bowl championship, and 13 games this past season before falling in the NFC divisional round.

Now, he will inherit a team led by arguably the greatest player in NFL history, plus enough holdovers from the 2020 championship team to compete for another title in 2022. And according to Arians, this is what he always wanted for one of his top assistants.

"Succession has always been huge for me," Arians told 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. So, I control the narrative right now. I don’t control it next February because [if] Brady gets hurt, we go 10-7, and it’s an open interview for the job … I got 31 [coaches and their] families that depend on me. My wife is big on not letting all those families down."

As far as the question of whether Brady's return had anything to do with Arians' move, the coach insisted that it didn't.

"No," Arians said. "No. Tom was very in favor of what I’m doing. I mean, I had conflicts with every player I coached because I cussed them all out, including him. Great relationship off the field."

Now, there is a new era underway in Tampa Bay under Bowles, who has head coaching experience, leading the New York Jets to a 24-40 record across four seasons in 2015-2018. The Jets were 10-6 in his first season, then went 5-11, 5-11 and 4-12 in the next three campaigns.

The sports world reacted to the news. Here is a sampling.