As an NFL head coach, Arians had an 80-48-1 record, a .624 winning percentage. In eight seasons leading the interim Indianapolis Colts, ...
As an NFL head coach, Arians had an 80-48-1 record, a .624 winning percentage. In eight seasons leading the interim Indianapolis Colts, Cardinals and Buccaneers, four of his teams have qualified for the playoffs. The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl title in the 2020 season, the Arians’ second in Tampa.
Arians, whose departure was first reported by the Los Angeles Times and NBC Sports’ Peter King, has come under fire for his handling of wide receiver Antonio Brown during his tenure in Tampa. Arians said Brown, who joined the Buccaneers in 2020 after serving an eight-game suspension for his role in a dispute at his home and for sending threatening text messages to a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct, wouldn’t have a second chance. But Brown continued to make waves, among other things, by apparently misrepresenting his vaccine status. When Brown wasn’t cut, Arians was asked if he had reneged on his commitment to being a hardliner.
This season, Brown stormed off the field in the middle of a game against the Jets and left the team. Brown and Arians offered different explanations for the episode.
Arians began his coaching career in 1975 at Virginia Tech before moving to Mississippi State, Alabama and Temple, where he served as head coach for six years. His first coaching job in the NFL was in Kansas City in 1989, as a running backs coach.
He was a tight ends coach with the New Orleans Saints before returning to college coaching, later becoming the quarterbacks coach for the Colts when Peyton Manning arrived in 1998. After three seasons, he moved to Cleveland , where he was the Browns’ offensive coordinator, then spent eight years with the Pittsburgh Steelers during the team’s two Super Bowl championship runs.
Arians retired from the Cardinals after the 2017 season, citing health issues, before returning after a year away to lead the Buccaneers. Brady joined the team a year later, in 2020, after leaving the New England Patriots as a free agent. Arians said winning Super Bowl LV that season, his first championship as a head coach, “was really the last item I wanted to check off my career to-do list.”
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