Retirement apparently doesn’t suit everyone.
Bruce Arians retired from his position as Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach before the 2022 season and it seems he isn’t thrilled with his decision.
Arians said it “kills” him to not be coaching the Buccaneers this season, but is certain it was the appropriate time to step away from the game.
“Would I love to be coaching? Yeah,” Arians told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “It’s what you do. It kills me to go upstairs. I’m on the sideline in pregame and it kills me to have to go upstairs and just sit there. It kills me. It’s hard. It’s what I do. I’ve done it my whole life. I’m smart enough to know it’s over.”
The 70-year-old Arians, who won a Super Bowl with the Bucs, retired in March 2022. He handed the team off to former assistant Todd Bowles, who has struggled to maintain the success Arians had during his tenure. Tampa Bay is 7-8 this season but sits a game ahead of Sunday’s opponent, the Panthers, for first place in the NFC South.
Arians made comments in June that if Tom Brady hadn’t returned to the Buccaneers he likely wouldn’t have retired. It sparked many rumors that he didn’t really want to go.
“I was going the other way. I was thinking he wasn’t going to play,” Arians said at the time. “Had Tom not come back, I probably would still be coaching. I couldn’t give Todd that situation.”
Arians retired once before in 2017 and came back out of retirement. Even though he misses his Buccaneers, it looks like there won’t be a return for him this time.