Bruce Arians

Lore & Background

Arians is known as a 'quarterback whisperer' with a 'no risk-it, no biscuit' slogan, which encourages aggressive playcalling. Under Arians's coaching, several high-profile quarterbacks were named to the All-Pro team or Pro Bowl, including Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Andrew Luck, Carson Palmer, and Tom Brady. An offensive assistant for most of his career, Arians helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win Super Bowl XLIII as their wide receivers coach and then Super Bowl XLV as their offensive coordinator.

While previously serving as head coach at Temple, Arians had his first NFL head coaching experience at age 59 when Colts head coach Chuck Pagano was treated for leukemia. Originally hired as their offensive coordinator, Arians became the Colts' interim head coach for 12 weeks, guiding a team that went 2–14 the previous season to a 9–3 record and earning them a playoff berth. He was named AP NFL Coach of the Year for the season and was the first interim head coach to receive the honor.

His success in Indianapolis led to Arians getting hired as an NFL head coach for the first time at age 60, serving the position for five seasons with the Cardinals. During his tenure in Arizona, Arians led the team to two postseason runs, a division title, and an NFC Championship Game appearance in 2015. He received a second Coach of the Year award after the 2014 season, and retired after 2017 as the Cardinals' winningest head coach. Arians then came out of retirement in 2019 to coach the Buccaneers.

He led the team to their first postseason appearance since 2007 during the 2020 season, culminating with a victory in Super Bowl LV. At age 68, he was the oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl. After guiding the Buccaneers to a division title and another postseason appearance in the 2021 season, Arians retired from coaching again and became a consultant with Tampa Bay.

Reader's Guide

A native of Paterson, New Jersey, Arians graduated from William Penn Senior High School in York, Pennsylvania. He previously attended York Catholic High School, where he was a standout scholastic quarterback. Arians played college football at Virginia Tech. As a senior in 1974, he was the starting quarterback in a wishbone offense for the independent Hokies, and completed 53 of 118 passes (44.9%) for 952 yards with three passing touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Arians rushed for 243 yards and eleven touchdowns, which set a school record for most quarterback rushing touchdowns in a season; it stood for 42 years, until broken by Jerod Evans in 2016. He was also the first white player to share a dorm room with a black player in school history; his roommate was James Barber, father of Ronde and Tiki Barber. The two were given the nickname 'Salt and Pepper'. Arians began his coaching career in 1975 as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech.

He then held an assistant coaching position at Mississippi State University (running backs and wide receivers) from 1978 to 1980 before heading to the University of Alabama to coach the running backs from 1981 to 1982 under Paul 'Bear' Bryant. Arians was also the head coach at Temple University from 1983 to 1988. While head coach for the Owls, he compiled a 27–39 overall record over six seasons. He had two winning records on the field, in 1984 and 1986; the Owls finished 6–5 both seasons.

However, all of the 1986 wins were later forfeited after it emerged that running back Paul Palmer, who was the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1986, had signed with a sports agent before the season. Besides Palmer, other standout players Arians coached at Temple included cornerback Kevin Ross, safety Todd Bowles, and running back Todd McNair. Ross, Bowles, and McNair all later served as NFL assistant coaches with or under Arians. At the end of the Temple football season in 1988, Arians was hired in the NFL as a running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs under Marty Schottenheimer.

It was during this time with the Chiefs that he worked with the coach who eventually brought him to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bill Cowher. He held positions with Mississippi State (offensive coordinator, 1993–95), New Orleans Saints (tight ends, 1996), and Alabama (offensive coordinator, 1997) following this.