Bruce Arians Popular Books

Bruce Arians Biography & Facts

Bruce Charles Arians (born October 3, 1952) is an American football executive and former coach in the National Football League (NFL). Since 2022, he has been a senior football consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arians was previously the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2013 to 2017 and the Buccaneers from 2019 to 2021. He was also the interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts during the 2012 season. Arians is known for his slogan "No risk-it, no biscuit," which encourages aggressive playcalling. An offensive assistant for most of his career, Arians held his first NFL head coaching position with the Colts when head coach Chuck Pagano was treated for leukemia. As Indianapolis' interim head coach for 12 weeks, he guided a team that went 2–14 the previous season to a 9–3 record, earning them a playoff berth. Arians 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 him becoming the Cardinals' head coach for five seasons, where he led them to two postseason runs, one division title, and an NFC Championship Game appearance in 2015. He also received a second Coach of the Year award after the 2014 season. After initially retiring in 2017, Arians returned in 2019 to coach the Buccaneers. He led the team to their first playoff appearance since 2007 and first playoff win since 2002 during the 2020 season, culminating with a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl LV. At age 68, he was the oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl. Arians retired from coaching a second time after the 2021 season and became a consultant with Tampa Bay. Early life 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. Playing career Arians played college football at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. 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. College coaching career Arians began his coaching career in 1975 as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech. Arians 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 would all later serve as NFL assistant coaches with or under Arians.After coaching at Temple, Arians held positions with Mississippi State (offensive coordinator, 1993–95) and Alabama (offensive coordinator, 1997) in between NFL assistant coaching jobs. NFL coaching career At the end of the college football season in 1988, Arians was hired in the NFL as a running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. It was during this time with the Chiefs that he worked with the coach who brought him to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bill Cowher. He also spent one season as the tight ends coach of the New Orleans Saints in 1996.Following this stint was when he made a name for himself when he got the job as the quarterbacks coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 1998. He was the first quarterback coach of Peyton Manning when he arrived in the NFL. Afterward, he was hired as offensive coordinator (2001–2003) for the Cleveland Browns under Butch Davis. In 2002, he helped the Browns finish 9–7 (2nd in the newly aligned AFC North) and to a Wild Card Round berth where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers (36–33). It was during his tenure with the Browns that he first worked with Chuck Pagano who served as the Browns secondary coach. Pittsburgh Steelers After the 2003 season, Arians was hired as the Steelers wide receivers coach, helping the Steelers in winning Super Bowl XL. In 2007 he was promoted to offensive coordinator, and would go on to win Super Bowl XLIII.Despite his success in Pittsburgh, he had his fair share of critics. He was a gambling man who liked to take big risks that didn't sit well with fans. For instance, on a 3rd & 1, instead of running the ball or making a short quick pass, he wanted to air it out downfield. According to Arians, "I got booed in the Super Bowl parade. I look over and I hear 'get a fullback', and I say 'never'." In Arians' offense the quarterback is often exposed: Ben Roethlisberger took a high number of sacks every year and it left the Steelers front office unhappy. This led the front office to not renew Arians' contract as offensive coordinator when it expired after the 2011 season. Indianapolis Colts On January 28, 2012, Arians agreed to become the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, replacing Clyde Christensen. Arians previously served as the quarterbacks' coach for the Colts from 1998 to 2000, coaching a young Peyton Manning, whom Arians was briefly reunited with until Manning's release 2 months later. On October 1, 2012, Arians was named the interim head coach of the Colts following coach Chuck Pagano's leukemia diagnosis. Arians led the Colts to a 9–3 record, part of one of the biggest one-season turnarounds in NFL history. The nine wins are the most by an interim head coach in NFL history. After winning only two games in 2011, the Colts returned to the playoffs. Pagano returned to the Colts as head coach on December 24, 2012, with Arians returning to his role as offensive coordinator. Arians missed the Colts' Wild Card Round loss against the Baltimore Ravens due to being hospitalized with an illness, which was described by doctors as an inner ear infection or a virus; Arians had missed practice on January 3 due to the flu. Arians was named the 2012 AP Coach of the Year, making him the first interim head coach to win the award. Arizona Cardinals On January 17, 2013, the Arizona Cardinals and Arians agreed on a 4-year deal that would make Arians their 40th head coach. 2013 season In the 201.... Discover the Bruce Arians popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Bruce Arians books.

Best Seller Bruce Arians Books of 2024

  • A Season in the Sun synopsis, comments

    A Season in the Sun

    Lars Anderson

    WITH A FOREWORD BY COACH BRUCE ARIANSThe extraordinary behindthescenes story of how Coach Bruce Arians, Tom Brady, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came together to deliver one of the ...