Former Cardinals and Bucs head coach Bruce Arians is eyeing a possible return to coaching

Bruce Arians has spent the better part of five years insisting he was done with coaching. 

On Thursday, the Super Bowl-winning head coach told Jordan Schultz that has changed as his health has returned to a more stable place.

“This is the first time I had the itch again. I had no desire to go back,” Arians said. “After open-heart surgery, I have so much more energy.”

Schultz shared a clip of their conversation on X Thursday morning, noting the full interview drops soon.

Arians underwent open-heart surgery in Philadelphia on February 6, two days before the Super Bowl. He disclosed the procedure a week earlier during a Today Show appearance alongside Rob Gronkowski, joking that he hoped a snowstorm wouldn’t keep him from getting to Philly. 

When Arians stepped away from the Buccaneers sideline following the 2021 season, he cited a torn Achilles that led to him wearing inserts in his shoes that caused some serious back problems, along with an aneurysm in his heart that doctors were monitoring. 

Nine months after surgery, he’s talking like a guy who wants to be back in a building and around football.

Arians shares in the clip he initially felt the pull back in September and said he missed the players. His son coaches high school football in Arizona, and their conversations about the game helped rekindle the interest.

He admits there have been no conversations with NFL teams to date, but left it at “we’ll see what happens.”

Arians was the head coach at Temple from 1983-88 before spending years climbing the NFL assistant ranks. He earned two Super Bowl rings in Pittsburgh, first as wide receivers coach in Super Bowl XL and then as offensive coordinator in Super Bowl XLIII.

In 2012, he stepped in as interim head coach in Indianapolis while Chuck Pagano underwent treatment for leukemia, went 9-3, and was named AP Coach of the Year. He parlayed that into the Cardinals job, where he went 49-30-1 from 2013-17, won another AP Coach of the Year award in 2014, and reached the NFC Championship Game following the 2015 season.

After a year in the CBS broadcast booth, he came out of retirement for the Buccaneers in 2019. He went 31-18 in three seasons in Tampa and paired with Tom Brady to beat the Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV on February 7, 2021. His time leading the franchise led to him becoming a member of the team’s Ring of Honor.

He’s 80-48-1 over his NFL head coaching career with four playoff appearances.

This isn’t the first time Arians has walked back retirement. In November 2018, while working for CBS, he told CBS Sports the Browns job was “the only job I would listen to and come out of retirement for.” 

Two months later, he was in Tampa leading the Bucs.

Arians turned 74 in October. If the energy is as real as he says it is, there’s a staff out there that could use a steady hand who has called plays, developed quarterbacks, and built locker rooms that played hard for him at every stop.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.