Bucs sideline reporter on Arians: “He is beloved by everybody”

Bruce Arias Bucs
Photo credit USA Today Images

With Tom Brady set to play in his tenth Super Bowl, he is, understandably, occupying many Super Bowl LV headlines.

But this is also a special moment for 68-year-old Bruce Arians, who is coaching in a Super Bowl as a head coach for the first time in his career.

“He is beloved by everybody, including the guy you’re talking to right now,” Buccaneers sideline reporter T.J. Rives said on After Hours with Amy Lawrence. “He’s phenomenal to deal with. You can understand why these teams that he has coached . . . want him to do so well.”

Arians has coached in the NFL for over two decades. He helped the Pittsburgh Steelers to a pair of Super Bowl titles as an assistant coach and coordinator, and he was named Coach of the Year with the Indianapolis Colts (2012) and Arizona Cardinals (2014).

“He’s a guy you root for for a myriad of reasons,” Rives said. “He’s overcome his own health problems. He’s had cancer a couple of times, actually retired two years ago and said, ‘Coaching is killing me.’ But he recharged the batteries for a year, worked for CBS TV, then the Buccaneers came calling to bring him here, and here we are two years later with Tom Brady at the helm and Bruce Arians coaching in the Super Bowl. 

“Brady said Thursday, ‘Hey, we want to win this for a ton of reasons, not the least of which is for Bruce Arians, who has been a football lifer in this business and in coaching, to have the opportunity to do this.’”

Arians, it is worth noting, has also been one of the most progressive coaches in the NFL.

“[He’s] the first coach to have all-Black offensive, defensive and specials teams coordinators on any NFL staff,” Rives said. “[He’s] the first coach to have full-time female coaches on his staff. He has not just preached diversity; he’s put it into practice. There are a lot of reasons to love this guy and root for this guy. I know Chiefs fans don’t want to hear that. They want to go back-to-back. But there’s a lot of sentiment for Bruce Arians.”