Buccaneers set up for the future at Head Coach after Bruce Arians retires

Bruce Arians has set up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for long-term stability with the young coaching staff that he has assembled to groom around him.

It is no secret that Bruce Arians is up there in age, and after sitting out a full season to recover from health issues, there is no timetable on how long he will coach in Tampa Bay. However, no matter it be three or four years, Arians has created a pipeline for an internal hire whenever he does decide to call it a career for good.

His three biggest hires when receiving the head coaching position were guys that had a long history and rapport with Arians going all the way back to Arizona. Snagging recently fired New York Jets’ Head Coach and his former Defensive Coordinator Todd Bowles was a big hire after being rumored that his services were also rendered in Chicago and Cleveland as well. In addition, Arians brought along former NFL quarterback and Arizona Cardinals’ Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich and long-time assistant Harold Goodwin.

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Bowles obviously has previous head coaching experience, and while it did not go as planned, it could be imagined that he would love another shot at manning the ship in the NFL again. It will not be long, however, until Leftwich and Goodwin begin circulating as potential head coaches in this league, especially considering the McVay effect, where teams are looking for the next young, offensive minded guru to hire.

While losing Todd Monken to Cleveland was a big hit for the Buccaneers, expect current Assistant Head Coach/run game coordinator Goodwin and Offensive Coordinator Leftwich to keep the offense afloat and thriving. If they manage to get the best out of Jameis Winston and company, it will not be long until Leftwich and Goodwin become hot commodities, just like we saw with Freddie Kitchens in Cleveland, another coach from the Arians tree, after he transformed the Browns’ offense after the dismissal of Hue Jackson and Todd Haley.

At the age of 60 and sitting out the entire 2018 season due to health concerns, it is hard to believe that the Buccaneers gave Arians the head coaching gig without him presenting an internal pipeline to the next coach to set up long term stability within the organization. It would not be surprising to see Arians hang up his headset in three or four years and Leftwich or Goodwin be named Head Coach of the Buccaneers shortly after his retirement. The Buccaneers are in a good situation long-term with the staff and pipeline that Arians has created in Tampa Bay.