Bruce Arians fully deserves Buccaneers highest honor
By Rob Leeds
The Bruce Arians Buccaneers discourse has taken a mind-numbingly bad turn this offseason. Regardless of what anyone thinks, he absolutely belongs in the Ring of Honor.
Bruce Arians has been a better coach and done more for the Buccaneers during his short time than Jon Gruden ever did.
There should not be a point of contention in that statement. Gruden inherited a contending roster from Tony Dungy, who was unfairly fired, and then won with a roster that was so loaded with talent that almost anyone else could’ve accomplished the same goal (and likely not fall off so hard afterwards).
Gruden’s one year of greatness was all that it took to get his name in the Ring of Honor. However, off-field mistakes were enough to take his name out. That leaves a perfect spot to enshrine the far more deserving Arians.
Arians wasn’t the head coach for the Buccaneers as long as Gruden, the only other coach who was in the Ring to win a Super Bowl with the Bucs, but he did have a far larger hand in the construction of the team.
Gruden strolled into a roster that was ready to win. Arians joined a team that just got the previous head coach fired and was able to build a contender through free agency and the draft.
Even if you want to diminish Arians’ accomplishments to the act of signing Tom Brady, isn’t stealing Brady away from the Patriots still one of the most impressive accomplishments in Buccaneers history?
Without Arians, this team would’ve never won a Super Bowl, and it wouldn’t be in the current position to compete for another ring two years after winning it all.
You can buy into the false media narratives all you want; Arians is arguably the best coach in Buccaneers history and has a legacy in Tampa that will be hard to match. He absolutely belongs in the Ring of Honor, and the ceremony this season is going to be an incredible moment for him and the franchise.
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