Bruce Arians retires, Todd Bowles to take over as head coach

There is some very interesting stuff going on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs announced on Wednesday that Bruce Arians was retiring as a head coach and moving into a front office role with the team. Todd Bowles, who has been Tampa Bay’s defensive coordinator, will replace Arians as the head coach.

Arians will discuss the news at a press conference on Thursday.

Arians already talked with NBC’s Peter King and the LA Times’ Sam Farmer about the decision. He said that Tom Brady’s announcement that he would be returning led him to make the decision to step away.

“Tom was kind of the key. When Tom decided to come back … and all of these guys back now, it’s the perfect timing for me just to go into the front office and still have the relationships that I love,” Arians said.

Arians said that he always wanted Bowles, a minority head coach, to succeed him. He said the timing of his decision allows Bowles to coach the team while Brady is the quarterback. That would give Bowles a great chance of succeeding.

There are two ways to go here. One, either Arians is the most selfless coach ever, and giving Bowles the chance to show what he can do with a quarterback like Brady. Or, there’s theory two: Brady really did clash with Arians, and one of the conditions of his return was not having Arians back as head coach. Arians has repeatedly slammed the rumors, but it’s hard not to think something might be going on.