Bruce Arians is enjoying his retirement from coaching. He’s currently in Arizona playing golf with a trip to Pebble Beach up next.
The Buccaneers’ former head coach, who now is a senior football consultant for the team, reiterated Wednesday that a rift with Tom Brady did not force him out.
“No, not at all,” Arians told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “You know me. I cuss them all out. We have a great relationship.”
Arians said he stepped down to give defensive coordinator Todd Bowles a chance to take over a contender. Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, though, remains wanting.
Leftwich was “so close” to getting the Jaguars’ job that went to Doug Pederson, Arians said, and he added that a head coaching job is “on the horizon” for Leftwich.
Arians has said many times that he gets too much credit for Leftwich’s offense, but on Wednesday, he also threw in Brady.
“I get credit and Brady gets way too much credit for what Byron does with our offense,” Arians said. “One of the reasons I hope he gets all the credit he deserves this year is to get a coaching gig; you know, he had about four or five teams real interested last year. . . . I would anticipate him to be a head coach real fast.”
Even if Arians was merely trying to pump up Leftwich, Brady might be less than thrilled hearing Arians’ comment.