Bruce Arians says he wants to be a head coach in the NFL next season

Published November 13, 2026 06:28 AM Bruce Arians is thinking about coming out of retirement. Again.Arians told Jordan Schultz that when he announced his retirement from the Buccaneers in March of 2022, it was because of health problems that have since been resolved, and he now wants to coach again.“I had torn my Achilles early in that season, and I was wearing these prosthetic high heels, and it threw my back out, and I couldn’t stand on the sideline for four hours anymore without a lot of pain,” Arians said. “I was also monitoring an aneurysm on my heart, so I had some health issues. We did everything we thought we could do in Tampa after winning the Super Bowl, trying to get two, and then it was time to give it to Todd [Bowles]. Now that I’m all healthy again, I got the itch again. So, we’ll see.”If Arians does come back next year, he’ll be the oldest head coach in NFL history. That distinction currently belongs to Pete Carroll, who was 74 when he coached the Raiders last season. Arians will turn 75 next season.Arians’ first retirement announcement came from the Steelers after they did not renew his contract as their offensive coordinator following the 2011 season, but Arians later said he was forced out and didn’t want to retire. He then took a job as offensive coordinator of the Colts in 2012, and was their interim head coach for most of that season while Chuck Pagano battled leukemia. Arians coached so well that he was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year. Once Pagano returned to the Colts, Arians became head coach of the Cardinals, and he won a second Coach of the Year award. He announced his retirement following the 2017 season, after five years as head coach of the Cardinals.But in 2019 he came out of retirement to become head coach of the Buccaneers. He won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, then retired after three seasons. Arians thought that was it, but he said that his son is now coaching high school football, and in talking to his son about the job he realized how much he misses it himself.“Another fire got lit,” Arians said. “I had no desire to go back, and I was still fighting some health issues, but now after the open heart surgery I’ve got so much more energy, it’s amazing.”Arians may find, like Bill Belichick before him, that all the accomplishments in the world don’t guarantee an NFL head-coaching job. Or perhaps he’ll convince some owner to give the oldest coach ever a chance to do what he’s done three times before, and turn a franchise around.