Bruce Arians And The Hall Of Fame
June 15th, 2021
Hall of Fame?
Joe considers Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians to be the best coach in franchise history. Yeah, Joe said it.
Look what he did in two years with the Bucs.
Completely turned around a moribund franchise. Took players whose careers were circling the drain and turned them into studs. Took a quarterback (granted, the greatest, albeit in his 40s) with no offseason or preseason and got him to learn a brand new offense that took the Bucs to the mountaintop.
That, friends, is coaching.
Better than Chucky? So far, yes.
Chucky took an entire offense and force-fed them a new system and they began clicking at the right time. And he had a full offseason and a preseason to help, unlike Arians.
Arians had but three new starters (quarterback, running back and a rookie right tackle) to learn his offense, but no offseason or preseason.
Arians turned around a rotten team that expected to lose. Chucky steered a team to a Super Bowl win that expected to win.
When you win a Super Bowl as a coach, that puts you on a different pedestal above other coaches. It just does.
Could Arians be a Hall of Fame coach? Joe’s not ready to go there yet. He would have to win another Super Bowl.
Clark Judge of SI.com is of the mind that Arians has a case.
But it’s a crowded field, and Arians is making a push to be included. What’s more, if he wins another Super Bowl … and, yes, the clock is ticking … he might just catapult himself all the way… .
I’m serious. Jimmy Johnson coached nine seasons and had a .556 winning percentage. He also won only 80 games. But he won back-to-back Super Bowls and is credited with building a Dallas team that won a third, with Barry Switzer.
“My view,” NFL historian John Turney of Pro Football Journal said of Arians, “is that he’s not on a Hall-of-Fame path right now. But if he wins back-to-back titles, it changes – and that accomplishment vaults him into Hall-of-Fame territory due to the rarity of that feat.”
Right now Arians is in the Hall Of The Very Good. Though he had winning seasons in Arizona, his teams fizzled in the playoffs.
Of course, you could argue Arians is no worse than Father Dungy. Let’s be real, Father Dungy’s playoff record is sad. With the Bucs defense he had, it’s embarrassing he never reached a Super Bowl. However, he had that one magical season with the Colts guided by a legendary quarterback, just like Arians had that one (so far) magical season with the Bucs also guided by a legendary quarterback.
Joe guesses if the standard for a Hall of Fame coach is Father Dungy or George Allen, then Arians deserves serious consideration and may have sufficient merit to be inducted.
At the first Bucs home game after Arians retires, he needs to be inducted into the Ring of Honor, that’s all there is to it.
June 15th, 2021 at 3:08 pm
ehhhh the best @joe? cmon now he 75 sidekicks! lol lol
June 15th, 2021 at 3:09 pm
got*
June 15th, 2021 at 3:52 pm
Both Dungy and Arians turned around franchises that had been horrific for a long time. The biggest difference and why I believe that Arians is a HOF’er now is that Arian’s won the superbowl with the team he turned around, while Dungy did not. If Dungy can get in with only one, why not Arians?
June 15th, 2021 at 3:56 pm
Buczilla, Dungy got in due to the minority status. Flores should have gotten that claim before Dungy.
June 15th, 2021 at 3:56 pm
Dungy wasn’t that good. we know why he got in………….
Manning carried him in Indy and the Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, Rice, Barber etc. in Tampa
June 15th, 2021 at 3:59 pm
If Dungy is in, 85% of all coaches should be in
June 15th, 2021 at 4:03 pm
Leeman Bennet for the HOF!!!
June 15th, 2021 at 4:05 pm
*t*
June 15th, 2021 at 4:17 pm
Insane to think that Brady could be part of building two hall-of-fame coaches. Normally it is the other way around.
June 15th, 2021 at 4:30 pm
@Dewey Selmon
Yes, I can see how being a minority helped Dungy get in before others (Jimmy Johnson as one example) that were at least as deserving, but I also believe that minority assistant coaches worthy of being head coaches were ignored by ownership until the last 20 years or so. I’m not bothered by Dungy getting a little bump and I also agree that Flores needs to be in the HOF as well.
June 15th, 2021 at 4:36 pm
Fun debate on Dungy. I would like to add he created the Tampa 2 Defense that was copied all over the league. And no team ever played it as well as Dungy’s Bucs.
To say Dungy got in for one reason is ignorant and really very shameful coming from a Buccaneer fans mouth who should know better.
Dungys coaching career made a big impact on coachs all over the league. Im not saying it makes him a shoe-in but at least understand he did more for the league then be black.
June 15th, 2021 at 4:39 pm
And with Arians it dont seem like he has had the longevity to make it to the HOF.
If he wins a 2nd ring that puts him in rare company and might be enough to get him in.
June 15th, 2021 at 4:47 pm
Arians recruited this awesome coaching squad and coach Brady which is a part of being a HC, but I see too much of him sitting in his secluded cart to put him in the hall of fame. Back to back would be a different story. A comparison of Arians as a HOF coach and Mike Evans not being a HOF player sounds weird.
June 15th, 2021 at 4:49 pm
In the 63 history of the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award, there have only been 5 men other than Bruce Arians to win the award with more than one team. 3 of those 5 have gold jackets.
Don Shula (HOF) – Colts & Dolphins
George Allen (HOF) – Rams & Football Team
Bill Parcells (HOF) – Giants & Patriots
Chuck Knox – Rams & Bills
Dan Reeves – Giants and Falcons
If you want to go a step further… of these five men, only Shula and Parcells coached a team to a Super Bowl win.
Bruce Arians For President!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 15th, 2021 at 4:57 pm
And btw… Dungy didn’t get in because of the players on the team or because he is black. HOF coaches take good players and MAKE them great!
Without Dungy, it is completely possible that Sapp and Brooks wouldn’t be in the HOF.
We’ll never know, but just think… would Schiano, Lovie Smith, Perkins, have coached Sapp and Brooks to HOF careers??
June 15th, 2021 at 5:01 pm
Dungy did a lot more than people are giving him the credit for.
June 15th, 2021 at 5:54 pm
What is so stupid of those who say the only reason he got in was because he’s black is they’re too dumb to see the significance of WHY the NFL instituted quotas in the first place. If things had been fair in the first place there would be be no need for quotas. Quotas are proof that many people are denied job opportunities because they’re ‘minorities’. By the way Tom Flores is a so called minority, American born Mexican but after reading his bio I do agree he should have been in before Dungy and Jimmy Johnson but it doesn’t negate Dungy being in it either. There was a color quota in the NFL from after Fritz Pollard(1925) until 1989 when only the 2nd black ever was allowed to be a head coach. So 85% of the coaches in the HOF don’t deserve to be there because of the color barrier used to keep non whites out of the head coaching spots. You guys crying reverse discrimination need to stop your Tom foolery!
June 15th, 2021 at 5:58 pm
Anyone with a saying of “We win we booze, we lose we booze” not only deserves the HoF if he repeats, but a street named for him in Lynchburg, TN.
June 15th, 2021 at 6:02 pm
I mean he already has 2 rings from his time in Pittsburgh as their WR coach turns OC, so I’d say that in combination to the work he did in Arizona as well as winning a ring here has him right at the cusp of being a lock to eventually get in.
June 15th, 2021 at 7:12 pm
You hillbillies that claim dungy only got in due to color are idiots. How many of dungy’s ex players ie manning, brooks say that when they lost they always felt they were letting dungy down? Players do not say that for coaches. Dungy established a culture here in tampa that players on this team today still follow. He told his players we can win super bowls but it means nothing if we dont make an impact in our community. Thats why players like brooks, dunn, alstott etc have been pillars in the tampa bay area. They credit dungy for that. His coaching tree speaks for itself. He has been very instrumental in the cause of hiring minority coaches. He had only one losing season ie his 1st. He has been a great ambassador for league ie pure class. The same class you hillbillies claim to value in your players and thats why u were oh so happy to get rid of talib or blount etc. If dungy said he wants to coach again, he would be the 1st option on EVERY team looking for a coach period. Stop being so stttuuuuppppiiiddd
June 15th, 2021 at 7:18 pm
If Dungy would have hired one, just one decent offensive coordinator, he could have won multiple Super Bowls. I always said if Clyde Christianson was such a brilliant offensive coordinator (at the time), why didn’t Dungy make him the OC immediately in Indy. No, he put us through that misery, but not them. And who can forget the Mike Shula fiasco? I don’t have warm and fuzzy memories of Dungy. Too much wasted talent because of a stubborn, loyal to a fault boneheaded coach. Him in the HOF, already, is a joke.
June 15th, 2021 at 8:33 pm
Not sure why my post is not here. Maybe moderator is in disbelief that I don’t worship at the Altar of Dungy.
June 15th, 2021 at 9:04 pm
Tony Dungy was a very respected Head Coach by the Players. Should he be in the Hall of Fame, I can not really say one way or the other. But to say he created the Tampa 2, is not in reality what happened.
Here is an article from Bleacher Report,
“Just to keep the record straight about The Tampa 2 Defense..
History: The Tampa-2 defense has it’s origins from “The Steel Curtain” days of the Steelers from the 1970’s.
In fact Tony Dungy was quoted saying “My philosophy is out of the 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers’ playbook.”
In reality it came from head coach Chuck Knoll and defensive coordinator Bud Carson.
I think one only has to look at all of the Steelers’ Super Bowl wins during this period to see how effective it was.
CARSON was the one who introduced the idea of moving the middle linebacker into Coverage, which became extremely effective with the addition of the very talented LB Jack Lambert”
I can remember Hardy Nickerson playing way back in Coverage, patrolling the middle, and knocking the crap out of people, much like “Count Dracula in Cleats” J Lambert
Just trying to be objective about Tony. I like him as a person, but he was very dogmatic about His offense, it was 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Rich McKay stated multiple times when Shuan King was QB, that the Bucs were not a QB Driven Team.
And this is why Tony was fired, he never was really willing to build an offense that could compete and win a Championship.
The Vet in Philly was Tony’s Buccaneer graveyard.
Also just to keep the record Straight, Gruden did not win the Super with Tonys team. Yes he inherited a rock solid defense built by Tony,
But it is not fair to Gruden to say that he won with Tony’s team because….
Gruden did what Tony would not do, and that is he built the Offense
Gruden brought in 2 wide receivers, K Mcardell, and Joe Jurevicius, and 3 Tight Ends, Dilger, Dudley, Bataglia, RB Micheal Pittman, that would be at least 4 starters and sometimes 5 on offense. Tony can not be credited for that.
I personally am not a Gruden fan, but just to clear a bunch of garbage out of the way that is said by so many over the years about the 2002 season Super Bowl Champs and Gruden.
Again whether Tony should be in the Hall of Fame, I will leave that for others to debate. I will say the he was a real culture changer in Tampa Bay, that is for sure, and he is decent human being.
GO BUCS!!!!!!
June 15th, 2021 at 9:19 pm
BA gets in. The body of work is not complete just yet, and he may be peaking this late in his career. Whether he did enough last season to earn his spot doesnt really matter because its likely to be what is cited as his biggest turning point. He IS the QB whisperer and walks the walk. I dont want to compare him to Dungy or Gruden, because I am just happy to experience their impact when this team was successful.
June 15th, 2021 at 10:17 pm
In my opinion, Arians did by far the best job of any Bucs coach. I love Dungy, but Hardy was already here and I felt Wyche had started turning the corner. Fell apart the second half of his final season, but they were close to turning the corner. Dungy cranked the defense up but couldn’t put the offense together. Gruden put the offense together and benefited from Dungy and Kiffins defense. Arians took one of the worst defenses and turned into a dominant defense practically overnight plus he did what needed to be done with the offense that no one wanted to admit. He turned everything about this team around in 2 short years. Yes Brady made the difference but Arians swung for the fences and got him here. Arians is definitely the best coach in buccaneer history. I think he is hall of fame right now.
June 16th, 2021 at 9:41 am
If you are a HOF voter and you voted for Dungy you should punch yourself in the face.
Arians does not have the longevity to be in the HOF as a HC. If the Bucs make another deep run and make a Conference Title game or Super Bowl appearance or heck win one his case is strong. But as of now he’s not getting in.
June 16th, 2021 at 7:39 pm
Does the HOF say “Coach”, “Head Coach”? I am an Arians backer for what he has done in his career as a “NFL Football Man”. Great Coordinator, coached HOF players, took over for a friend with cancer and won COTY. Came back from health problems because he loves the game and then won as a head coach and is the front runner on diversity? He gets in.