Super Bowl-winning coach Bruce Arians faces his most significant health challenge yet, undergoing urgent open heart surgery. His battle with cancer is well-documented.
The most recent Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach to win a Super Bowl is undergoing open heart surgery.
Speaking Thursday on the "Today Show" with Rob Gronkowski, who played for Arians in Tampa, Arians revealed he has surgery scheduled for Friday, Feb. 6.
The 73-year-old has had health issues before, having survived prostate cancer in 2007 when he was the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Arians gave his latest health news while promoting an upcoming Super Bowl commercial that raises awareness for prostate cancer screening.
He also had cancerous cells in his nose removed in 2013, when he was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Three years later, still with Arizona, Arians was hospitalized twice, first in the preseason due to diverticulitis and then in November, when he experienced chest pains.
Also during that season, renal cell carcinoma was found on Arians’ kidney, which he revealed in his 2017 book “The Quarterback Whisperer." That February, he had surgery to remove a portion of his kidney.
Two years later, Arians became Tampa Bay’s head coach, and in just two seasons, he led the team to its second Super Bowl championship, with Tom Brady under center.
After another successful season in 2021 -- 13-5 and another NFC South championship -- Arians retired from coaching in the March 2022. Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles succeeded him. Years after Arians stepped down, he said that health was a major factor.
Even though he was retired from coaching, Arians stayed on with the Bucs as a senior football advisor, staying involved with the team and attending practices and meetings on a daily basis.
Before coaching the Bucs and Cardinals, Arians made his head coaching debut under unexpected circumstances in the middle of the 2012 season, when Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano entered treatment for leukemia. Arians and the Colts went 9-3 during that stretch, making it to the playoffs.
Arians got his first Super Bowl ring in February 2009 as Steelers offensive coordinator, calling one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history -- Ben Roethlisberger’s touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone with 37 seconds left.
Arians said he’d be watching this year’s Super Bowl from his hospital room in Philadelphia.
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