Bucs fans know head coach Todd Bowles as a mild-mannered, stoic leader of men who often hands his hands crossed on the sideline during games. While Bowles is like that on the field, he is a different person off of it.
Quite a different person.
Although he is entering his eighth year as an NFL head coach and has spent several decades involved in the game, there is a constant learning process and evolution in a landscape that is ever changing across the league.
At this point, he recognizes where his strengths and weaknesses lie and is finding ways to become a better coach.
Todd Bowles Understands Who He Is As A Head Coach And How To Improve
With 2025 marking the Bucs’ 50th season, there have been plenty of coaches throughout the years that have brought their own coaching style.
Tony Dungy.
Jon Gruden.
Bruce Arians.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Bailey Adams/PR
After Todd Bowles brought up each of those former head coaches and how they have impacted the organization, he described what kind of style he has leading the team.
“Calm on the field, probably… talk a lot of shit off the field [laughs],” Bowles said. “A lot of times on the field as you guys don’t get to see. Trust me, I’m very talkative. A lot of it after the games, but sometimes you got certain guys you have to be calm around, certain guys you can talk to. They all get a part of it.”
This is something fans nor the media really get to see, although he has been more confident and transparent during his offseason press conferences. That might stem from ownership continuing to place its trust in him leading the franchise, but one can also point to how he has approached the evolution it takes to be a head coach.
Arians, who is known to “talk” himself, played a big part in that process for Bowles.
“I think being around Bruce starting in Arizona, starting in Cleveland and as a college coach [at Temple]; him watching me evolve and watching how he runs an offense,” Bowles said. “[With] me being an aggressive defensive play-caller, it kind of signaled a lot about a lot of things that he showed me from a coaching standpoint.
“Always be aggressive, no matter how many bullets you got. The less bullets you have, the more aggressive you have to be. If you’re going to die, die shooting all your bullets. He taught me that, but he taught me that intelligently. It’s not so a matter of blitz everybody every play, it’s just a matter of what they’re giving you that play that you can take advantage of and shoot those bullets accordingly.”
The lessons Bowles learned from Arians stemmed across decades, starting when he played under him at Temple from 1983-1985. They then spent time together with the Browns (2001-2003), Cardinals (2013-2014), and Bucs (2019-2021).
What is clear from this is that the learning curve to coach football at the highest level never stops.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
“There’s a lot to learn,” Bowles said. “When I first got to New York, I hired Chan Gailey as an OC because I needed a guy with experience because it was my first time as a head coach. I didn’t want to have a rookie OC and be a first-time head coach while I learned the rest of the offense, how to run the team, and everything else. I think I’ve grown a great deal from that standpoint, there’s still a lot more to grow. When you stop growing as a coach and learning as a coach, you probably need to retire. I’m some ways from that right now, I think I’ve got better in a lot of areas.”
Bowles can now hire a rookie offensive coordinator like Josh Grizzard and understand how to take him under his wing to make him a better play-caller. That process will start this offseason, and doing so means he will pass more responsibilities onto his defensive assistants.
“[I’m] still getting better in a lot of areas of delegating and letting my coaches coach,” Bowles added. “It doesn’t have to be me that knows everything on defense, I think I got a good group there. Allowing the offense to grow but still trying to put them in the mold of understanding gameday situations. There’s so many things you can get better at as a coach because there’s so many different players that come in that they force you to do things, they close different ways. We’ve kind of adapted the mentality of winning [despite] who’s out there.”
Hiring A Game Manager Should Make Todd Bowles, Bucs Better
Todd Bowles recognized that one of the biggest things to improve on going into next season was his in-game management. To help aid him in navigating various scenarios and the intricacies of situational football, the Bucs recently hired Zach Beistline to be the team’s director of football research. Having spent the past 12 years with the Jaguars, Beistline will provide a lending hand to Bowles when it comes to making crucial decisions.
Calling timeouts.
When or not to go for it on fourth down.
Going for the win versus going for a tie.
Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR
Knowing it was something that had to change, it was a step in the right direction for Bowles to comes to grips with this and conclude that it will make him and the rest of the team better going forward.
It is one thing to talk a big game.
The saying goes that actions speak louder than words, and the hiring of Beistline signifies that Bowles wants to improve his in-game strategy and not just rely on coach-speak to get that message across.
“I think it helps a great deal,” Bowles said. “We talked about this a little bit at the Combine, that I would be bringing somebody in. Just having a full-time gameday manager with every situation allows me to be a better head coach on both sides of the football while still getting advice from a full-time guy instead of piecing it together from people up top that may know a few things instead of everything.
“We’re going to meet all offseason and during the season to go over situations and things so we’ll have good communication on gameday. I’d like to test that out in preseason but I think he brings so much to the table from an experience standpoint and from a league knowledge standpoint. That will help make me a better coach and us a better team.”
At 61 years old, Todd Bowles has more football behind him than ahead of him. Despite all of the knowledge gained during his life playing and coaching football, he does not have all the answers.
For some, that ends up being their downfall as they are not willing to adjust with the times.
Bowles, on the other hand, is doing whatever it takes to lead Tampa Bay to another Super Bowl, from trash-talking to delegating tasks with the focus of being the best head coach he can be.
