Getty Images Christine & Bruce Arians.
Bruce Arians and his wife Christine have been married for 49 years, and have two grown children together.
The couple first met in high school, and shared their first kiss after a football game during her sophomore year. They’ve been through a lot together — including moving all over the country for Bruce’s job — but they’ve stuck together through thick and thin.
Bruce Arians spent 25 seasons in the NFL, five of which he served as a head coach, before he decided to retire in 2018. He had two serious health scares that helped make that decision for him. At the time, he admitted that Christine was “done” with his career in football.
“It was time for my wife,” he said during an interview on the Rich Eisen show. “She was done, and God bless her, 47 years in this business is enough.”
A year later, however, he got an opportunity to return to football as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At the time, his wife was supportive — but she had some non-negotiables.
“I told him I’m going to see those grandkids once a month. That’s the deal. I told him we’re going to have a travel budget and we’re going to use every penny of it. We’re both from big families, we’re both one of five kids, so we have all these nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews. They’re all Brucie fans,” Christine told the Tampa Bay Times back in January 2019.
Here’s what you need to know:
Christine Arians Is Competitive & Once Revealed She Avoids Other Coaches’ Wives at Games
Christine Arians has previously admitted that she’s very competitive, and that her support for her husband trumps her friendships with other coaches’ wives — at least when the game is on.
“I actually avoid other coaches’ wives on game days. I really do. There are some who don’t, but it’s just too hard. I want to win and they want their husband to win,” she told Fox Sports 910 AM back in 2017, according to USA Today.
With Bruce working in the NFL for so many years, Christine had made a lot of friends, but that relationship is paused during game time. Not to worry, though. Bruce said that when the game is over, win or lose, there are cocktails and hugs to go around.
“We’ll have a cocktail in the parking lot afterwards and hug each other,” Bruce Arians said.
Christine Arians Encouraged Her Husband to Hire Female Coaches
As you can probably imagine, Bruce and Christine have had quite a few football-related conversations over the years. However, there was one in particular that previously made headlines. When Bruce inked the head coaching deal with the Bucs, he talked to his wife about offering internships for female coaches.
Christine’s take? If they are qualified — just hire them!
“I said, ‘Aw, babe, c’mon. We don’t need more internships.’ Like, ‘Oh, yeah, c’mon little lady, hang with us for a year, and then we’re gonna let you go.’ No! Find someone qualified to coach and hire them,” Christine said, according to ProFootball Talk.
Bruce seems to share similar feelings on the matter; thus far, he has hired two full-time female coaches.
“My hope is that pretty soon it won’t be news. That’s the goal: It’s not news anymore. It will be just quality people getting hired into positions that they can do… I feel a responsibility to be diverse and have inclusion with everybody,” Bruce Arians said.
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