Arians Hopes That His Hiring Women Will Not Be News Anymore

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians spoke with Katherine Fitzgerald AZCentral about his hiring two women as coaches, and he is hoping that the hiring will be gone from the headlines soon and stop being such a controversial topic.

“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.”

There is no question that the decision to hire two female assistant coaches is a topic of controversy as seen on social media. Many fans are on the fence about the decision, and many are downright furious while others applaud it.

Despite Arians wishing that the topic of his hiring Maral Javadifar as assistant strength and conditioning coach and Lori Locust as assistant defensive line coach cease to be newsworthy, it will likely remain a topic of controversy among fans for a long time to come.

Bruce Arians wife, Chris Arians, also chimed in on her husband’s decision to hire female coaches stating,

“He was talking one time about an internship, and 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.”

I personally commend the decision to hire women as coaches and believe that anyone with knowledge of the game and experience can coach given the opportunity. I do not believe this is any kind of publicity stunt, but rather another attempt by Arians to tear down barriers.

In hiring Maral Javadifar as assistant strength & conditioning coach and Lori Locust as asst. d-line coach, the Bucs became the first NFL team with two women as full-time coaches. Got to hear from Bruce Arians this morning on his approach to diversity in hiring:

— katherine fitzgerald 🌵 (@kfitz134) March 23, 2019