The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are zeroing in on former Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians to take over the vacancy left by the fired Dirk Koetter:

ESPN's Jenna Laine had reported earlier Tuesday that all was quiet on the Arians front and that Jim Caldwell may be a strong candidate for the job, but it looks like the Buccaneers have their sights set on Arians. Based on Ian Rapoport's reporting, Arians is strongly interested in the position after interviewing for the job over the weekend. The interview reportedly involved the 66-year-old taking a physical since he has dealt with health issues in recent years.

Arians has a lengthy coaching resume that dates all the way back to his days as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech in the 1970s. He has held numerous positions in both college and the NFL, and his first NFL head coaching gig came with the Indianapolis Colts on an interim basis in 2012 after Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia.

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Arians led the Colts to a 9-3 record before Pagano returned to the sidelines, and he parlayed that success into his job with the Cardinals. Arians proceeded to go 49-30-1 over five seasons in Arizona, with two trips to the playoffs over that span and one trip to the NFC Championship Game.

Bruce Arians retired after an 8-8 2017 season and became a television analyst for CBS, but now it appears he's on the verge of returning to the sidelines down in Florida.

The Buccaneers went 5-11 this season.