The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their second Super Bowl in franchise history last night against the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. During the regular season, the Buccaneers lost to the Chiefs’ explosive offense in a high-scoring game 27-24. However, last night the Buccaneers overwhelmed the Chiefs’ high-powered offense with their formidable defensive line and strategic offensive game plan led by a future hall of fame quarterback, Tom Brady. 

As the world watched the Buccaneers dismantle the Chiefs last night in Super Bowl LV, head coach Bruce Arians got most of the coaching credit. But the two Black men that Arians empowered to lead the champions’ offense and defense also received a ton of adulation. Make no mistake about it, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich deserve a ton of credit for how well their team was prepared to execute their game plan. These two devised an intricate strategy that left the sports world shocked last night. Before yesterday, nobody would have ever thought that they would hold the Kansas City Chiefs without a touchdown throughout the entire game or that the Buccaneers would have three touchdowns by halftime.

“I thought our three guys had great plans,” said Arians, whose special teams coordinator, Keith Armstrong, is also black. “Byron did a great job of mixing up run and pass, and pounding (with the run game) when we needed to. And Todd had a great plan to keep their receivers in front of us and let our front four get after him (Patrick Mahomes). They chased him around all night.” 

The coaching performances last night by Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich should benefit black assistant coaches around the NFL. Despite Commissioner Goodell’s best efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in the front office around the league, the most recent hiring cycle left many black assistant coaches feeling frustrated again about their overall advancement to head coaching positions. For coordinators, Leftwich and Bowles delivered a spectacular performance last night that should put them at the front of the list for head coaching positions during the next hiring cycle.