Before Bruce Arians was a long-time NFL assistant and eventual head coach, his career started in college.

After his playing days at Virginia Tech, Arians was an assistant coach at Mississippi State but left for Alabama, who was coached by Bear Bryant. He coached in Tuscaloosa from 1981-82.

Recently, on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast, Arians told the story of the time he stood up to Coach Bryant as a newly hired assistant. Bryant thought Arians would be a part-time assistant, while Arians was under the expectation that he’d be a full-time assistant, which meant he could also recruit.

Arians was asked about specifically standing up to Coach Bryant, which was somewhat detailed in his book, “The Quarterback Whisperer: How to Build an Elite NFL Quarterback.”

“That’s kind of who you are,” Arians said. “I was hired full time. That was the thing. They had a new change in the NCAA about recruiting, and they decided to make me the part-time guy because I was the newest guy on staff. That’s not what I just took. If that was the job, I’d still be at Mississippi State. So, I basically quit and walked out.

“Thank God my wife was not home. So, I was sitting at home like, ‘Oh sh–, what did you just do?’ So, I called Jimmy Sharpe, who was Coach Bryant’s confidant. And I told him what happened, and he said, ‘Good for you.’ Next thing I knew Coach Sharpe called me back, ‘Go back up to the office. Coach Bryant is going to see you in about 10 minutes.’ Well, I didn’t know I got him off the golf course. So, he was pissed. It was bad.

“So he came in and he kind of gave me the hook, ‘Come on.’ And we go down there. He said, ‘Now, what is all this about? Who the hell likes recruiting?’ I said, ‘That’s part of my job. That’s why you hired me. I’m a good recruiter. I’m a full-time coach. If this part-time job is the job you’d have offered me, I’d still be at Mississippi State.’

“If you know anything about Coach Bryant, he had this sofa that when you sat in it you were sitting on the floor. And Coach was a big man and he had a big desk. So, he stood up over that desk and said, ’Boy, I don’t talk out of both sides of my mouth. You get your ass in that car and start recruiting. You’re full-time.’

“I headed out that day and I didn’t come back for about three weeks,” Arians said laughing.

Obviously, not everyone would have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to Bryant in this situation, but Arians did, because he wanted to be a full-time assistant and recruit. And Bryant certainly respected him (and rewarded him) for it. Arians felt as if he had developed such a rapport with Bryant during the interview process that he could honestly tell him anything.

Arians continued, “That’s not the job I took. I trusted him. In that interview, we had gone through a lot of things, and I knew we hit it off. I could talk honestly back to him, which a lot of people didn’t think they could. We had battles and he loved testing me to see if I would give in.”

From Alabama, Arians became the head coach at Temple and eventually the Arizona Cardinals. After leading the Cardinals to an 8-8 record in 2017, he announced his retirement.