That's Tampa Bay Bucs head coach, Bruce Arians, explaining why he's down to add female coaches to his staff ... telling reporters at the NFL's annual league meeting Tuesday he honestly doesn't care about gender when he hires assistants.

"I think back to the best teachers I've ever had, most of them are female," the Tampa Bay coach said ... "Football, we're glorified school teachers."

"So, why not take a great teacher of any gender and let them help your players?"

Arians has gained fame in his career for his willingness to hire women -- he had Jen Welter as an assistant on his Cardinals staff and just added Lori Locust and Maral Javadifar to his Bucs roster.

But, Bruce is tired of being celebrated for making the hires ... saying at the coaches breakfast Tuesday he's ready for it to not be news anymore.

"They're good fits for what we need. The fact that their gender is different -- who gives a sh*t? They're good coaches."

Arians says he thinks the NFL is just 5 years away from it being normal to see women on the sidelines coaching.

And, Arians says don't be surprised if you see women coaches getting FIRED in the future -- because it's all part of the business.