The Arizona Cardinals were one of the worst teams in the NFL this year and was the last team to fill its head coaching vacancy after seven franchises fired their leaders after the 2012 season. The team has now found their man in Indianapolis offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.
The Cardinals confirmed the news to ESPN.com on Thursday and said that Arians received a four-year contract with a club option for a fifth year. This season Arians became the interim head coach for the Colts after Chuck Pagano underwent treatment for leukemia. He went 9-3 as the head coach and helped the Colts make the playoffs after going just 2-14 in 2011.
According to ESPN, Arians had dinner with top Cardinals executives on Wednesday night and then interviewed on Thursday and met with reporters to indicate his interest in the job. Arians was offered the job Thursday. He previously was interviewed by the Chicago Bears and was a finalist for the job, which eventually went to CFL head coach Marc Trestman.
The 60-year-old Arians will replace Ken Whisenhunt, who was fired following a 5-11 season. Whisenhunt was recently hired as the offensive coordinator for new head coach Mike McCoy in San Diego. Other candidates for the Cardinals job included Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who withdrew because Seattle gave him a new contract, a source told ESPN.
The Cardinals will introduce Arians at a press conference on Friday. According to ESPN.com: "the team posted a photo of Arians getting a congratulatory call from Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who is vacationing in Belize and undoubtedly will welcome anyone who can do something to revive a dreadful offense."
Arians has spent many years as an assistant and he said that his time as the interim head coach of the colts "answered all questions I ever had" about whether he could succeed as an NFL coach.
"I hope it answered all the questions everybody else has had for all these years," he said.
He spoke about young coaches in the playoffs still that may have missed out on head coaching jobs because of the success of their teams.
"Maybe I was a victim of that a couple of times," he said. "Hey, I'll take the Super Bowl ring and look back later. You can't worry about why you never got one or why have you got one this time. I'm just happy it happened, and I look forward to seeing what's made of it and what turns out."
The Cardinals were one of the worst offensive teams in the NFL last season, ranking 32nd in the league in rushing and 28th in passing while averaging just 15 points per game, second worst in the league. The team wasn't able to use wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald as much as they wanted to because of the quarterback play, limiting him to just 71 catches for 798 yards and four touchdowns.
The team had issues at quarterback all year and split time between John Skelton, Kevin Kolb and Ryan Lindley, all of whom were not consistent or successful. Kolb was traded to the Cardinals in 2011 and signed a five-year, $63 million contract with the team, but has struggled over the past two years, playing in only 15 games. He has been a major disappointment with the Cardinals, throwing for just 1,169 yards and eight touchdowns this season.
Against the Jets during the season, the Cardinals only had 56 yards passing, one of the worst performances for any team this year. In the 58-0 loss to the Seahawks, Lindley went just 8-of-17 for 59 yards in relief of Skelton, who passed for 74 yards and four interceptions. The team only gained 111 yards through the air and was dominated in every phase of the game.
Arizona started off as one of the surprise teams in the league after going 4-0, but lost 11 of the final 12 games to finish 5-11 for the second time in three seasons. The only win for the team over that stretch was a 38-10 victory over the Detroit Lions on Dec. 16.
Arians has spent many years in the NFL as a coach, including working as wide receivers coach in Pittsburgh and he succeeded Whisenhunt as offensive coordinator there. Arians was the offensive coordinator when Pittsburgh beat Whisenhunt's Cardinals in the 2009 Super Bowl before leaving to work with the Colts. When Pagano had to go to treatment, he was thrust into the head coaching job.
"It has been an unbelievable 12 months for me personally," Arians said.
Arians spoke about his new team and whether he would keep current defensive coordinator Ray Horton, who has a year left on his contract.
"Right now it's way too early in the process," Arians said. "Obviously, I know Ray. I've got a history with Ray. But all those things would be way down the road. Guys are under contract. You can't really comment on staff members at this point in time."
Arians has been successful working with quarterbacks in the past and will need to do the same ot help turn around the Cardinals. He had great success working with rookie Andrew Luck with the Colts this season, as the team ranked seventh in passing yards with 258 per game. Luck set the rookie record for passing yards as well as the record for most wins by a number one overall pick in his first professional season.
"As a head coach or an offensive coordinator, you're tied to that guy," Arians said. "Your future is him. You better realize that, and you better have a heck of a strong relationship so that when it's really tough in the game, he's telling you what he's seeing, not what he thinks you might want to hear."
Arians is the final coach to be hired, following McCoy in San Diego, Andy Reid in Kansas City, Chip Kelly in Philadelphia, Rod Chudzinski in Cleveland, Gus Bradley in Jacksonville and Marc Trestman in Chicago.