You won’t see Bruce Arians on the sidelines of Arizona Cardinals games anymore, at least not as a coach. During an emotional news conference, Arians announced he is retiring from NFL and coaching in order to spend more time with his family.
“The tears you see are really tears of joy, peace,” – said Arians during the conference. “I’ll miss the players. I’ll miss coming out of the locker room, hearing the national anthem because it still gets me.“
Arians also said that he didn’t know whether he will retire until Phil Dawson’s 42-yard field goal in the game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
“I probably truly didn’t know until that kick [Sunday] went through that I was going to retire.” – he said. “I know everybody speculated for months … you now have the story. Like I said, it’s been an unbelievable journey.“
One final game ball for BA. #ThanksBA pic.twitter.com/NMDn9Bb40M
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) January 1, 2018
According to reports, the Cardinals will turn to Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as the man who should replace Arians.
During his coaching career, which lasted 42 years, Bruce Arians spent time with Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers on various positions, before getting a head coaching job with Indianapolis Colts in 2012. Although it was an interim basis, he led the team to Colts to a 9–3 record and was named 2012 AP Coach of the Year, becoming the first interim coach to win the award.
Arizona Cardinals reacted swiftly and hired Arians as the new head coach in 2013. He coached an injury-plagued Cardinals team to 11-5 record in 2014 and ended up claiming AP Coach of the Year once again. In 2015 he broke the franchise record for most wins, ending the season win 13-3 and progressing to NFC Championship Game, where the Cardinals were defeated by Carolina Panthers. The last two seasons under Arians were not great for Cardinals, but that can be contributed more to injuries than to being Arians’ fault.
