Arizona’s Arians decides to retire
Leaves Cardinals after 5 years as coach
TEMPE, Ariz. — Bruce Arians, one of the NFL’s biggest personalities, retired from coaching after five mostly successful and usually entertaining seasons as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
The 65-year-old two-time NFL coach of the year, known for his Kangol-style hats, colorful vocabulary and wide-open “no risk it, no biscuit” offense, announced the decision in an emotional session with the media Monday.
“It’s been an unbelievable journey,” he said. “The tears you see are really tears of joy and peace. I’ll miss the players. I’ll miss coming out of the locker room hearing the national anthem because it still gets to me.”
Arians, a former Steelers offensive coordinator, said he told the players of his decision Sunday after the team’s 26-24 win at Seattle and the players never leaked it to reporters.
“And they lied to you because of that,” he said. “There’s really no greater feeling in the world to know your players have your back.”
Of the reason for the retirement, Arians said, “Family’s a big one.”
He recalled last summer, when he was talking to his wife, Christine, at their lake house in Georgia, she told him their son, Jake, was turning 40.
“It hit me like a ton of bricks that I missed all that time,” Arians said.
Arians, who spent more than four decades in coaching, has had health issues in recent years, including treatment for diverticulitis as well as a successful fight against kidney cancer last offseason.
General manager Steve Keim’s voice cracked with emotion when he talked about his time with Arians. “I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s going to be hard to replicate the kind of relationship we all had with Bruce and how special he was to us. There’s no doubt he’ll always hold a special place in my heart.”
Cardinals president Michael Bidwill said “we’ll miss him a lot.”
Bidwill said the search for a new coach would begin immediately, and he had requests to other teams for permission to speak to assistant coaches going out Monday.
Arians won a franchiserecord 50 games in his five seasons with Arizona. Counting his stint as interim coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Arians went 5935-1 as a head coach, including the playoffs. Before that, he won two Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach with the Steelers, the second one as offensive coordinator for the team that beat Arizona in the 2009 Super Bowl.
Arians first won NFL Coach of the year honors for his work on an interim basis for the Colts in 2012 and again after directing the Cardinals to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth in 2014.
He was 50-32-1 in five seasons with the Cardinals. Arians’ best season was 2015, when quarterback Carson Palmer directed the league’s highest-scoring offense on a team that went 13-3 and earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC.