Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians named AP NFL Coach of the Year
Feb 1, 2015, 1:39 AM | Updated: 3:44 am
Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was named the Associated Press Coach of the Year Saturday.
The award was handed out at the league’s fourth annual NFL Honors Show, which was at Symphony Hall in Phoenix.
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis presented Arians with the award.
“You know, it’s very hard to accept an individual award in such a team sport. So many people are behind everything,” Arians said during his acceptance speech at Symphony Hall.
“I’ve never been prouder of a group of men that came to work every single week no matter what obstacle — and we had a few, you know — they came to work every week and they believed in each other. When you have that, it’s easy to coach.”
Arians thanked his wife and kids, along with Cardinals president Michael Bidwill, general manager Steve Keim, and former Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who was named AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year on Saturday.
Arians also tweeted about the award shortly after he accepted it.
Team Is What It Takes! This COTY award belongs to everyone at the #AZCardinals!!! Coaches, players, staff, fans… Love you #Birdgang!!
— Bruce Arians (@BruceArians) February 1, 2015
Arians guided the Cardinals to an 11-5 record as well as a playoff berth in 2014 despite the team being besieged by injuries throughout the campaign. Arizona had 21 players miss a total of 109 games, and also saw its top two quarterbacks miss a significant amount of time.
It is the second AP Coach of the Year Award for Arians, who also took home the honor in 2012 after leading the Indianapolis Colts to a 9-3 record while filling in for Chuck Pagano. Arians is the 11th coach in NFL history to win the award multiple times.
In two seasons with the Cardinals, Arians has compiled a 21-11 record, which is the best of any coach in franchise history through 32 games.
Arians received 39.5 votes, well ahead of Houston’s Bill O’Brien and Dallas’ Jason Garrett, who tied for second place with three votes each. Seattle’s Pete Carroll (2.5), Detroit’s Jim Caldwell (1) and New England’s Bill Belichick (1) also received votes.
