Arizona Cardinals president Bidwill: Extensions for Keim, Arians coming soon
Feb 11, 2015, 4:02 PM | Updated: 4:03 pm
Since taking over as the Arizona Cardinals’ general manager in January 2013, Steve Keim has gone on to make more than 400 roster moves.
Since being named the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach in January 2013, Bruce Arians has led the team to a 21-11 record along with a playoff spot in 2014.
Each has excelled in their respective roles, helping to create an atmosphere of success and stability in Arizona.
And because of that, team president Michael Bidwill said there are plans to extend both of their contracts.
“I think it’s the right thing to do, and I want to reward people that have had success and brought success to the team,” Bidwill told Doug and Wolf Wednesday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM as part of Newsmakers Week. “I can’t think of two people more deserving — coach of the year, two times in three years, executive of the year.
“They’ve both done tremendous jobs, brought tremendous leadership and success to the organization and I want to be in the habit of rewarding people that bring that kind of success.”
It’s difficult to argue that the Cardinals would be as successful as they have been without Keim and Arians leading the way.
Just last season, of the 53 players on Arizona’s roster, 40 were acquired since Keim took the reins. The 21 wins Arians led them to are more than any coach in franchise history has tallied in his first 32 games, and including Arians’ stint as the interim boss in Indianapolis, his 30-14 record is the fourth best in the NFL over the last 44 games.
Keim was originally brought on with a four-year contract, while Arians’ deal was for four years with a team option for a fifth.
But it sounds like it’s only a matter of time before those agreements are replaced with new ones that will keep the team’s leadership in place for a while.
“I think you’ll see something done here in the next few weeks,” Bidwill said.
