Arizona Cardinals’ coaching staff to be finalized post-Super Bowl
Jan 28, 2015, 4:19 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2015, 12:38 am
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — If you’re looking for Bruce Arians, chances are you can find the Arizona Cardinals head coach at one of two places: the team’s headquarters or a golf course.
Studying film, pouring over scouting reports and installing game plans take up much of his time, but what free time Arians does have, especially in the offseason, is occupied by a great passion of his: trying to figure out how to best hit a little white ball into a little round cup some 300-350 yards away.
Arians estimates he’s played only four or five rounds of golf since the end of the 2014 season, one in which he led the Cardinals to their first playoff appearance in five years after winning 11 games.
“I went over to Georgia and it was raining and cold every day. I played in that, and it wasn’t much fun,” he said.
He said more golf is planned, as is the plan to announce his updated coaching staff.
“Well, we’re almost filled,” he said Tuesday during a break in the Outfront Media Special Olympics Open. “We’re just going to wait and announce them next week and let the Super Bowl get out of town. But everything is pretty much taken care of now and (we are) really excited about it.”
Arians lost both defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and linebackers coach Mike Caldwell to the New York Jets. Bowles was hired as the team’s head coach, and he named Caldwell assistant head coach/inside linebackers.
A third opening on Arians’ staff is expected should he elevate a current coach to defensive coordinator, likely James Bettcher, who oversees outside linebackers.
“The defensive coordinator will be in-house, and then we’ll bring some extra help from outside,” he said.
Arians attempted to lure his good friend Dick LeBeau — who earlier this month resigned as the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator after 11 seasons — to Arizona as a consultant or some other senior position.
“We worked on it real hard, but it didn’t happen,” Arians said.
Pairing an experienced coach with a young up-and-comer, much like he did with Tom Moore and offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, is a no-brainer, according to Arians.
“To have a veteran who’s done it so many times different ways, to work with a young, really a guy that’s going to be, I think, a superstar, that to me is what coaching is all about,” he said.
