Arizona Cardinals new head coach Bruce Arians said he would have to “have a heck of a feeling” about an organization to leave his post as offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts.
The Cardinals apparently were a franchise that gave Arians that feeling as he accepted the job the Thursday evening. Arians agreed to a four-year contract with the Cardinals with a team option for a fifth year.
“There’s so much excitement. The more I got to meet with everyone here, the more excited I got about the opportunity and knew it was the right fit for me. Like I said, it was going to take something special for me to leave Indianapolis and this is special,” Arians said, via the team’s official website.
Arians served as interim head coach of the Colts for most of last season as head coach Chuck Pagano battled leukemia. The Colts improved from 2-14 in 2011 to 11-5 this season and a Wild Card berth. Now Arians gets the chance to have a head coaching job all to his own.
“I never thought it was going to come and I appreciate it so much,” Arians said. “I’ll give it every single thing I have and the passion and the energy that I bring to this is something I love to do and we’ll do it every single day as hard as we can do it.”