Arizona Cardinals Make Coaching Announcements
By Scott Allen
What was the worst kept secret for almost two weeks was made official on Wednesday
As expected on Wednesday, the Arizona Cardinals named outside linebackers coach James Bettcher as their new defensive coordinator. He replaces the departed Todd Bowels, who left to become head coach of the New York Jets.
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Bettcher was expected to be the guy after head coach Bruce Arians hinted at an inside hire a couple of weeks ago. Some speculated in local media that they may go another direction because the Cardinals were sitting on the official announcement.
It could be they waited because there were other pieces to the puzzle. Plus, when you are promoting a guy from your own staff, what is the rush? The Cardinals know what they have in Bettcher.
Bettcher came over to the Cardinals from the Indianapolis Colts along with Arians when he was hired as head coach in January 2013. He knows the system so he is definitely a safe bet. Whether he is the right safe bet remains to be seen but I trust in Bruce Arians to make the right call here.
As stated, there were some other moves made on the assistant coach front as well. In addition to Bettcher, Bob Sanders was hired as the new linebackers coach. They also hired Mike Chiurco to be an assistant defensive backs coach. Wesley Goodwin was named as the assistant head coach.
It is the time of year for a lot of moves to be made. I think the Cardinals made the right move in promoting within for the defensive coordinator position. Of course there were rumors in early January that Dick LeBeau would be coming on board, possibly as a defensive coordinator or another special assistant. He has coaching history with Arians with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The thing with LeBeau was even though he knew the system Arians ran, he was going to be more of a guy who ran things his way. Evening bringning in someone from the outside who knows Arians I don’t believe works for the Cardinals. If it did, he would have kept Ray Horton here as those two had history together as well.
This is the best move for all parties. I know there are skeptics but I know Bettcher will prove them wrong. Alright, at least the hope is he does. I have faith in Arians and Bettcher to take them to bigger and better things in 2015.