Bruce Arians Refuses to Let Cardinals Coaching Staff Miss Their Kids’ Events

In his new book, “The Quarterback Whisperer,” Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians addresses a couple of aspects of his job that are absolutes.

One: No member of his coaching staff is allowed to work at the team facility after 10pm.

Two: If he isn’t calling plays, he isn’t coaching.

“For our coaches, I tell them, if you miss a recital or a football game or a basketball game, I’ll fire you,” Arians told Alex Marvez and Geoff Schwartz on “The SiriusXM Blitz” on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “You can always come back and work. Those kids are not going to be there forever. They’re going to grow up and be gone.”

In the book, Arians shares a story about when he was running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, and he feared missing his son Jake’s seventh-grade football game. Marty Schottenheimer, the Chiefs’ head coach, was strict about his assistants remaining at the office.

“It was killing me to miss the game, and they played Thursday afternoons, and Joe Pendry was a great offensive coordinator that we had,” Arians said. “He said, ‘Why are you upset?’ I said, ‘I wanted to go see Jake play? They’re playing right now.’ He said, ‘Go ahead.’ I said, ‘You know Marty doesn’t allow us to leave the office.’ He said, ‘Well, I’ll tell him you went jogging. Just, when you get back, throw some water on your face.’ As soon as (Jake) saw me in the stands, he lit up. It was some of the best days, watching the kids play.”

Arians is also emphatic about being the Cardinals’ offensive play-caller.

“I’ve always called plays,” he said. “I called plays in high school; we had a great high school coach. They let me call the plays. And I didn’t have the greatest college career, so I was coaching my junior year. I was calling the JV team and calling plays. It’s something that I’ve always done and have enjoyed doing. Probably, if I had to give it up, I’d get out of coaching.”