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Some unexpected fallout could be starting to occur with the hiring of Bruce Arians as the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. There was a Wednesday report that said that if hired, Bruce Arians would bring on Todd Bowles to be defensive coordinator for Arizona, as he had previously promised him that job if he had been hired by the Chicago Bears.
Despite the fact that the Cardinals still have Ray Horton under contract for another season, it is being reported that it is in fact going to go down that way.
Yahoo Sports' Mike Silver tweeted it on Wednesday at a national level.
I'm told Ray Horton is out as Cardinals defensive coordinator and will be replaced by Todd Bowles. Source who knows. Bad vibes all around.
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 18, 2013
That was followed up with some local confirmation from XTRA 910's Mike Jurecki, who has been saying for the past couple of days that Horton was not happy with the whole situation.
He tweeted:
For those asking abt Ray Horton I was told he had a heated exchange w/ Steve Keim, wanted out his contract. @kidstallyn Re Horton
— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) January 18, 2013
In his meeting w/ Steve Keim, Horton felt he was misled during the hiring process & wanted out his contract. RT @mikejames602 Re Horton
— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) January 18, 2013
AZCentral's Kent Somers also echoed the sentiments via Twitter:
Members of NFL coaching frat seems sure Horton leaves #AZCardinals Bowles comes. Well see if its a done deal
— Kent Somers (@kentsomers) January 18, 2013
Not to be lost in this is Horton wants out. #AZCardinals doing him a favor if they move on
— Kent Somers (@kentsomers) January 18, 2013
There has been nothing from the team yet and Arians has not said that he would not have kept Horton on staff.
Horton apparently feels like he was led to believe that he was the guy that was going to get hired, and then things changed suddenly.
There are obstacles for this change in coaches. Both Horton and Bowles are under contract, Horton with the Cards and Bowles with the Philadelphia Eagles, who just hired Chip Kelly to be their head coach. They would both need to be released from their contracts.
Of course, Horton might cool off and decide to stay, becoming a free agent at the end of the 2013 season. He and Arians worked together with the Steelers, so it isn't as if they can't work together.
Nonetheless, it sounds like the situation is irreparably harmed. This is the danger of including an in-house candidate for a position and passing him over. You risk his feelings being hurt and feeling slighted.
In the end, though, having a head coach that can lead a winning team is the more valuable thing. The Cards had a great defensive coordinator and a 5-11 record.
If Horton does in fact leave, that will put more pressure on the new staff to get things turned around. Horton was popular among fans and the defense was pretty good in 2012. However, Bowles happens to be the same guy that reportedly "wowed" Ken Whisenhunt after the 2010 season and was a candidate for the DC job here until Whiz hired Horton.
Do I want Horton coaching the defense? Absolutely. Will it matter in the grand scheme of things? That has yet to be seen. Teams deal with losing coaches every year. However, I'm not so sure about the whole heated argument thing. That generally doesn't resolve anything. Granted, we also don't know if he was led to believe something else.
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