Arizona Cardinals coach Arians: No greater coach than Dick LeBeau

There are a handful of reasons for the Arizona Cardinals to have interest in former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau.

With Todd Bowles leaving to become the head coach of the New York Jets, the team has a hole to fill, and Arians is familiar with the coach from their time together in Pittsburgh.

Of course, there is one other reason.

“There’s not a greater coach in the world,” he told Frank Bodani of YDR.com

LeBeau, 77, has been coaching in the NFL since 1973, and spent the last 11 seasons running one of the league’s better defenses in Pittsburgh.

But the organization decided to let him go, and Arians, who is coming off a season in which his team won 11 games, is interested in bringing his talents aboard.

Of course, LeBeau would not necessarily be the team’s defensive coordinator. It has been reported that Arians would like to see the Hall of Famer come in as more of a senior adviser to a younger coach. There is plenty of value in his experience, and there’s no doubt LeBeau has a wealth of knowledge to impart.

“I learned so much football from veteran coaches,” Arians said. “I love people who love the history of the game. These young guys only know one system, and when that fails they don’t have any answers. That’s why young head coaches fail.”

It was reported last week that LeBeau was going to meet with Arians and the Cardinals this week. It has also noted that Arians would like to hire his new defensive coordinator from within, with likely candidates being defensive backs coach Nick Rapone and outside linebackers coach James Bettcher.

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