While serving as the offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bruce Arians helped lead the team to three Super Bowl appearances and two Super Bowls titles under head coach Mike Tomlin.
As Arians shares in an HBO teaser, the Steelers were working on restructuring his contract following the 2011 season when Tomlin called Arians into his office before he left for a short vacation, and it was there Tomlin told Arians, "I'll get you your bread."
Arians headed to the lake with his wife and got a call a few days later from Tomlin who told him, 'I can't get you your money," followed shortly after by, "I can't get you your contract."
A veteran of the coaching profession since 1975, Arians knew he couldn't, and wasn't going to, coach without a contract so he saw the writing on the wall - after all the successes, he wasn't going to be returning to the Steel City. Arians told HBO that the two reasons he believes he was fired were his style of offense, and his extremely close relationship with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
After sharing the news with his wife, Arians told HBO that he was prepared to walk away from the coaching profession for good...until he got a call from Chuck Pagano who was taking over the Colts organization and wanted Arians as his offensive coordinator.
From there Arians' coaching journey hit hyper-drive, spending one season in Indy as offensive coordinator and interim head coach as Pagano battled cancer. In that interim role, Arians led the team to a 9-3 mark, and he was eventually named the AP Coach of the Year. In 2013, he made the difficult decision to leave the Colts for the head coaching opportunity with the Arizona Cardinals.
Now, he's widely regarded as one of the most respected head coaches in the NFL. He's led the Cardinals to double-digit wins in his first three full seasons as an NFL head coach. And to think he was so close to hanging up his whistle for good, if not for that call from Chuck Pagano.
The critically acclaimed HBO series Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel is returning and Arians' segment with Andrea Kremer will air June 21st.