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With Tom Telesco leaving the personnel department in Indianapolis to become the general manager of the San Diego Chargers, the popular rumor taking over the coaching carousel is that Telesco will bring Bruce Arians from Indy to become the Chargers’ next head coach. Arians had a health scare this weekend in Baltimore, but he says he’s feeling well now and is ready to start talking with the Bolts.
Bruce Arians joined Scott and BR on The Mighty 1090 in San Diego to discuss how he’s feeling after being released from the hospital, his health status, the interviews he has lined up and the interest he’s fetched as a head-coaching candidate, as well as his relationship with new Chargers GM Tom Telesco. He also touched on his desire to settle this situation quickly and the way in which he maintained Chuck Pagano’s presence while he was sick and away from the team for a large chunk of the regular season.
On how he’s feeling after being hospitalized on Sunday while the Colts were playing in Baltimore:
“Much better. I finally got released from the hospital today and, crazy situation, I never knew anything about inner-ear infections but I sure do now.”
On if they’ve concluded that was the problem:
“Yeah, the vertigo with it, I couldn’t stand up and it affected my blood pressure. They’re still doing some different tests but we’ve got it nailed down to that.”
On being healthy and home now:
“All of the tests came out that I’m healthy as a horse and now I’m back home finally.”
On how he was able to watch the game:
“I’m in the ICU watching it on a computer. Obviously my blood pressure kept going up but they let me watch it.”
On if he had any head-coaching interviews set up at the time (Wednesday):
“I have one scheduled for Sunday with Chicago. That’s it. Three other teams have put in paperwork but we have nothing scheduled so far.”
On if the Chargers have put in paperwork:
“I do not know.”
On if he’d be interested in coaching the Chargers:
“I would be now that Tommy’s there. I think so much of [the] success that teams have are great relationships between general manager and head coach. And it’s not who has control of the roster, it’s how do we get the best players? … I had the opportunity to work for 12 weeks as a head coach this year with Ryan Grigson and Tommy Telesco, and it was a fantastic relationship. And I wouldn’t want to work in any other situation as a head coach, unless it’s that type of relationship where nobody’s got a power player [and] we’re all in this together trying to win.”
On why he and the Chargers haven’t set something up yet:
“I think all that’s gonna take shape. If Tommy wants to reach out and the Chargers want to reach out, we’ll listen. It’s just a timeframe — Chicago was the first ones to ask for permission. I’m going to give them the first interviews. … I have a great job in Indianapolis. It’s going to have to be a perfect fit for me to leave what we have done here, and not just to jump out to be a head coach. It’s going to have to be a perfect fit, and obviously my relationship with Tommy makes it a lot easier.”
On his desire to get this process done quickly:
“Yeah, extremely quickly. If it’s gonna happen I’d like to have it done before next Friday.”
On keeping a light on in Chuck Pagano’s office and other measures he took to reserve Pagano’s spot as the head coach while he was away from the team undergoing cancer treatment:
“Mr. Irsay asked me to become interim head coach until Chuck could come back. And I said I would do that if he would never turn the light off in Chuck’s office until he came back and turned it off — basically as a symbol that there’s a fight going on. I’m not the head coach; we have a head coach. No one’s ever sat in that office, no one’s ever sat in the first seat on the bus, his locker was dressed for every game on Sunday, and he is our head coach and always has been. I just took an extended leadership role in this thing, in my opinion. And I wanted that light on so that the players always knew when they were on the practice field, that light was on for a reason.”
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