AZ Cardinals hire Bruce Arians as head coach - FOX Carolina 21

The Arizona Cardinals confirmed Thursday night the rumors that swirled all day: Bruce Arians is the team's new head coach.

The team announced Arians met with them on Thursday and has agreed to a four-year contract with the option for a fifth. 

He is expected to be introduced at a Friday press conference from the team's training facility. The time has not yet been announced.  

Arians, who is 60, is currently in his second stint with the Indianapolis Colts after being named the team's offensive coordinator on Jan. 31, 2012. He also filled in as head coach while Chuck Pagano was on leave for leukemia treatment.

Some of the highlights from Arians' 2012 season in Indy:

• Led the Colts to a 9-3 record in his 12 games and helped Indianapolis clinch a playoff berth while tying the NFL record for most wins ever by an interim coach.
• Was named both "Coach of the Year" and "Assistant Coach of the Year" by Pro Football Weekly & the Pro Football Writers of America.
• Arians & Pagano shared "Coach of the Year" honors from the Maxwell Club in Philadelphia and were named "AFC Coach of the Year" by NFL 101 in Kansas City.
• Indy's nine-win improvement from 2011 (2-14 to 11-5) matched the third-largest single-season turnaround in NFL history.
• Rookie QB Andrew Luck threw for the most passing yards (4,374 yards) by a rookie in NFL history.
• Luck had an NFL rookie record six 300-yard passing games and led the Colts on seven game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or OT, the most by a rookie QB since the 1970 merger.
•  In all, Indy's rookies also combined for 3,108 yards rushing and receiving, the most of any team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger according to STATS LLC.

A native of Paterson, NJ, Arians played quarterback collegiately at Virginia Tech and was voted the team's MVP as a senior in 1974.

He began his coaching career in 1975 as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech.

Meanwhile, the San Diego Chargers chose former Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt on Thursday to serve as the team's offensive coordinator.

CBS 5 Sports and cbs5az.com will have more as this story develops.

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