Bruce Arians to Cardinals assistants: ‘If you miss a recital … I’ll fire you’

In his new book, “The Quarterback Whisperer,” Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians addresses a couple of aspects of his job that are absolutes.

One, no member of his coaching staff is allowed to be working at the team facility after 10 p.m.

‘Those kids are not going to be there forever’

Two, if he isn’t calling plays, he isn’t coaching.

“For our coaches, I tell them, if you miss a recital or a football game or a basketball game, I’ll fire you,” Arians told Alex Marvez and Geoff Schwartz on the SiriusXM Blitz. “You can always come back and work. Those kids are not going to be there forever. They’re going to grow up and be gone.”

‘It was some of the best days, watching the kids play’

In the book, Arians shares a story about when he was running backs coach for the Kansas City Chiefs and he feared missing his son Jake’s football game when Jake was in seventh grade. Marty Schottenheimer, the Chiefs’ head coach, was strict about his assistants remaining at the office.

“It was killing me to miss the game, and they played Thursday afternoons and Joe Pendry was a great offensive coordinator that we had,” Arians said. “He said, ‘Why you upset?’ I said, ‘I wanted to go see Jake play? They’re playing right now.’ He said, ‘Go ahead.’ I said, ‘You know Marty doesn’t allow us to leave the office.’ He said, ‘Well, I’ll tell him you went jogging. Just, when you get back, throw some water on your face.’

‘I’ve always called plays’

“As soon as (Jake) saw me in the stands, he lit up. It was some of the best days, watching the kids play.”

Arians is emphatic about being the Cardinals’ offensive play-caller.

“I’ve always called plays,” he said. “I called plays in high school; we had a great high school coach. They let me call the plays. And I didn’t have the greatest college career, so I was coaching my junior year. I was calling the JV team and calling plays.

“It’s something that I’ve always done and have enjoyed doing. Probably, if I had to give it up, I’d get out of coaching.”