James Bettcher Named Cardinals DC: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

As expected, the Arizona Cardinals officially announced the hiring of James Bettcher as their next offensive coordinator Wednesday.

Darren Urban of the Cardinals' official website confirmed the news, which was first reported by Mike Jurecki of Fox Sports over the weekend. A formal press conference will take place "in the near future," but no date has been given.

Bettcher, 36, has spent the last two seasons coaching Arizona's outside linebackers under Bruce Arians. He moved with Arians from Indianapolis in 2012, where he served as a special assistant for one season. His promotion comes after a mass exodus of defensive staffers who followed former defensive coordinator Todd Bowles to his new head coaching gig with the New York Jets.

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Dick LeBeau, who coached with Arians for eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was initially linked to the position. LeBeau later rebuffed the overtures and is expected to join Ken Whisenhunt's staff in Tennessee as a defensive assistant, per Paul Kuharsky and Scott Brown of ESPN.com.

The Cardinals then switched gears, with Arians indicating he'd fill the defensive coordinator spot by promoting from within.

“I did not want our players to walk in and not know what they were doing the first day,” Arians said, per Urban. “No new language. It’s the same defense, the same philosophy.”

Arizona had a top-10 defense each of the last two seasons under Bowles, per Football Outsiders' DVOA metric. Assuming it's able to retain a couple of notable free agents and shore up its linebacking corps, Bettcher should have a foundation for another elite unit in 2015.

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