Arizona Cardinals

Bruce Arians explains why he feels betrayed by the Pittsburgh Steelers

Published Jun. 17, 2016 3:50 p.m. ET

foxsports

Bruce Arians is a football lifer, bouncing from Virginia Tech to Alabama to Temple to the Chiefs and Saints and Colts, among others, taking football jobs where he could find them.

Pittsburgh, though, holds a special place in him. Arians worked with the Steelers for eight seasons, three as Bill Cowher's wide receivers coach and five as Mike Tomlin's offensive coordinator. He won two Super Bowls with them and helped turn Ben Roethlisberger into one of the NFL's best quarterbacks.

That's why it was especially painful when it all come to an abrupt halt after the 2011 season and the Steelers surprisingly didn't renew his contract.

It all worked out fine for Arians -- who won one Coach of the Year award as an assistant with the Indianpolis Colts filling in for Chuck Pagano and has added a second in his first three seasons as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals -- but it's clear he's still emotional about how his tenure ended in Pittsburgh.

In an episode of HBO's "Real Sports" that will debut next week, Arians sat down with Andrea Kramer to discuss his side of how it all went down with the Steelers and why he feels betrayed. Below is the video and transcribed interview.