Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said he will be undergoing open-heart surgery on Feb. 6.
On the “Today” show with Arizona Wildcats football icon and all-time great NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski, Arians was helping promote a Super Bowl commercial about prostate cancer screening.
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Arians had prostate cancer in 2007 and had cancerous cells removed from his nose in 2013.
This surgery will be the latest health challenge for the two-time AP NFL Coach of the Year (one with the Cardinals). Arians was also hospitalized twice as head coach for the Cardinals in 2016, once for diagnosed diverticulitis in the preseason and another time for chest pains during the season.
In the offseason after his 2016 campaign in Arizona, Arians revealed that he also found out during the 2016 season that an ultrasound found renal cell carcinoma on his kidney.
He underwent surgery for it in the offseason after the 2016 season, and a part of his kidney was removed as the surgery left him cancer-free.
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Arians did not reveal why he is getting surgery this time.
The 73-year-old was a Super Bowl champion with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 season and went to the NFC championship game with the Cardinals in the 2015 season. He is the winningest coach in Cardinals franchise history (including the postseason) with a 50-32-1 record in the desert (five seasons).
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals coaching icon Bruce Arians to undergo heart surgery