The Cardinals’ trip to Mexico City was marred by the sudden and abrupt termination of offensive line coach/run game coordinator Sean Kugler. The firing happened after Kugler had allegedly groped a woman.
It all happened so quickly, that the question of whether Kugler did or didn’t actually do it was never explored. We now know that Kugler claims he didn’t do it.
An Arizona law firm has announced that it has filed on Kugler’s behalf a request for arbitration, with multiple claims against the Cardinals. A press release contends that Kugler was “sent home from Mexico City on November 21, 2022, prior to the Cardinals Monday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers for unsubstantiated allegations that he inappropriately touched a female security guard.”
“The allegations against Coach Kugler are simply untrue and have caused Sean, his wife and family enormous personal and professional damage,” attorney Michael Petitti said. “Coach and his family have been desperate to understand from the Cardinals’ front office and others what rationale or evidence was used to terminate him for cause.”
Kugler contends that the Cardinals fired him “without conducting a thorough investigation or interviewing him.”
“Respecting women is a core value for me, and something I have instilled in my children and the players that I coach,” Kugler said in the press release. “The mysterious allegations by the Cardinals are untrue, and I want to clear my name. Be it a miscommunication or mistaken identity, my family and I will cooperate fully and honestly with the NFL, Cardinals, or any other agency to get to the truth in this matter and restore my reputation. There are incredible people that work in the game -- from league level to my players, fellow coaches, and incredible support staff. I simply want to get back to doing what I love, and would like my family to have peace.”
It’s a jarring development, and just the latest mess to engulf a Cardinals franchise that seems to be coming apart at the seams.
And it will be interesting to learn more about the basis for the idea that it was a “miscommunication or mistaken identity.” Who would Kugler have been confused with?
The whole thing was strange from the start. And it’s now getting ever stranger.
