Eagles permitted to interview Arians & Bradley

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The Eagles have been granted permission to interview Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians and Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley for their head coaching vacancy, the team announced Friday afternoon.

Arians, who coached Temple from 1983 through 1988, spent this year as interim head coach of the Colts while head coach Chuck Pagano battled leukemia. He spent the previous eight years with the Steelers, including 2007 through 2011 as offensive coordinator.

Bradley, a Monte Kiffin disciple, spent 2006 through 2008 on the Buccaneers defensive coaching staff before becoming defensive coordinator in Seattle in 2009.

Because the Seahawks and Colts both play in wild-card round playoff games this weekend, the Eagles cannot interview them until after their games end Sunday. The Seahawks face the Redskins in Landover at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, and the Colts are in Baltimore at 1 p.m.

The Eagles did not announce when or where the interviews will take place, although both will obviously be close geographically to Philly this weekend, with their teams playing in Maryland.

Arians and Bradley are the fifth and sixth candidates identified for the Eagles head coaching vacancy (see story). The Eagles fired Andy Reid Monday after 14 seasons.

The Eagles have already interviewed Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and Falcons special teams coach Keith Armstrong, along with Penn State coach Bill OBrien, who was given a pay raise by Penn State to remove himself from consideration from NFL jobs. The Eagles are scheduled to interview Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy in Denver on Sunday. The Broncos have a first-round bye in the playoffs.

By meeting with Armstrong, who is African-American, the Eagles fulfilled their obligation under the Rooney Rule to interview at least one minority candidate.

Arians, 60, had a 20-45 record at Temple. He started his NFL career with the Chiefs as a running backs coach under Marty Schottenheimer in 1989 and after four years went back to the college ranks, becoming Mississippi States offensive coordinator in 1993.

He returned to the NFL as tight ends coach under Jim Mora Sr. with the Saints in 1996 and spent 1997 as offensive coordinator at Alabama.

He came back to the NFL for good in 1998 and spent the next three years as Peyton Mannings quarterbacks coach with the Colts, again under Mora. He was Browns offensive coordinator from 2001 through 2003 under Butch Davis before going to Pittsburgh, first as receivers coach from 2004 through 2006 under Bill Cowher and then as offensive coordinator under Mike Tomlin, where he was on the Super Bowl-champion staff in 2008.

The Colts this year went 11-5 with rookie quarterback Andrew Luck and won nine of their last 11 games. They ranked 10th in the NFL in yards per game and 18th in scoring.

Bradley, 46, has only seven years of NFL coaching experience but has drawn rave reviews with his work in Seattle this year. The Seahawks had the NFLs top-ranked scoring defense at 15.3 points per game after ranking No. 7 in the league last year.

The Seahawks finished the season on a five-game winning streak, allowing an average of just 12 points per game along the way.

The Seahawks didnt allow more than 28 points in any of their games and held eight of their 16 opponents to 13 or fewer points.

Bucs head coach Jon Gruden hired an unknown Bradley out of North Dakota State in 2006. When Gruden was fired after the 2008 season, Bradley joined Jim Mora Jr. in Seattle. Pete Carroll kept Bradley when he replaced Mora before the 2010 season.

E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com

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