Arizona Cardinals Fire Assistant Coach For Allegedly Groping A Woman In Mexico City: Report

The Arizona Cardinals have fired their offensive line coach, Sean Kugler after he allegedly groped a woman in Mexico on Sunday night.

The Cardinals were in Mexico City to face the San Francisco 49ers as part of the NFL’s International Series. The NFL had games in London, England; Munich, Germany; and Mexico City, Mexico.

The 49ers and Cardinals played a very lopsided game on ESPN’s Monday Night Football that had the 49ers defeat the Cardinals 38-10.

According to ESPN, Kugler arrived with the team in Mexico City on Saturday, and the alleged groping occurred on Sunday evening. The Cardinals were notified by police shortly after. After the Cardinals were notified of the alleged incident, Kugler was fired and sent on a plane back to Arizona on Monday morning.

Kugler has been part of the Cardinals coaching staff since 2019. He had previously coached for the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Denver Broncos at the NFL level. Kugler also served as the head coach at The University Of Texas El Paso from 2013-2017 in the college ranks.

Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury announced on Tuesday that Kugler was fired, but he did not explain why.

Kugler is not the only Cardinals coach accused of assaulting a woman this year. In May, former running backs coach James Saxton was arrested by Indiana police after he assaulted a woman in her home. Saxon was still a member of the Cardinals’ coaching staff until his arrest became public in August.

The Cardinals quickly put him on administrative leave, and he resigned as the running backs coach in October. After his original one-year prison sentence was suspended, Saxon was given one year of probation.

HBO’s Hard Knocks is following the Cardinals this season as the show’s second in-season team. Interesting to see if Kugler’s firing will be addressed.