The Cardinals are a charter member of the NFL, joining the league in 1920. In 82 years, they’ve had 41 coaches.
Coach 41 knows that, by next year, the Cardinals could be hiring Coach 42.
Ken Whisenhunt recently addressed the question of how he deals with talk that his job is in jeopardy.
“Everyone’s aware of that,” Whisenhunt told Doug & Wolf of KTAR in Phoenix, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “You’d be living in a closet if you didn’t know that that’s part of this business. The coaches have been in it, I’ve been in it, players have been in it. So you’re aware of it. It’s not something that you have to talk about.”
Assuming Whisenhunt finishes the season (and he should), he’ll match Jim Hanifan as the longest-tenured coach in franchise history, at six years.
While Whisenhunt fairly should be blamed for the quarterback situation since the retirement of Kurt Warner, G.M. Rod Graves bears some blame, too, not only for the failure of the quarterback position but a lack of depth on the offensive line.
Indeed, if the Cardinals were the team they play on Sunday (the Jets), there would be extensive debate and speculation as to whether Whisenhunt or Graves should go. And with many Jets fans believing that Ryan’s back-to-back AFC title-game appearances should give Ryan a chance to stay, the fact that Whisenhunt took the team to the Super Bowl and nearly won it arguably should tip the scales in his favor.