List of Arizona Cardinals head coaches

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Bud Wilkinson (right) with United States President John F. Kennedy, during a 1961 visit to the White House. Wilkinson was the 26th head coach of the Cardinals. JFK-Bud Wilkinson.jpg
Bud Wilkinson (right) with United States President John F. Kennedy, during a 1961 visit to the White House. Wilkinson was the 26th head coach of the Cardinals.

The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team began as the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898 in Chicago, Illinois. The team's second name was the Racine Normals, since it played at Normal Field on Racine Street. In 1901, they were renamed to the Racine Street Cardinals, a name that came from the University of Chicago jerseys that the team used, which were described as "Cardinal red". The team was established in Chicago in 1898 and was a charter member of the NFL in 1920. The team has played their home games at the State Farm Stadium since 2006 and is the oldest franchise in the NFL. [1] [2]

Contents

The team has moved to numerous cities during its history. After staying in Chicago from 1920 to 1959, it moved to St. Louis, Missouri and remained there from 1960 to 1987. It played in Tempe, Arizona, from 1988 to 2005, before eventually settling in Glendale, Arizona in 2006, where it now resides. [3] Since 1920, two Cardinals coaches have won the NFL Championship: Norman Barry in 1925 and Jimmy Conzelman in 1947. Six other coaches—Don Coryell, Jim Hanifan, Vince Tobin, Ken Whisenhunt, Bruce Arians, and Kliff Kingsbury—have led the Cardinals to the playoffs, and in 2009 they went to the Super Bowl. [3]

There have been 43 head coaches for the Cardinals franchise since it became a professional team in 1920; fourteen of the team's coaches are former Cardinals players. [4] Ernie Nevers and Jimmy Conzelman are the only coaches to have had more than one tenure with the team. Pop Ivy and Gene Stallings both coached the team during its move from one city to another. Cardinals coach Roy Andrews is tied for the lowest winning percentage among the team's coaches (.000), having lost the only game he coached in the 1931 season. [5] Co-coach Walt Kiesling lost all ten games he coached in 1943, when the team merged with the Steelers during World War II and was known as Card-Pitt. [6] Co-coaches Ray Willsey, Ray Prochaska, and Chuck Drulis have the highest winning percentage among Cardinals coaches (1.000). The team's all-time leader in games coached is Ken Whisenhunt, who was hired on January 14, 2007, [7] with 96. Whisenhunt was fired on December 31, 2012, after the Cardinals recorded a 5–11 record in 2012. [8] The all-time leader in wins is Bruce Arians with fifty, including one playoff victory. [4]

Key

The Cardinals have played their home games at the State Farm Stadium since 2006. State Farm Stadium 2022.jpg
The Cardinals have played their home games at the State Farm Stadium since 2006.
#Number of coaches [N 1]
GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
TTies
Win% Winning percentage
Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
*Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Cardinals
^1961 Season had 3 co-coaches for 2 games

Coaches

Note: The list begins in 1920, when the Cardinals became a professional team. Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2023 NFL season.
#ImageNameTerm [N 2] Regular seasonPlayoffsAwardsRef.
GCWLTWin%GCWLWin%
Chicago Cardinals
1
Paddy Driscoll circa 1926.jpg
Paddy Driscoll 19201922 291784.680 [9]
2
Arnold Horween (1927).png
Arnold Horween* 19231924 221381.619 [10]
3 Norman Barry* 19251926 261682.667 [11]
4 Guy Chamberlain.jpg Guy Chamberlin 1927 11371.300 [12]
5 Ronald McLeod painting of FMG.jpg Fred Gillies* 1928 6150.167 [13]
6 Dewey Scanlon 1929 13661.500 [14]
7 Ernie Nevers, 1930s.jpg Ernie Nevers 19301931 211092.526 [15]
8 Roy Andrews 1931 1010.000 [16]
9 Jack Chevigny* 1932 10262.250 [17]
10 Paul Schissler.jpg Paul Schissler 19331934 226151.286 [18]
11 Milan Creighton* 19351938 4616264.381 [19]
Ernie Nevers, 1930s.jpg Ernie Nevers 1939 111100.091 [15]
12 Conzelman.jpg Jimmy Conzelman 19401942 338223.267 [20]
13 Phil Handler* 1943 100100.000 [21]
Card-Pitt
Phil Handler*co-coaches
1944
100100.000 [21]
14 Walt Kiesling [6]
Chicago Cardinals
Phil Handler* 1945 10190.100 [21]
Conzelman.jpg Jimmy Conzelman 19461948 352690.743211.5001947 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year [22] [20]
15 Buddy Parker - 1952 Bowman Large.jpg Buddy Parker 1949 12651.545 [23]
16 Lambeau 1940.jpg Curly Lambeau 19501951 227150.318 [24]
17 Cecil Isbell 1951 2110.500 [25]
18 Joe Kuharich 1952 12480.333 [26]
19 Joe sydahar westvirginia.jpg Joe Stydahar 19531954 243201.130 [27]
20 Ray Richards 1942 (cropped).jpg Ray Richards* 19551957 3614211.400 [28]
Chicago Cardinals and St. Louis Cardinals
21 Pop Ivy 1961.JPG Pop Ivy 19581961 4815312.326 [29]
St. Louis Cardinals
22 Ray Willsey 1965.jpg Ray Willsey* ^3
co-coaches
1961 ^
22001.000 [30]
23 Ray Prochaska.jpg Ray Prochaska* ^ [31]
24 Chuck Drulis* ^ [32]
25 Wally Lemm.jpg Wally Lemm 19621965 5627263.509 [33]
26 Charley Winner 19661970 7035305.538 [34]
27 Bob Hollway* 19711972 288182.308 [35]
28 Don Coryell Chargers.jpg Don Coryell 19731977 7042271.609202.0001974 Associated Press Coach of the Year [36]
1974 Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year [37]
[38]
29 Bud Wilkinson.jpg Bud Wilkinson* 19781979 299200.310 [39]
30 Larry Wilson* ‡ 1979 3210.667 [40]
31 Joe Hanifan.jpg Jim Hanifan 19801985 8939491.443101.000 [41]
St. Louis Cardinals and Phoenix Cardinals
32 Gene Stallings 2009.jpg Gene Stallings* 19861989 5823341.404 [42]
Phoenix Cardinals
33 Hank Kuhlmann* 1989 5050.000 [43]
34 Joe Bugel (cropped).jpg Joe Bugel 19901993 6420440.313 [44]
Arizona Cardinals
35 Buddy Ryan in 2011.jpg Buddy Ryan 19941995 3212200.375 [45]
36 Vince Tobin* 19962000 7128430.394211.500 [46]
37 Dave McGinnis.jpg Dave McGinnis* 20002003 5717400.298 [47]
38 Dennis Green 20042006 4816320.333 [48]
39 Ken Whisenhunt 2011.jpg Ken Whisenhunt 20072012 9645510.469642.667 [49]
40 Bruce Arians in 2014.jpg Bruce Arians 20132017 8049301.619312.333 [50]
41 Steve Wilks* 2018 163130.188 [51]
42 2017-0717-Big12MD-KliffKingsbury.jpg Kliff Kingsbury* 20192022 6628371.432101.000 [52]
43 Jonathan Gannon* 2023–present174130.235 [53]

Notes

  1. A running total of the number of Cardinals head coaches. Thus, any head coach who has two or more terms is only counted once.
  2. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NFL season.

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