It's official - the Arizona Cardinals have hired the Steelers' innovative offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt as their next head coach. Everybody speaks very highly of his offensive smarts, and having worked under Bill Cowher will no doubt aid him in his quest to finally turn that Cardinals franchise around. One caveat though - he needs to upgrade the personnel on the offensive line, or else he won't be able to execute a lot of that offensive innovation.
This means that current Steelers assistant Russ Grimm and Georgia Tech head coach and former Steelers offensive coordinator Chan Gailey appear to be the front-runners for the Pittsburgh job. They should have a decision made by next week.
As has been anticipated pretty much the whole year, ever since Jerome Bettis's journalistic faux pas on opening night of the NFL season, Bill Cowher stepped down yesterday as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday. Cowher was the Steelers' coach since 1992, solidifying Pittsburgh as the probably the most stable franchise in all of sports. Whoever gets the job next, whether it be Ken Whisenhunt or Russ Grimm, should probably make plans to spend the next decade or so in Steel Town.
In contrast to the Steelers' remarkable stability, (not to mention their ability to pick out Hall of Fame caliber coaches), the rest of the NFL has been lived up to its moniker of the "Not for Long" league. In the time that Cowher has been in Pittsburgh, there have been 129 other head coaches in the league, and 131 separate coaching tenures when you count the second acts of Joe Gibbs in Washington and Art Shell in Oakland.
Here are the NFL franchises going from most turbulent to most stable:
7 Head Coaches: Detroit Lions New York Jets Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders Washington Redskins
6 Head Coaches: St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams
5 Head Coaches: Arizona Cardinals Atlanta Falcons Buffalo Bills Dallas Cowboys Miami Dolphins New Orleans Saints San Diego Chargers
4 Head Coaches: Cincinnati Bengals (New) Cleveland Browns Green Bay Packers Indianapolis Colts Kansas City Chiefs New England Patriots New York Giants San Francisco 49ers
3 Head Coaches: Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns Carolina Panthers Chicago Bears Denver Broncos Minnesota Vikings Philadelphia Eagles Seattle Seahawks Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2 Head Coaches: Houston Texans Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans
(Of course here, you have 2 relatively recent expansion teams in Houston and Jacksonville)
1 Head Coach: Pittsburgh Steelers
Here's Cowher at one of his most triumphant moments, after winning the 2006 AFC Championship en route to their Super Bowl XL victory.
It's official - the Arizona Cardinals have hired the Steelers' innovative offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt as their next head coach. Everybody speaks very highly of his offensive smarts, and having worked under Bill Cowher will no doubt aid him in his quest to finally turn that Cardinals franchise around. One caveat though - he needs to upgrade the personnel on the offensive line, or else he won't be able to execute a lot of that offensive innovation.
