The Final Jeopardy answer is: Jimmy Conzelman, Jim Hanifan, Ken Whisenhunt, Charley Winner, Don Coryell and Bruce Arians.
Does anyone know the question?
It is: Who are the only people in the 106 seasons of Cardinals football that have been the head coach for at least five full seasons?
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Conzelman had six in two separate three-year stints while Hanifan and Whisenhunt also had six. The other three totaled five.
It’s why Arians is the franchise leader with only 50 career victories (including the postseason), followed by Whisenhunt with 49, Coryell with 42, Hanifan with 39 and Winner and Conzelman with 35.
Whisenhunt (49-53) and Hanifan (39-50-1) finished with losing records, while Arians was 50-32-1, Coryell 42-29-1, Winner 35-30-5 and Conzelman 35-32-3. That’s a combined mark of 250-226-11, a percentage of .525.
There will be no argument that’s it’s high time this changes, but the Jeopardy question of the day needs only one word: How?
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The perception of the organization around the NFL is obvious and potential coaches know that when they are pursued for openings.
While the common cliché’ is often bandied about that there are only 32 of these jobs and that money can often be the driving force, the reality is that coaches hunger to win and have a legitimate chance to achieve that.
Yes, the money is important, but when there is a pattern like the Cardinals have, the interview process becomes as much about the team selling a coach on them as it is the coach selling himself to the organization, especially when there are multiple suitors.
High on the list of needs for the coach is a quarterback and respect for the general manager/personnel department providing him with the necessary talent to be competitive.
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One school of thought being floated about the Cardinals is that a new coach could very well believe the return of Kyler Murray gives the team its best chance of having success in 2026 and if it doesn’t work out, a new signal-caller would arrive in 2027.
The obvious issue with that is there are several other immediate issues on offense aside from the quarterback at running back, right tackle, likely left guard and possibly right guard, to name a few.
The other reality is that a certain amount of time could be needed if the QB change doesn’t happen until 2027 (or even it does this year) and at that point, the head coach wouldn’t be very far from the usual expiration date for Cardinals head coaches and yet another probable round of changes.
After all since Whisenhunt’s tenure from 2007-2012 and Arians from 2013-2017, Steve Wilkins, Kliff Kingsbury and Jonathan Gannon lasted a total of eight seasons.
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Many have suggested that owner Michael Bidwill should simply throw a boatload of money at San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh or recently fired Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott for him and his coaching staff as a show of commitment. That might be a start, but it won’t necessarily close the deal.
We know when Gannon was hired after the Super Bowl three years ago, he wasn’t even interviewed prior to the game. And the Cardinals tampered with him during Super Bowl week. We know other coaches have removed themselves from consideration in the past and this year John Harbaugh (New York Giants) and likely Kevin Stefanski (Atlanta Falcons) didn’t have the Cardinals on their short list.
Available head coach Mike McCarthy’s career record is virtually identical to Harbaugh, but he also will avoid teams with quarterback questions at the minimum.
Which brings us back to that “how” question noted earlier. There is an answer in my mind for any coach the Cardinals truly want and believe in: a true five-year commitment beyond money.
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That would be a clause in the contract that simply says the coach can’t be fired for football reasons prior to the expiration of the agreement.
There will always be personnel decisions that don’t work out. That happens to the best organizations. There will be ups and downs.
But with that absolute commitment, the football operation can make smart decisions with the present and future in mind, develop players (especially at quarterback) in an atmosphere of stability while handling the inevitable adversity that often comes without being sent to the street at the first sign of unmet expectations.
By doing that, Bidwill can change the real perception there is of the organization while showing he understands (you’d think he knows by now) just how difficult it is to win in the NFL jungle.
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After all, the famous Rudyard Kipling poem says this:
“Now this is the Law of the Jungle, as old and as true as the sky.
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back.
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.”
It’s time for the Wolf to show he really gets it.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: How the Arizona Cardinals can show true commitment to their next coach
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