Arizona Cardinals HC history suggests 4 coaches to be next head coach

If we look at the Cardinals’ history with hiring head coaches, four guys stand out this time around.

The Arizona Cardinals have had a bit of a pattern in the way they hire new head coaches. Since they moved to Arizona, they have alternated between hiring coaches with significant head-coaching experience and guys doing the job for the first time, with one exception.

It is uncanny.

Cardinals history hiring head coaches since coming to Arizona

Their first head-coaching hiring in Arizona was in 1990, They fired Gene Stallings in 1989. He previously had been a head coach in the college ranks at Texas A&M.

Joe Bugel replaced him with no experience. It has gone back and forth since then with one exception.

• 1990 – Joe Bugel, no head-coaching experience
• 1994 – Buddy Ryan, previous NFL head coach
• 1996 – Vince Tobin, no head-coaching experience
• 2001 – Davie McGinnis, no head-coaching experience
• 2004 – Dennis Green, previous NFL head coach
• 2007 – Ken Whisenhunt, no head-coaching experience
• 2013 – Bruce Arians, was interim head coach in 2012 for 12 games
• 2018 – Steve Wilks, was a head coach at a D-II school, never in FBS or NFL
• 2019 – Kliff Kingsbury, head-coaching experience in college (FBS)
• 2023 – Jonathan Gannon, no head-coaching experience

That pattern would suggest the Cardinals’ next hire will have been a head coach before.

What does that mean?

Which candidates have head-coaching experience?

The two finalists the Cardinals wanted to interview a second time who were hired elsewhere were previous head coaches.

New Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh was the head coach for the New York Jets previously. New Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley was Boston College’s head coach.

Of the candidates the Cardinals have considered, these are the previous head coaches:

• Vance Joseph
• Raheem Morris
• Arthur Smith
• Matt Nagy

Does this mean the Cardinals will hire one of these guys? History says so.

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