Arizona Cardinals unable to land top coaching candidates
By Jim Koch
The Arizona Cardinals’ long and drawn out quest to find a successor for ex-coach Bruce Arians may not have been by design
The Arizona Cardinals must be getting used to the disappointments. Getting turned down by top head-coaching candidates has unfortunately become commonplace for the organization. It happened back in 2013, and Michael Bidwill and Steve Keim apparently went through the same thing again with their latest search.
Five years ago, things worked out just fine. After being spurned by Andy Reid, Mike McCoy and Todd Haley, the Cardinals had to “settle” for 60-year old Bruce Arians. The offensive guru turned out to be a great hire, most likely out of pure luck than anything else.
It’s now 2018, and it appears that the Cards’ front office revisited that same path over the past few weeks. Bidwill preached to the choir about how the franchise was going to take their good old time in selecting a new leader for the squad. The reason for doing so, the team President insisted, was to insure that Arizona got the best possible man for the job.
If the reports along the way of the quest were true, new coach Steve Wilks was not the Cardinals’ number-one choice. It’s possible that the ex-Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator wasn’t the club’s second or third most-preferred option either. Like Arians in ’13, Wilks may have very well been more towards the bottom of the Cards’ list of interviewees than the top.
Sources indicated that Arizona’s top preference to fill the void was actually from the offensive side of the ball. Pat Shurmur did a bang-up job as the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings this past season. The 52-year old ultimately decided to go with the New York Giants, and the Cardinals were forced to go back to the drawing board.
Matt Patricia was interviewed early in the process, and the Cards’ brass reportedly were enamored with him. The defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots has decided that the Detroit Lions would be a better fit for him. Patricia will head to “Motown” at the conclusion of Super Bowl LII.
The most alarming turn-down came from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Munchak. Just when it looked as if Bidwill and Keim had zeroed in on the offensive line coach to be their guy, Arizona was rejected again. Munchak somehow thought it would behoove him to remain a position coach, rather than be the top dog with the Cardinals.
Perhaps Wilks will follow in Arians’ footsteps, and prove that he’s much more than just a last resort for the position. Still, you have to wonder why the Cards keep striking out on the more sought-after names. Maybe Arizona is simply not the preferred destination that the fans think it is.
Next: Steve Wilks a good hire for Arizona Cardinals
A certain degree of success over the past decade or so has gotten the Cardinals out of the doldrums. Hopefully, the unwillingness of some available coaches to come to the desert is not a sign that the team is slipping back into the abyss. A successful tenure by Wilks would help to assure that the regression doesn’t happen.