List of Arizona Cardinals head coaches

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]

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 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. Five other coaches—Don Coryell, Jim Hanifan, Vince Tobin, Ken Whisenhunt and Bruce Arians—have led the Cardinals to the playoffs, and in 2009 they went to the Super Bowl.[3]

There have been 40 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 1931.[5] Co-coach Walt Kiesling lost all 10 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 50, including one playoff victory.[4]

Key

The Cardinals have played their home games at the State Farm Stadium since 2006.

#	Number of coaches[N 1]
GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
T	Ties
Win%	Winning percentage
00†	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
00‡	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
00*	Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Cardinals
00^	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 2020 NFL season.

#	Name	Term[N 2]	Regular season					Playoffs				Awards	Ref.
			GC	W	L	T	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%
Chicago Cardinals
1	Paddy Driscoll ‡	1920–1922	29	17	8	4	.680	—					[9]
2	Arnie Horween*	1923–1924	22	13	8	1	.619	—					[10]
3	Norman Barry*	1925–1926	26	16	8	2	.667	—					[11]
4	Guy Chamberlin †	1927	11	3	7	1	.300	—					[12]
5	Fred Gillies*	1928	6	1	5	0	.167	—					[13]
6	Dewey Scanlon	1929	13	6	6	1	.500	—					[14]
7	Ernie Nevers ‡	1930–1931	21	10	9	2	.526	—					[15]
8	Roy Andrews	1931	1	0	1	0	.000	—					[16]
9	Jack Chevigny*	1932	10	2	6	2	.250	—					[17]
10	Paul Schissler	1933–1934	22	6	15	1	.286	—					[18]
11	Milan Creighton*	1935–1938	46	16	26	4	.381	—					[19]
—	Ernie Nevers ‡	1939	11	1	10	0	.091	—					[15]
12	Jimmy Conzelman †	1940–1942	33	8	22	3	.267	—					[20]
13	Phil Handler*	1943	10	0	10	0	.000	—					[21]
Card-Pitt
—	Phil Handler*	co-coaches 1944	10	0	10	0	.000	—					[21]
14	Walt Kiesling‡												[6]
Chicago Cardinals
—	Phil Handler*	1945	10	1	9	0	.100	—					[21]
—	Jimmy Conzelman†	1946–1948	35	26	9	0	.743	2	1	1	.500	1947 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year[22]	[20]
15	Buddy Parker	1949	12	6	5	1	.545	—					[23]
16	Curly Lambeau †	1950–1951	22	7	15	0	.318	—					[24]
17	Cecil Isbell	1951	2	1	1	0	.500	—					[25]
18	Joe Kuharich	1952	12	4	8	0	.333	—					[26]
19	Joe Stydahar	1953–1954	24	3	20	1	.130	—					[27]
20	Ray Richards*	1955–1957	36	14	21	1	.400	—					[28]
Chicago Cardinals and St. Louis Cardinals
21	Pop Ivy	1958–1961	48	15	31	2	.326	—					[29]
St. Louis Cardinals
22	Ray Willsey* ^	3 co-coaches 1961 ^	2	2	0	0	1.000	–					[30]
23	Ray Prochaska* ^												[31]
24	Chuck Drulis* ^												[32]
25	Wally Lemm	1962–1965	56	27	26	3	.509	—					[33]
26	Charley Winner	1966–1970	70	35	30	5	.538	—					[34]
27	Bob Hollway*	1971–1972	28	8	18	2	.308	—					[35]
28	Don Coryell	1973–1977	70	42	27	1	.609	2	0	2	.000	1974 Associated Press Coach of the Year[36] 1974 Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year[37]	[38]
29	Bud Wilkinson*	1978–1979	29	9	20	0	.310	—					[39]
30	Larry Wilson* ‡	1979	3	2	1	0	.667	—					[40]
31	Jim Hanifan	1980–1985	89	39	49	1	.443	1	0	1	.000		[41]
St. Louis Cardinals and Phoenix Cardinals
32	Gene Stallings*	1986–1989	58	23	34	1	.404	—					[42]
Phoenix Cardinals
33	Hank Kuhlmann*	1989	5	0	5	0	.000	—					[43]
34	Joe Bugel	1990–1993	64	20	44	0	.313	—					[44]
Arizona Cardinals
35	Buddy Ryan	1994–1995	32	12	20	0	.375	—					[45]
36	Vince Tobin*	1996–2000	71	28	43	0	.394	2	1	1	.500		[46]
37	Dave McGinnis*	2000–2003	57	17	40	0	.298	—					[47]
38	Dennis Green	2004–2006	48	16	32	0	.333	—					[48]
39	Ken Whisenhunt	2007–2012	96	45	51	0	.469	6	4	2	.667		[49]
40	Bruce Arians	2013–2017	80	49	30	1	.619	3	1	2	.333		[50]
41	Steve Wilks*	2018	16	3	13	0	.188	—					[51]
42	Kliff Kingsbury*	2019–present	32	13	18	1	.422	—					[52]

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.

References

1. "Stadium History". UniversityofPhoenixStadium.com. Global Spectrum. Archived from the original on 2008-12-20. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
2. "Arizona Cardinals". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
3. "Arizona Cardinals". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on 2008-11-18. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
4. "Arizona Cardinals Franchise Encyclopedia". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-07. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
5. "Roy Andrews Coaching Record". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-02-19. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
6. "Kiesling coaching records". pro-football-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
7. "Head Coach: Ken Whisenhunt". NFL.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
8. Rapoport, Ian (December 31, 2012). "Cardinals fire Ken Whisenhunt, GM Rod Graves". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises LLC. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
9. "Paddy Driscoll". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
10. "Arnie Horween". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
11. "Norm Barry". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
12. "Guy Chamberlin". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
13. "Fred Gillies". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
14. "Dewey Scanlon". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-02-21. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
15. "Ernie Nevers". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
16. "Roy Andrews". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
17. "Jack Chevigny". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
18. "Paul Schissler". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
19. "Milan Creighton". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
20. "Jimmy Conzelman". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
21. "Phil Handler". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-07. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
22. "The Sporting News: Football Almanac". Sportingnews.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
23. "Buddy Parker". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
24. "Curly Lambeau". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-04-18. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
25. "Cecil Isbell". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-06. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
26. "Joe Kuharich". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
27. "Joe Stydahar". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
28. "Ray Richards". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-04-03. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
29. "Pop Ivy". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-09. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
30. "Ray Willsey". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
31. "Ray Prochaska". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
32. "Chuck Drulis". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
33. "Wally Lemm". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
34. "Charley Winner". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
35. "Bob Hollway". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
36. "AP NFL Coach of the Year Winners". The Washington Post. 2005-01-08. Archived from the original on 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
37. "Awards". Pro Football Weekly. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
38. "Don Coryell". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
39. "Bud Wilkinson". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
40. "Larry Wilson". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2009-01-21. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
41. "Jim Hanifan". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-09. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
42. "Gene Stallings". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-08-10. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
43. "Hank Kuhlmann". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-09-07. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
44. "Joe Bugel". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
45. "Buddy Ryan". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
46. "Vince Tobin". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
47. "Dave McGinnis". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
48. "Dennis Green". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
49. "Ken Whisenhunt". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
50. "Bruce Arians Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
51. "Steve Wilks Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
52. "Kliff Kingsbury Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 5, 2021.