Cards becoming laughing carousel out in the desert
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/26/06
BY ERNIE PALLADINO
STAFF WRITER
Steve Mariucci had better watch out. The Arizona Cardinals are after him to become their next coach.
We're not joking around here. Dennis Green is on his way out after these last six games, according to an on-line service, and they're apparently going after the former 49ers and Lions coach.
If Mariucci is smart, he'll turn off his cell phone, home phone and voice mail at the NFL Network, where he currently works as an analyst.
It's not that Glendale, Ariz., isn't a nice place. It is. Lots of sun. Brand, spanking new ballpark the Cardinals christened with a win before they dropped eight straight. Great golf nearby if you're into that.
It's just that, well, how can we put this tactfully? Arizona is the place where head coaching careers go to die.
Wonder if anybody will ever touch Green again after his coaching performance this year, an act that came complete with a wacko postgame meltdown following his team's on-field meltdown against the Bears on Monday Night Football.
But that's for future argument. A look at the past shows that Cardinals management has hired almost no one in the last quarter century that has gone on to another head coaching job.
Green's predecessor, Dave McGinnis, is currently the Titans' linebackers coach after heading the Cardinals from 2000-03.
Vince Tobin (1996-2000) went to the Packers in 2004 as a special assistant, basically a glorified consultant.
Buddy Ryan, already old enough to have known better when he took the job, coached the Cardinals between 1994 and '95 and never returned to the sidelines. He breeds racehorses now at his Kentucky farm.
You have to go all the way back to Joe Bugel (1990-93) for the last one to get another head coaching job. And that was for an equally bad organization in Oakland, where he was fired after his first and only season there in 1997.
Gene Stallings (1986-89)? Smart guy. Moved down to Alabama and coached seven seasons in college.
Jim Hanifan (1980-85 in St. Louis)? An interim job with the Falcons, but after that it was back to the offensive line with the Redskins and Rams before retiring.
Mercy dictates we not go back any further. The point is, coaches can even get fired by the Lions and still be desirable, as the Mariucci rumor proves.
The Cardinals? Dead end-ville.
It's a bad organization. Always has been, always will be as long as the Bidwills — dad Bill, and sons Michael and Bill Jr. — own the team.
They do serve well as comic relief, however. It's because of them that our Mariucci story takes a humorous turn.
Seems Bill Jr., a vice president like his brother, had been pushed to the background by Michael. It was Michael who helped hire Tobin and McGinnis and Green. But now the other brother, not a lawyer like Michael but a personnel and scouting guy, wants a bigger say. He's been lobbying dear old Dad for that lately, thus ticking off his brother.
Once they do launch Green, it will be interesting to see what kind of drama plays out behind the executive office doors. Could be Shakespearean. Oh. The Cardinals. Right. Maybe we need to go Three Stooges here.
That's the nice part about the Cardinals. They stink, no matter how much talent they have. They may always stink. But somehow they give you a good laugh along the way.
Ernie Palladino:
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/26/06
BY ERNIE PALLADINO
STAFF WRITER
Steve Mariucci had better watch out. The Arizona Cardinals are after him to become their next coach.
We're not joking around here. Dennis Green is on his way out after these last six games, according to an on-line service, and they're apparently going after the former 49ers and Lions coach.
If Mariucci is smart, he'll turn off his cell phone, home phone and voice mail at the NFL Network, where he currently works as an analyst.
It's not that Glendale, Ariz., isn't a nice place. It is. Lots of sun. Brand, spanking new ballpark the Cardinals christened with a win before they dropped eight straight. Great golf nearby if you're into that.
It's just that, well, how can we put this tactfully? Arizona is the place where head coaching careers go to die.
Wonder if anybody will ever touch Green again after his coaching performance this year, an act that came complete with a wacko postgame meltdown following his team's on-field meltdown against the Bears on Monday Night Football.
But that's for future argument. A look at the past shows that Cardinals management has hired almost no one in the last quarter century that has gone on to another head coaching job.
Green's predecessor, Dave McGinnis, is currently the Titans' linebackers coach after heading the Cardinals from 2000-03.
Vince Tobin (1996-2000) went to the Packers in 2004 as a special assistant, basically a glorified consultant.
Buddy Ryan, already old enough to have known better when he took the job, coached the Cardinals between 1994 and '95 and never returned to the sidelines. He breeds racehorses now at his Kentucky farm.
You have to go all the way back to Joe Bugel (1990-93) for the last one to get another head coaching job. And that was for an equally bad organization in Oakland, where he was fired after his first and only season there in 1997.
Gene Stallings (1986-89)? Smart guy. Moved down to Alabama and coached seven seasons in college.
Jim Hanifan (1980-85 in St. Louis)? An interim job with the Falcons, but after that it was back to the offensive line with the Redskins and Rams before retiring.
Mercy dictates we not go back any further. The point is, coaches can even get fired by the Lions and still be desirable, as the Mariucci rumor proves.
The Cardinals? Dead end-ville.
It's a bad organization. Always has been, always will be as long as the Bidwills — dad Bill, and sons Michael and Bill Jr. — own the team.
They do serve well as comic relief, however. It's because of them that our Mariucci story takes a humorous turn.
Seems Bill Jr., a vice president like his brother, had been pushed to the background by Michael. It was Michael who helped hire Tobin and McGinnis and Green. But now the other brother, not a lawyer like Michael but a personnel and scouting guy, wants a bigger say. He's been lobbying dear old Dad for that lately, thus ticking off his brother.
Once they do launch Green, it will be interesting to see what kind of drama plays out behind the executive office doors. Could be Shakespearean. Oh. The Cardinals. Right. Maybe we need to go Three Stooges here.
That's the nice part about the Cardinals. They stink, no matter how much talent they have. They may always stink. But somehow they give you a good laugh along the way.
Ernie Palladino:
