Cards hire Whisenhunt - Now It's Official

john h

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I guess they really liked what they heard. I thought they might wait a couple of days for Cameron. But, if they really think he's the guy that's the best, then it was a good thing to get him signed.

All I can do is cross my fingers and hope they got the right guy this time. With our old assistants, or new ones.


Sounds good to me but then I had no real preference. He comes from a winning organization and a team with STABILITY. Maybe some of that will brush off on our organization. Now we can start talking draft.
 

kerouac9

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Well, I'll go on record as being less than happy with the hire, only because every Steelers OC who became a HC somewhere else suddenly forgot to take the "trickery" from their playbooks with them and then promptly washed out of the league. Here's hoping that Ken Wisenhunt does better than Mike Mularkey and Chan Gailey. I also hope that he does better than former Steelers defensive coordinators like Dom Capers and Jim Haslett.

Good to see that the Arizona Cardinals are learning from the past. :bang:
 

Rats

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Run Attempts - 469
Pass attempts - 523

Both ranked for 15th in the league and he ran the most balanced offense in the league.

Why cant we have that here to. Once the Bus was gone Wiz was not a pass first or run first OC. He was a balanced OC.

And why will it take 3 years to have that kind of line. Why do people still believe that it takes 3 years to build anything in todays NFL.

Ok, after the Bus was gone he was balanced in his play calling. Would you say he was a pass to set up the run or a run to set up the pass. We all know what kind of offense we have had in Arizona. We had a terrible running game for 2 and a half seasons until the last 6 or 7 games where we had an ok running game but not steller. Building an offensive line is not done over night and changing what you have rarely works. If Pendy is back I see the effect on the offense under this coach as being dependent on keeping the defense off the field and that means pounding the ball. We do not have the guy in the backfield for that despite what some believe and certainly not behind the line as presently constituted. We will wait and see but it looks like a typical Bidwill hire that does not excite an apethetic fan base and will not keep the rare seasonticket bandwagon fans on board. Which means more of the enemy filling the stadium and that is what I did not want.
 

Rats

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Yeah, it strikes me we could substitute "Bidwill" for "Rooney" and "Cards" for "steelers" on that MB and the result would be nearly identical to ASFN.

Except that Rooney has how many Superbowl rings? Guess it shows some fans are never satisfied. I know which ownership group I would rather have.
 

Crazy Canuck

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Well, I'll go on record as being less than happy with the hire, only because every Steelers OC who became a HC somewhere else suddenly forgot to take the "trickery" from their playbooks with them and then promptly washed out of the league. Here's hoping that Ken Wisenhunt does better than Mike Mularkey and Chan Gailey. I also hope that he does better than former Steelers defensive coordinators like Dom Capers and Jim Haslett.

Good to see that the Arizona Cardinals are learning from the past. :bang:

This is the only relevant past the Cards FO... and anyone else should be concerned with:

In his first year as coordinator, the Steelers rushing attack improved from 31st to 2nd and the overall offense ranked 16th behind rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger. His second year ended with an NFL title after the Steelers offense averaged 26.8 points per game in the playoffs. This past season, Pittsburgh’s offense ranked 7th overall (9th passing and 10th rushing).
 

Duckjake

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If that bolded part isnt the perfect example of what our O is then I dont know what is.

Exactly. This guy looks to be perfect for the Cardinals offense. I think a lot of the Cards offensive problems the last couple of years have been having to be a passing offense when they really didn't have the personell for it.

Big strong wide receivers, a huge offensive line and a good strong RB. Sounds perfect for Whisenhunt.
 

az jam

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I'm very happy with the hire. He really is the one that I wanted. I thought that the Steelers would give him the HC or if not the Falcons. This is an excellent move for the Cards and I think Leinart will benefit from it. I like the interview process and think the Cards are moving in the right direction. It would be neat if the Steeler game next season is a Monday night game especailly if Grimm becomes the HC of the Steelers.
 

Duckjake

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How many of the Asst. coaches hired by Denny in year one of his regime are still on the team?


Only the one's that weren't fired because losing was unacceptable.

Question: Were the only Asst. Coaches retained after Green's firing the one's whose contracts had not expired?
 

Zeno

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Whisenhunt: Backers say body of work makes him easy choice
Thursday, January 11, 2007

By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Ken Whisenhunt got his degree in civil engineering at Georgia Tech, but he never really wanted to build bridges. Instead, he wanted to build a football team, construct a winning foundation, assemble the necessary parts of a franchise that had an infrastructure as solid as tungsten steel.

None of that is necessary with the Steelers. They do not need an architect to rebuild a tattered franchise or build a winning tradition. With five Super Bowl trophies on display in their South Side offices, they do not need someone to reinvent the wheel. They just want someone to keep the wheel rolling.

That's why Dan Henning, a former NFL head coach who worked with Whisenhunt as a player and assistant coach, wonders what the Steelers are waiting for to name a replacement for Bill Cowher.

"Next to player personnel in the National Football League, continuity is the next best thing," said Henning, who is offensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers. "Kenny knows the Steelers' organization, they know him. They're not getting an unknown quantity. They know the quality of his work, the way he gets along with people. It's a tremendous advantage in transition."

Henning was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 1983-86 when Whisenhunt was a tight end/H-back there. He later coached with him for one season with the New York Jets, Whisenhunt's last coaching stop before joining the Steelers in 2004. Henning was also head coach with the San Diego Chargers from 1989-91.

"When we drafted him, he was a quarterback/tight end who could do all things. All those qualities he had as a player have transitioned for him as a coach. I don't know if there are any candidates out there who have all those qualities rolled into one.

"There is an old saying: A prophet in his own land is scorned. It's disappointing to me they haven't jumped on Kenny. Sometimes you hesitate because nobody is perfect. I can tell you this -- nobody knows for sure if somebody will be a successful head coach. You can only gauge based on the credentials and their body of work. Kenny has all that."

Whisenhunt had an indistinguishable career as an NFL player, catching 62 passes for 601 yards and six touchdowns in nine seasons with the Falcons (1985-88), Washington Redskins ('89-90) and Jets ('91-93). In college, he finished as Georgia Tech's second all-time receiving yardage leader (1,264) and fourth in receptions (82).

But it has been as an NFL assistant coach where Whisenhunt's career has been almost meteoric. He joined the Baltimore Ravens as tight end coach in 1997, was special teams coach under Chris Palmer with the Cleveland Browns in '99 and joined the Jets for one season before Cowher hired him to coach the Steelers' tight ends.

Now he could be the Steelers' next head coach. He has interviewed with three other NFL teams since the season ended, making him perhaps the most marketable head-coaching candidate in the league.

But Whisenhunt, 44, doesn't want to coach those other teams as much as he wants to coach the Steelers. That's part of the reason he lost an opportunity this week to replace Jim Mora Jr. as coach in Atlanta. Not that anyone would know underneath that calm, placid exterior.

"What people miss when they deal with him is that he's low-key, but very, very competitive, very focused," Henning said. "He wants to win and his actions follow through with that."

Whisenhunt has always been calm, even-tempered. But it does not belie his intensity, his toughness, nor does it adversely affect his performance.

That was apparent as far back as 1980 when Georgia Tech, in a game against unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Notre Dame, asked Whisenhunt to play quarterback after injuries felled its starter and top backup after a couple series. The Yellow Jackets were 1-8 at the time. And Whisenhunt, a walk-on freshman, wasn't really a quarterback. He was a receiver/defensive back.

But he kept Georgia Tech in the game, and the Yellow Jackets managed a 3-3 tie that derailed Notre Dame's season.

"You knew he was athletic, but when he stepped in to play in that Notre Dame game, you knew the guy had more," Ben Utt, a former NFL guard who was captain of the 1980 Georgia Tech team, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "Especially in hindsight, just the composure you have to have to be able to do that."

Whisenhunt has always done that, whether on game day or on the practice field, whether in uniform or coaching sweats.

"He has this calm presence about him that he will function as if he did it all his life," said former Georgia Tech coach Bill Curry. "He never panics and he's absolutely brilliant.

"He'll make the call that makes the most sense, that requires calm and presence. He won't be plucking things out of the air or choking on a hot dog. Coaches do all kinds of crazy stuff; there is a legion of ways they can panic in those situations. This guy is cold-blooded in the clutch."

Whisenhunt did not always want to be a football coach. When he retired after eight seasons as a tight end/H-back in the NFL, he thought about being a professional golfer, not a far-fetched thought for a person who grew up in Augusta, Ga. So he worked on his game for six months at Willow Springs Country Club in Roswell, Ga., lowering his handicap to 4 and even qualifying for the 1994 U.S. Mid-Amateur.

But, at age 31, staring at the same reality that eventually smacks most professional athletes who desire to be professional golfers, Whisenhunt thought it was time to do something else.

So he called his old position coach with the Falcons, Rod Dowhower, who was in line to become head coach at Vanderbilt University. Whisenhunt asked him if he needed an assistant coach. And, in 1995, a new career was started.

"I didn't know if I felt I could really succeed at it, but I thought it felt like the right thing to do," Whisenhunt said. "If there's anything that felt right, it was that first year at Vanderbilt. I got back into the game."

It began the ascent that has seen Whisenhunt go from position coach to Steelers offensive coordinator in 2004 to maybe the most viable -- certainly the most-interviewed -- head-coaching candidate in the NFL. Last week, a whirlwind tour took Whisenhunt and his wife, Alice, to Atlanta, Arizona and back home to Pittsburgh to interview with the Miami Dolphins in Wayne Huizenga's private jet.

He was the first person Falcons owner Arthur Blank wanted to interview and probably could have had the job if he didn't want to wait to see what would happen with the Steelers. Now he is among what is believed to be a field of four, competing with Russ Grimm and two other candidates -- Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin -- to become head coach of the team whose offense he has directed the past three seasons.

"Tough guy, extremely tough," Dowhower said the other day from Cape Creek, Ariz., where he is retired from coaching. "A tremendous competitor.

"They asked him to do things that were never asked of a tight end before in Atlanta and that's slam-block 300-pound tackles. And he would do it over and over and over again. Never said a word."

Former Pitt coach Foge Fazio was a linebackers/special teams coach with the Falcons, and he always remembered Whisenhunt's toughness. When Fazio went to the Jets and head coach Bruce Coslett was looking for a tight end, he recommended Whisenhunt, who ended up playing three seasons in New York.

"He was always in there watching film and he knew the playbook inside and out," Fazio said. "He knew everyone on that offense and where they were supposed to be. He knew the pass protections. He knew all that. He knew what everyone was doing."

He still does, mainly because of his job description.

When Whisenhunt replaced the pass-happy Mike Mularkey as offensive coordinator in 2004, the Steelers jumped from No. 31 to No. 2 in rushing in the NFL and became the first AFC team to win 15 games in a regular season. When they needed to win their final four regular-season games last season to make the playoffs -- a streak that ended with the Super Bowl championship -- the Steelers leaned on their running game to average 185 yards rushing in that stretch.

But Whisehunt saved his best for the playoffs, and everyone around the NFL noticed.

The Steelers developed into one of the league's most diverse, explosive and productive offenses, a unit that was maddening to defend because of the big-play ability of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the threat of hammering the opposition with the run. The Steelers averaged nearly 28 points a game in their eight-game winning streak and scored on 13 of 28 possessions in the AFC playoffs.

And, yet, there were specific instances of his artistry:

After falling behind, 10-0 and 17-7, in Cincinnati, he pulled out a gadget play that resulted in a 43-yard touchdown from Roethlisberger to Cedrick Wilson to highlight a 24-point run.

In Indianapolis, he put in a special play to tight end Heath Miller that resulted in a 36-yard completion on the second play of the game, immediately setting the tone for what would be a 21-18 victory.

In the AFC championship game in Denver, Whisenhunt put in two plays he thought could work against the Broncos' defensive scheme, one that resulted in Roethlisberger's pump-fake 12-yard touchdown to Wilson, the other a 12-yard touchdown run by Jerome Bettis that was negated by a penalty.

That stamped him a candidate to be an NFL head coach.

"Nobody knows how someone will do until they're a head coach," Dowhower said. "That's all relative to the team you're with and the people you're able to hire and players you have. But I have no doubts he will be. The results will be based on the types of players he has and the support he has. I think he'll handle the rest."
 

BigRedArk

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We need to be balanced. Need to improve the running game. We need to improve the OLine. Need to use the TE more, need to use our playmakers better.

Would love to see Wiz bring in more Steelers coaches pluss use the 3-4.

Agree BEERZ...except for the 3-4 defense. What do I know but a balanced O seemingly has more of a chance to keep an opposing D on the back of their heels and wondering what is coming next. An unpredictable O that executes is a mighty powerful weapon. Hopefully Whis can do this for us. Which ultimately will help our D at least theoretically.
 

Rats

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Exactly. This guy looks to be perfect for the Cardinals offense. I think a lot of the Cards offensive problems the last couple of years have been having to be a passing offense when they really didn't have the personell for it.

Big strong wide receivers, a huge offensive line and a good strong RB. Sounds perfect for Whisenhunt.

So your saying we do have the personel on the team to be a run first team to set up the pass. We have a dreadful run blocking line and a Rb that has never been in a run first offense. That just does not seem to fit to me Duck.
 

Rats

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I'm pretty sure no one on that message board, or ASFN, has any super bowl rings. :rolleyes:

But it does show that some fans are never satisfied. Not sure what is lost in the translation here. I see the guys complaining about Rooney even though he has given them a Team to be proud of rather than Bidwill giving us a team that gives us non stop ridicule. Why the roll of the eyes.
 

Goldfield

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Run Attempts - 469
Pass attempts - 523

Both ranked for 15th in the league and he ran the most balanced offense in the league.

Why cant we have that here to. Once the Bus was gone Wiz was not a pass first or run first OC. He was a balanced OC.

And why will it take 3 years to have that kind of line. Why do people still believe that it takes 3 years to build anything in todays NFL.
I agree,

This season, Pittsburgh's offense ranked seventh in the NFL, ninth in passing and 10th in rushing. BALANCE is the key.

Keep the Defense guessing. I dont understand why people think this team is made to pass first. Boldin & Fitz are pretty good RUN BLOCKERS, & Edge is a pretty good RUNNER.

Balance.
 

Goldfield

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Sounds good to me but then I had no real preference. He comes from a winning organization and a team with STABILITY. Maybe some of that will brush off on our organization. Now we can start talking draft.
I agree with that 100%

I didn't have a clear cut favorite but Whisenhunt interests me. 6 years with the Steelers can only be a good thing. I love that franchise...
 
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Evil Ash

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So your saying we do have the personel on the team to be a run first team to set up the pass. We have a dreadful run blocking line and a Rb that has never been in a run first offense. That just does not seem to fit to me Duck.


The man has a degree in civil engineering. In short, HE'S NOT AN IDIOT

If our personnel makes it so our team is pass first then he will adjust accordingly. Good offensive coaches adjust to the strength of their personnel and adjust when neccessary.
 

BigRedArk

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Whisenhunt: Backers say body of work makes him easy choice
Thursday, January 11, 2007

"Nobody knows how someone will do until they're a head coach," Dowhower said. "That's all relative to the team you're with and the people you're able to hire and players you have. But I have no doubts he will be. The results will be based on the types of players he has and the support he has. I think he'll handle the rest."

I like that he is an engineer. He should know how to build. One thing this organization? needs is one who knows how to do just that. The first question that comes to mind is will Bill Sr give him what he needs to build?

A minor point is that Dowhower is an ex-St Louis Footbal Cardinals OC. He worked under Hanifan. So he may have had some sort of an influence on both sides to make this happen.
 

Red Dawn

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But it does show that some fans are never satisfied. Not sure what is lost in the translation here. I see the guys complaining about Rooney even though he has given them a Team to be proud of rather than Bidwill giving us a team that gives us non stop ridicule. Why the roll of the eyes.

I think I misunderstood your point. In my post about message boards I specifically mentioned the Steelers and Rooney's but I left out my intent to imply that it could be ANY message board. For example, the Packer boards were going crazy when Sherman was brought back and subsequently "hired" by the Cards. Basically Sherman's search for a HC job opened up old wounds on those boards, it was pretty comical. I was merely trying to point out that all MB's are pretty much the same, with Koolaiders and darksiders. You are right, some people are never satisfied. I just wasnt intending on starting another assault on Cards ownership. To me the past 18 years don't matter, it's next year that matters. Have a drink on me. :) :koolaid:
 

Rats

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I think I misunderstood your point. In my post about message boards I specifically mentioned the Steelers and Rooney's but I left out my intent to imply that it could be ANY message board. For example, the Packer boards were going crazy when Sherman was brought back and subsequently "hired" by the Cards. Basically Sherman's search for a HC job opened up old wounds on those boards, it was pretty comical. I was merely trying to point out that all MB's are pretty much the same, with Koolaiders and darksiders. You are right, some people are never satisfied. I just wasnt intending on starting another assault on Cards ownership. To me the past 18 years don't matter, it's next year that matters. Have a drink on me. :) :koolaid:

Good, fair enough and I will. I liked your post off the Pitt board poster showing how each year the team changed in it's approach. Maybe not by much but it might reflect on this coaching hire. Time will tell:cheers:
 

Goldfield

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"He was always in there watching film and he knew the playbook inside and out," Fazio said. "He knew everyone on that offense and where they were supposed to be. He knew the pass protections. He knew all that. He knew what everyone was doing."
This says alot about his work ethic. He seems to be a very smart guy and still is also a very tuff guy, which IMO help when dealing with athletes...

Also I forgot to mention this quote was when he was a player not even a coach & he knew that much...
 

Renz

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Only the one's that weren't fired because losing was unacceptable.

Question: Were the only Asst. Coaches retained after Green's firing the one's whose contracts had not expired?

I think Solomon, Hargrave and Zauner were still under contract when they were let go.
 

joeshmo

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I dont think Wiz will have Joe Thomas on his radar screen. To much of a finesse type player. I think he goes another direction in the first no matter if Davis is still here or not.
 

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