Ex-Cardinals VP Terry McDonough accuses Bidwill of cheating

[PDXChris]

TORONTO.

Metro TO at 6m+ has a larger population than Chicago (Mexico City, NY, LA, Toronto, Chicago) and, like the Raptors and Blue Jays, would have a cross-Canada market of 40 million. Imagine California with one NFL team. One of the two finalists to purchase Washington is a Toronto billionaire.

Can't, Buffalo owns rights to the Toronto market and Buffalo isn't giving that up.

 

[CFLredzoned]

It doesn't make sense. If it wasn't mandated by the league, why would Bidwill suspend Keim if he was going to be in touch by burner phone anyway? For public appearances? Or was it more of a league "recommendation"? Something about that sounds familiar.

 

[SunsTzu]

If this were the NBA and the players get involved, it's just a matter of time.

Of course, the NBA has a strong players union. I'm not sure about the NFL.

It was the advertisers that did Sarver in more so than the players. He was trying to hang in there until Paypal released their statement.

 

[Harry]

This is nothing.

Keim's suspension was a franchise suspension, not an NFL suspension. What are the NFL going to do?

Plus everyone knows they were speaking to him during that time.

That’s true but the intent was to preempt action by the league office. i think the penalty will be severe, though not selling the team. They may suspend him without team contact for several months.

 

[SunsTzu]

That’s true but the intent was to preempt action by the league office. i think the penalty will be severe, though not selling the team. They may suspend him without team contact for several months.

Better start stocking up on burner phones.

 

[Harry]

another observation:

Mike is a lawyer. To suspend Keim and then have your employees use burner phones to talk to him feels like Keystone cops.

If a lawyer wanted to get around a suspension -- it would have been a far more sophisticated scheme with plausible deniability.

and it definitely wouldn't involve yelling at employees when they don't go along with your scheme.

He’s just like the old man, a loser!

 

[Mainstreet]

It was the advertisers that did Sarver in more so than the players. He was trying to hang in there until Paypal released their statement.

Ultimately, but it took the ESPN investigation to get the ball rolling along with the NBA investigation plus pressure from players and employees for all this to come to fruition.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Well...... All of this COULD be provable.

I'm calling at least a little BS on all this. Happened 5 years and and now we hear of it? No whiff of any mistreatment before then? Didn't McDonough's brother have a part in the Server scandal too? At least with Sarver there were rumblings and reports of things for several years, before everything finally came to a head.

 

[Harry]

Minority owner Larry Fitzgerald incoming...

Would you trust Bidwill with your money?

 

[Scott MS]

While serving the five-week suspension, which is effectively immediately, Keim is barred from the team's facilities and is prohibited contact with the team. He cannot return to the Cardinals until he completes counseling and evaluation, along with a DUI education course. Keim will also participate in DUI awareness and education programs within the community.
During Keim's absence, his duties and responsibilities will be handled by multiple members of the personnel staff, the Cardinals said in a statement.

I guess the original 2018 press release didn't help.

 

[Mainstreet]

So could the accusations be ultimately the reason why Keim was fired because all this would come to light?

There had to be rumblings before now.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

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I guess we'll soon find out if he has real proof or Kari Lake proof.

 

[Mainstreet]

I guess we'll soon find out if he has real proof or Kari Lake proof.

I've seen this type of denial early on with the Suns as well.

 

[Arz101]

Would you trust Bidwill with your money?

5% share for 1% price.

"Michael, It is just business" -Larry

 

[RON_IN_OC]

I've seen this type of denial early on with the Suns as well.

Hahaha....what denial? I don't care one way or another. I have zero against Michael, but if there is proof of wrong doing, then he must answer for that. As has been noted previously, McDonough is a DB, too....so this is basically a case of who can stoop lowest and air dirty laundry.

I'm always cautious, though, when crap like this comes out 5 years after the fact. Tells me if it happened, there was at least complicity with all involved.

 

[Redsz]

As per usual the truth will be somewhere in the middle.

We can't ignore the steady stream of smoke around the culture of this team. It does sound like Kiem, McDonough, Jurecki etc were all were part of a organisation that had / have major issues that needed to dealt with.

FWIW - Having had a long career in HR and dealing with these sorts of issues daily, there is a always a "halo effect" given to people raising these sorts of allegations. There are certainly alot of crappy leaders and mangers out there. However, there are also crappy employees trying to throw ish at a wall and hope it sticks. Often this in the form of identifying process failings to get a pay out of some type.

 

[Mainstreet]

Hahaha....what denial? I don't care one way or another. I have zero against Michael, but if there is proof of wrong doing, then he must answer for that. As has been noted previously, McDonough is a DB, too....so this is basically a case of who can stoop lowest and air dirty laundry.

I'm always cautious, though, when crap like this comes out 5 years after the fact. Tells me if it happened, there was at least complicity with all involved.

Some of the allegations against Sarver were ancient.

The thing is, once an investigation is started, there are going to be a lot of things uncovered and anyone who had a grudge or grievance against Michael Bidwill is more likely to step forward.

The allegations against women or because of race are particularly troublesome.

As @SunsTzu mentioned earlier, are the sponsors going to stick with him if things get ugly?

 

[daves]

I never understood why Terry McDonough was still with the team. Hell I don't remember seeing that he was fired. I could have swore that the last time I checked he was still listed as part of the staff a few weeks ago.

Maybe this is why he was on the team for so long.

Some time between 17 Apr 2019 and 20 Apr 2020 his title shifted from "Vice President, Player Personnel" to "Senior Personnel Executive". He remained listed as "Senior Personnel Executive" as recently as 17 Jan 2023.

Corresponding to McDonough's title change, Quentin Harris' title changed from "Director, Pro Scouting" to "Director, Player Personnel", and Dru Grigson's title changed from "Director, College Scouting" to "Assistant Director, Player Personnel".

In this article on Harris' and Adrian Wilson's promotions (and others that occurred at the same time), it says, "The team did not mention Terry McDonough in its news release. The Cardinals’ vice president, player personnel for the past six seasons, he now is listed as a 'senior personnel executive' on the team’s website." Sounds like a cushy do-nothing job but who knows, maybe he was continuing to contribute.

In their tweet, the Cardinals said that "as part of our transition in leadership, with both a new general manager and head coach, we opted several weeks ago to inform Terry that his contract with the Cardinals would not be renewed. But he was assured that we would honor the compensation terms for the remaining year-plus of that contract, and that we would also support any endeavor to continue his own career elsewhere."

Even though it's an image with tiny print, the rest of the Cardinals' response is worth reading! I'll scan it to text in a separate post....

 

[Cardsfaninlouky]

If I remember correctly, Sarver used a racial slur? Until it comes out that Bidwill did the same, I really don't see this going very far. It's still not a good look on this organization at all though.

 

[daves]

Full text of the Cardinals' tweet in response to McDonough's accusations:

We are reluctantly obliged to provide a public response along with broader context for some disappointing and irresponsible actions by Terry McDonough. Claims he has made in an arbitration filing are wildly false, reckless, and an opportunistic ploy for financial gain. Here is our view on the matter.

As part of our transition in leadership, with both a new general manager and head coach, we opted several weeks ago to inform Terry that his contract with the Cardinals would not be renewed. But he was assured that we would honor the compensation terms for the remaining year-plus of that contract and that we would also support any endeavor to continue his own career elsewhere.

Our position was consistent with many efforts we've made to accommodate Terry during his time with the team, despite difficulties in his personal life and his often volatile demeanor toward colleagues. That's why we are saddened to see that Terry is now lashing out at our organization with disparagements and threats that are absurdly at odds with the facts. This unnecessary and vindictive action by Terry was intended to malign his co-workers, our owner Michael Bidwill, and our team with outlandish accusations.

We have alerted the League about Terry's maneuvering and provided them with specific details on the distortions that he has put forward. Additionally in recent days we have learned of disturbing allegations of extreme domestic violence by Terry, as detailed below in this response.

Here are some of those particulars about the claims.

Starting at least in 2019, Terry began a practice of surreptitiously audio recording his interactions with colleagues with the apparent and unethical aim of gaining some future leverage over them. He now insists some of his illicit recordings show that we somehow "compromised his marriage" and "lied to America."

● During the time that one of our previous executives was serving a team-imposed suspension for misconduct unrelated to the organization, we took additional measures when learned that another executive had interfered with the protocol of that suspension. That second incident involved obtaining mobile phones for communicating during the suspension period. Mr. Bidwill took swift action when he learned of that situation and directed the phones be retrieved and communications stopped. Terry was not privy to the full sequence of those circumstances but has nevertheless contrived the situation as a broad conspiracy to undermine him personally.

● A passing interaction that Mr. Bidwill had several years ago with a group of free agent players at a tryout has been horrendously distorted in Terry's account to imply some sort of racial animus - a transparent smear that is truly beneath contempt. In reality, our owner had objected to Terry alone about the overly effusive and awkward fashion that Terry had displayed while making those introductions, out of concern it seemed condescending to the players. It must be stressed that our owner's long track record of fostering diversity and racial equity within our team and the League make this allegation especially despicable.

Contrary to Terry's claim, the 2019 employee survey referenced in the complaint was not ignored but in fact formed the basis for significant enhancements to our workplace practices. That included creating a new role for a Chief People Officer along with boosting our Human Resources staff and adding robust employee wellness initiatives.

The bulk of Terry's other stated complaints amount to his entirely subjective view that he was verbally mistreated and professionally thwarted by our team's leadership. But that claim runs contrary to many documented instances, over several years, in which Terry extended unsolicited praise to Mr. Bidwill, in particular for the extensive support and encouragement that Terry had received, especially during trying times in his personal life. Our leadership also repeatedly encouraged and facilitated Terry's wish to continue his career advancement.

Even a team memorandum to Terry that he includes among the few attachments to his filing shows plainly that he was repeatedly insubordinate and combative toward colleagues and leadership. The team still tried at that stage to salvage his role with us, shifting him to assignments that would focus his energies more toward player evaluation and less on collaboration, an area in which Terry had struggled consistently.

That's why it pains us to be forced into a position of exposing the details of Terry's character and we are distressed to know that our faith in him was so misplaced. Terry had well-documented troubles earlier in his life and we had always been sensitive to what seemed a sincere atonement and determination to set a positive example. But in retrospect, there were many signs that are consistent with how he has now crossed a line into such drastic hostility. Here are just some of those aspects.

After we hired Terry, we received a spontaneous overture from a close family member of his, writing that he was "troubled and perplexed" about "recent changes in Terry's behavior" and that Terry had "abandoned responsibility" to one of his children and cut her off financially. He characterized the way Terry "presents his good Dad image" as "all just a ruse" and described the hardship and personal hurt their family was enduring as a result. Nonetheless, we always took Terry at his word about his family situation and his background, even providing support on occasions when he discussed that story publicly or in the press.

We also discovered that he had secretly conveyed private personnel documents, descriptions of private meetings, and other confidential information to selected news media, all with the purpose of aiming criticism at his colleagues to benefit himself. This was all in violation of our guidelines and the mutual trust in our workplace.

• Over time, a troubling pattern emerged in Terry's conduct. His friction with colleagues and willful insubordination would lead to reprimands, then seemingly real contrition from Terry, only to be followed by a repeat offense or renewed outburst of anger. In one such instance, in 2018, Terry reacted with outrage to our owner's benign request to be included in personnel discussions during the general manager's suspension, shouting and physically menacing Mr. Bidwill in full view of many colleagues and players. Hours later Terry apologized, writing "You have been a big advocate and supporter of mine [and] I have a great amount of respect for you. It will not happen again."

Some months later, Terry was reprimanded for prolonged tardiness and disregarding team protocol on workplace attire at our offices during the NFL draft. Again he volunteered a written apology, yet then failed to show up at all for the remaining days of that draft, his most important duties of the year, and gave no explanation for his absence. Instead, he sent a hostile note to our owner saying "Everyone in America is going to find out you are a liar."

Accordingly, our general manager at the time felt that although Terry was a valuable talent evaluator, his role should be focused on that aspect alone and that Terry should work remotely. That's why we shifted his duties to minimize the need for in-person interaction with co-workers which had grown increasingly rancorous. Terry accepted that adjustment with profuse gratitude, even as he meanwhile was underhandedly tape recording his colleagues and secretly instigating criticism of them in the press.

More recently, Terry suggested a private meeting with our owner "to put this chapter in the past [and] all parties can walk away unscathed." Despite that veiled threat, Mr. Bidwill agreed to the meeting. But at the appointed time and place, Terry never showed up and instead sent yet another apology.

There are many such documented instances of Terry's combative behavior in our records, some minor and some major, including threats of violence toward a colleague at a widely-attended Christmas party for co-workers.

For legal due-diligence reasons, we conducted a records review in recent days that has uncovered a series of disturbing emails to and from Terry's work email account that include disturbing, first-hand allegations of extreme domestic abuse by Terry. Clearly, these latest detailed accounts are even more shocking than the previous behavior by Terry in the workplace that we had already documented. As required under our team and NFL guidelines, we promptly alerted the League to these specifics.

● Long before we knew these latest details concerning domestic violence, and throughout his time with the Cardinals, the team took extraordinary measures to support Terry and assist him in navigating his professional and personal challenges. That included encouraging him to seek expert help for the difficult issues that clearly continue to afflict him. Despite these terrible circumstances, we have an ethical duty to confront any claims that wrongly malign the integrity that our whole team has worked so hard to build. Again, his allegations are wildly false, reckless, and plainly intended to extract financial gain.

If an arbitration process results, we will welcome the opportunity to set the record straight in that forum and demonstrate how these claims have absolutely no validity or hard basis.

 

[PDXChris]

Full text of the Cardinals' tweet in response to McDonough's accusations:

Wow! This is one of the most unprofessional responses I've ever read.
McDonough, right or wrong, filed his grievance with the NFL/arbitration, and it was leaked. The Cardinals respond publicly with this, which doesn't deny what McDonough said, just says McDonough misconstrued things or didn't have the full details. But apparently McDonough was a psychotic nightmare and they kept him on the staff and continued to pay him.

Interesting, I would say.

And I'm not saying what the Cardinals is saying is false, we don't know the truth here, but this is a bad look for the Cardinals..

 

[QuebecCard]

Im all for Canada. Toronto would be a great place for the Cardinals.

And cardinals are not a rarity here.

 

[QuebecCard]

Can't, Buffalo owns rights to the Toronto market and Buffalo isn't giving that up.

It does not. Toronto is no more Buffalo's market than Buffalo is a market for the Blue Jays and Raptors.

Anyway, not going to happen, and I'd prefer Montreal as a destination.

 

[Absolute Zero]

Wow! This is one of the most unprofessional responses I've ever read.
McDonough, right or wrong, filed his grievance with the NFL/arbitration, and it was leaked. The Cardinals respond publicly with this, which doesn't deny what McDonough said, just says McDonough misconstrued things or didn't have the full details. But apparently McDonough was a psychotic nightmare and they kept him on the staff and continued to pay him.

Interesting, I would say.

And I'm not saying what the Cardinals is saying is false, we don't know the truth here, but this is a bad look for the Cardinals..

Exactly!

How many employers out there publicly release info on an employees personal, health, and family problems?
This is an HR nightmare and the Cardinals made their legal problems even worse!
Who would ever want to work for them now? If you cross them, they will try to humiliate you by airing your personal information.

Unbelievable!

 

[Chris_Sanders]

The US economy is larger than the total GDP of countries listed presently from #30 to 200.

Fortunately we only use at a force of good for those less fortunate countries