PHOENIX -- The Arizona Cardinals have had seven coaches in the past 19 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers two in the last 37.
Maybe Ken Whisenhunt can bring some of that Pittsburgh stability and Steeler success to the desert.
The Cardinals hired the 44-year-old Steelers offensive coordinator on Sunday to replace Dennis Green, who was fired after going 16-32 in three seasons.
Whisenhunt signed a four-year contract with a team option for a fifth, and is to be introduced at a news conference on Tuesday.
"In the end, we felt that Ken was the best fit for this organization," said Rod Graves, Cardinals vice president for football operations, "and we felt that because of the leadership that he portrayed. He presented a well-organized and thorough plan moving forward. We liked it."
Whisenhunt becomes the Cardinals' eighth coach since the franchise moved to Arizona in 1988. He was one of eight candidates interviewed for the job, but one of only two who got a second interview. The other was former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman.
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| Ken Whisenhunt inherits a talented young quarterback to shape -- Matt Leinart. (AP) |
After his first interview, Whisenhunt said he would use the Steelers as a model wherever he wound up.
"I think what we've done in Pittsburgh, just speaking from an offensive standpoint, is we tried to put players in the best situation to be successful instead of trying to make them fit our scheme," he said. "You've got some guys that play hard and have some talent and you just try to identify some of the things that they do and put them in position to be successful."
Whisenhunt's second interview with Arizona began Friday and stretched into Saturday.
"It became apparent to us, particularly when we got into the second phase of our interview process, that Ken began to separate himself from the other candidates," Graves said.
The new coach inherits plenty of young talent, including quarterback Matt Leinart and a pair of the top receivers in the NFL, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. However, he also joins a franchise with a legacy of losing unprecedented in this era of NFL parity.
The Cardinals have had one winning season -- and one playoff appearance -- since 1984. They have one playoff victory since winning the NFL championship in 1947.
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