Roots of Cardinals Coaching Staff Have Steel Feel

(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The term “coaching tree” has become as common in NFL dialect as “first down” or “off sides.”

Think about it. Just about every week we get another mentor-protege match-up, and we get to listen to a commentator give us insightful commentary like, “Coach X learned under Coach Y. They used to eat donuts together every morning.”

Sometimes I wonder if Coach Y knew that he was supposed to separate whites from darks when he did the laundry before he met Coach X.

All joking aside, where there’s smoke there’s usually fire. Coaching trees really are very prominent in football. There are many reasons for this, but the most basic one is that there are so many members of a football team’s coaching staff as compared to other sports. That means there are more opportunities for promotion in football, and more opportunities for a group of coaches to be bonded by the principals they learned from previous jobs.

The Cardinal’s coaching staff falls under the tree of Bill Cowher (who himself belongs to the Marty Schottenheimer tree). The three key decision makers on the Cardinals coaching staff (Ken Whisenhunt, Russ Grimm and Bill Davis) worked under Cowher for multiple seasons during his 15-year reign as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.   

Although both Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt and (deep breath) Assistant Head Coach/Running Game Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Russ Grimm have claimed to be disciples of former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, each spent six seasons as assistants under Cowher. Defensive Coordinator Bill Davis began his coaching career in Pittsburgh, working there for three years. In addition, Passing Game Coordinator Mike Miller (Five seasons), Linebackers Coach Matt Raich (Three seasons) and Special Teams Coach Kevin Spencer (Five seasons) also worked in one capacity or another in Pittsburgh during Cowher’s tenure.

Though Ken Whisenhunt has quickly turned heads during his two-year run as the Cardinals head coach, he was hardly a household name when he got the job. Some are surprised he has been able to find a way to instill a disciplined, winning attitude in a place where so many seemingly more-accomplished coaching predecessors have failed. That seems fitting, given the way his football career started. He was a walk-on at Georgia Tech. He was a surprise there too. By the time he was done playing tight end for the Yellow Jackets, he ranked second in school history in receiving yards and fourth in career receptions. He also garnered All-ACC honors during his senior year and was an honorable mention All-America selection.

He carved out a respectable nine-year career in the NFL (including a two-year stint with the Redskins, where he was a teammate of Russ Grimm), retiring after the 1993 season.

Whisenhunt has stressed his desire for a tough, disciplined team since he became the Cardinals head honcho. The coach himself has had to be tough and disciplined to rise through the ranks of coaching in his post-playing career. He began coaching in 1995 at Vanderbilt University, a school that was in the midst of a 26-year stretch of posting losing records (a streak which just ended last year). Whisenhunt coached special teams, tight ends and H-backs for the Commodores for two seasons.

Whisenhunt’s NFL coaching career began in Baltimore in 1997, where he coached tight ends for two seasons. He had one-year stops in Cleveland

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