We looked the Sporting News rankings for offensive and defensive players but today we'll look at where Arizona Cardinals head coach, Ken Whisenhunt ranks amongst his peers. The SN also ranks the coordinators (although they skimmed over the co-coordinator roles of Russ Grimm and Mike Miller) so we'll look and see where they rank as well. It's worth mentioning that despite Whisenhunt's short tenure as head coach, two seasons, he's already one of the most successful coaches in franchise history. With so many accomplished head coaches around the NFL though, how high could Whisenhunt be in such a ranking?
- #7 - Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals. The desert has been a burial ground for good coaches, but Whisenhunt has conquered all the negatives and put the Pittsburgh stamp on the former laughingstock of the league.
- #12 - Russ Grimm, Cardinals. With Grimm replacing Todd Haley, the Cardinals will get a heavier dose of the running game -- a goal of coach Ken Whisenhunt since he first arrived two years ago. Still, the team's high-powered passing attack will remain the dominant feature. Expect to see more no-huddle attacks and shotgun formations, too.
While I l realize these rankings are just the work of a group of guys and not a consensus voting process of NFL GM's or front office executives, it's still encouraging to see the Cardinals getting respect on multiple fronts. I do wonder where Whisenhunt would have ranked had the Cardinals not made a magical playoff run considering that most of the list seems to based a great deal on recent accomplishment instead of a complete body of work. It's also strange to see Grimm listed in the upper half of the league's offensive coordinators considering that he's never been an offensive coordinator, but he is a very well respected position coach. Thoughts?