Hat tip to JoeCB1991 for catching this first
Before the 2010 free agency gets kicked off on March 5th, Michael Bidwell and the rest of the Arizona Cardinals brass wanted to get a few contracts taken care of, with one of them belonging to head Coach Ken Whisenhunt.
Since moving to Arizona in 1988 the Cardinals have had 8 head coaches (including Whisenhunt) and none of them had served a second contract with the team, until Thursday. On Thursday afternoon, it was announced that Cardinal's head coach Ken Whisenhunt had agreed to a new four year deal (with the fourth being a team option). According to Kent Somers at azcentral.com, it is believed that the contract will pay an average of 5.5 to 6 million a year. If true, that would make him one of the highest paid coaches in the NFL, after surprisingly being one of the lowest paid head coaches the last couple seasons.
Whisenhunt has had a very successful career in his three years with the Cardinals, sporting a 31-23 record over that time period. In two of the three seasons Whiz, as Arizonan's like to call him, lead the team to two division titles and to their first ever Super Bowl appearence - not bad for a first time head coach.
The Whisenhunt signing wasn't the only deal the Cardinals completed on Thursday. They also extended GM Rod Graves through the 2013 season, but terms are unknown right now.
That makes three key signings this offseason for the Cardinals as they also re-signed strength and conditioning coach John Lott just a few weeks ago.
With these signings, the team is looking to be in better condition once free agency starts on March 5th. It shows that the team is committed to doing what is necessary to building a winning team and should make free agents believe the Cardinals have definitely changed the culture here in Arizona. What have you thought of the Cardinals offseason so far? Are you surprised that they were able to get these contracts done?