The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team began as the Morgan Athletic Club in 1898 in Chicago, Illinois. The team's second name was the Racine Normals, since it played at Normal Field on Racine Street. In 1901, they were renamed to the Racine Street Cardinals, a name that came from the University of Chicago jerseys that the team used, which were described as "Cardinal red". The team was established in Chicago in 1898 and was a charter member of the NFL in 1920. The team has played their home games at the State Farm Stadium since 2006 and is the oldest franchise in the NFL.[1][2]

The team has moved to numerous cities during its history. After staying in Chicago from 1920 to 1959, it moved to St. Louis, Missouri and remained there from 1960 to 1987. It played in Tempe, Arizona, from 1988 to 2005, before eventually settling in Glendale, Arizona in 2006, where it now resides.[3] Since 1920, two Cardinals coaches have won the NFL Championship: Norman Barry in 1925 and Jimmy Conzelman in 1947. In the Super Bowl era, the Cardinals won the NFC Championship and advanced to the Super Bowl once, in 2009 under coach Ken Whisenhunt.[3] Five other coaches—Don Coryell, Jim Hanifan, Vince Tobin, Bruce Arians, and Kliff Kingsbury—have led the Cardinals to the playoffs.

There have been 43 head coaches for the Cardinals franchise since it became a professional team in 1920; fourteen of the team's coaches are former Cardinals players.[4] Ernie Nevers and Jimmy Conzelman are the only coaches to have had more than one tenure with the team. Pop Ivy and Gene Stallings both coached the team during its move from one city to another. Cardinals coach Roy Andrews is tied for the lowest winning percentage among the team's coaches (.000), having lost the only game he coached in the 1931 season.[5] Co-coach Walt Kiesling lost all ten games he coached in 1943, when the team merged with the Steelers during World War II and was known as Card-Pitt.[6] Co-coaches Ray Willsey, Ray Prochaska, and Chuck Drulis have the highest winning percentage among Cardinals coaches (1.000). The team's all-time leader in games coached is Ken Whisenhunt, who was hired on January 14, 2007,[7] with 96. Whisenhunt was fired on December 31, 2012, after the Cardinals recorded a 5–11 record in 2012.[8] The all-time leader in wins is Bruce Arians with fifty, including one playoff victory.[4]

Key

# Number of coaches[N 1]
GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
T Ties
Win% Winning percentage
00† Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
00‡ Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
00* Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Cardinals
00^ 1961 Season had 3 co-coaches for 2 games

Coaches

Note: The list begins in 1920, when the Cardinals became a professional team. Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2025 NFL season.
# Image Name Term[N 2] Regular season Playoffs Awards Ref.
GC W L T Win% GC W L Win%
Chicago Cardinals
1 Paddy Driscoll ‡ 1920–1922 29 17 8 4 .680 — [9]
2 Arnold Horween* 1923–1924 22 13 8 1 .619 — [10]
3 Norman Barry* 1925–1926 26 16 8 2 .667 — [11]
4 Guy Chamberlin † 1927 11 3 7 1 .300 — [12]
5 Fred Gillies* 1928 6 1 5 0 .167 — [13]
6 Dewey Scanlon 1929 13 6 6 1 .500 — [14]
7 Ernie Nevers ‡ 1930–1931 21 10 9 2 .526 — [15]
8 Roy Andrews 1931 1 0 1 0 .000 — [16]
9 Jack Chevigny* 1932 10 2 6 2 .250 — [17]
10 Paul Schissler 1933–1934 22 6 15 1 .286 — [18]
11 Milan Creighton* 1935–1938 46 16 26 4 .381 — [19]
– Ernie Nevers ‡ 1939 11 1 10 0 .091 — [15]
12 Jimmy Conzelman † 1940–1942 33 8 22 3 .267 — [20]
13 Phil Handler* 1943 10 0 10 0 .000 — [21]
Card-Pitt
– Phil Handler* co-coaches
1944 		10 0 10 0 .000 — [21]
14 Walt Kiesling‡ [6]
Chicago Cardinals
– Phil Handler* 1945 10 1 9 0 .100 — [21]
– Jimmy Conzelman† 1946–1948 35 26 9 0 .743 2 1 1 .500 1947 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year[22] [20]
15 Buddy Parker 1949 12 6 5 1 .545 — [23]
16 Curly Lambeau † 1950–1951 22 7 15 0 .318 — [24]
17 Cecil Isbell 1951 2 1 1 0 .500 — [25]
18 Joe Kuharich 1952 12 4 8 0 .333 — [26]
19 Joe Stydahar 1953–1954 24 3 20 1 .130 — [27]
20 Ray Richards* 1955–1957 36 14 21 1 .400 — [28]
Chicago Cardinals and St. Louis Cardinals
21 Pop Ivy 1958–1961 48 15 31 2 .326 — [29]
St. Louis Cardinals
22 Ray Willsey* ^ 3
co-coaches
1961 ^ 		2 2 0 0 1.000 – [30]
23 Ray Prochaska* ^ [31]
24 Chuck Drulis* ^ [32]
25 Wally Lemm 1962–1965 56 27 26 3 .509 — [33]
26 Charley Winner 1966–1970 70 35 30 5 .538 — [34]
27 Bob Hollway* 1971–1972 28 8 18 2 .308 — [35]
28 Don Coryell † 1973–1977 70 42 27 1 .609 2 0 2 .000 1974 Associated Press Coach of the Year[36]
1974 Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year[37] 		[38]
29 Bud Wilkinson* 1978–1979 29 9 20 0 .310 — [39]
30 Larry Wilson* ‡ 1979 3 2 1 0 .667 — [40]
31 Jim Hanifan 1980–1985 89 39 49 1 .443 1 0 1 .000 [41]
St. Louis Cardinals and Phoenix Cardinals
32 Gene Stallings* 1986–1989 58 23 34 1 .404 — [42]
Phoenix Cardinals
33 Hank Kuhlmann* 1989 5 0 5 0 .000 — [43]
34 Joe Bugel 1990–1993 64 20 44 0 .313 — [44]
Arizona Cardinals
35 Buddy Ryan 1994–1995 32 12 20 0 .375 — [45]
36 Vince Tobin* 1996–2000 71 28 43 0 .394 2 1 1 .500 [46]
37 Dave McGinnis* 2000–2003 57 17 40 0 .298 — [47]
38 Dennis Green 2004–2006 48 16 32 0 .333 — [48]
39 Ken Whisenhunt 2007–2012 96 45 51 0 .469 6 4 2 .667 [49]
40 Bruce Arians 2013–2017 80 49 30 1 .619 3 1 2 .333 [50]
41 Steve Wilks 2018 16 3 13 0 .188 — [51]
42 Kliff Kingsbury* 2019–2022 66 28 37 1 .432 1 0 1 .000 [52]
43 Jonathan Gannon* 2023–2025 51 15 36 0 .294 — [53]
44 Mike LaFleur* 2026–present 0 0 0 0 .000 — [54]

Notes

  1. A running total of the number of Cardinals head coaches. Thus, any head coach who has two or more terms is only counted once.
  2. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NFL season.

References

  1. "Stadium History". UniversityofPhoenixStadium.com. Global Spectrum. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008.
  2. "Arizona Cardinals". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 12, 2008.
  3. "Arizona Cardinals". CBS Sports. Archived from the original on November 18, 2008.
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  8. Rapoport, Ian (December 31, 2012). "Cardinals fire Ken Whisenhunt, GM Rod Graves". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises LLC. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013.
  9. "Paddy Driscoll". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008.
  10. "Arnie Horween". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008.
  11. "Norm Barry". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
  12. "Guy Chamberlin". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008.
  13. "Fred Gillies". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 7, 2008.
  14. "Dewey Scanlon". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 21, 2008.
  15. "Ernie Nevers". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008.
  16. "Roy Andrews". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
  17. "Jack Chevigny". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008.
  18. "Paul Schissler". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 31, 2008.
  19. "Milan Creighton". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008.
  20. "Jimmy Conzelman". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008.
  21. "Phil Handler". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008.
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  25. "Cecil Isbell". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008.
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  27. "Joe Stydahar". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008.
  28. "Ray Richards". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 3, 2008.
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  30. "Ray Willsey". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
  31. "Ray Prochaska". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008.
  32. "Chuck Drulis". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008.
  33. "Wally Lemm". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008.
  34. "Charley Winner". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
  35. "Bob Hollway". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 10, 2008.
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  37. "Awards". Pro Football Weekly. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008.
  38. "Don Coryell". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 8, 2008.
  39. "Bud Wilkinson". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
  40. "Larry Wilson". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on January 21, 2009.
  41. "Jim Hanifan". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008.
  42. "Gene Stallings". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 10, 2008.
  43. "Hank Kuhlmann". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008.
  44. "Joe Bugel". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 8, 2008.
  45. "Buddy Ryan". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008.
  46. "Vince Tobin". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on June 22, 2008.
  47. "Dave McGinnis". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008.
  48. "Dennis Green". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008.
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  51. "Steve Wilks Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018.
  52. "Kliff Kingsbury Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023.
  53. "Jonathan Gannon Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC.
  54. "Mike LaFleur Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC.