The eye-opening success by the Arizona Cardinals in their season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday once again shines a negative light on the rancid history of head coaches since the franchise was born in 1920.
Yes, it’s a plus for Mike LaFleur to be the organization’s first non-interim head coach since 1973 to come out a winner in his first game.
However, wrap your arms around that year when Don Coryell was an out-of-the-box hire by then-owner Bill Bidwill. It was 53 years ago.
Prior to Coryell, the franchise had 25 head coaches from 1920 through 1972 and only six times (1966, 1962, 1959, 1935, 1929 and 1921) did a first-year man win the season opener.
Meanwhile, when Coryell was jettisoned following the 1977 season, his Cardinals
teams had won 42 games, which was the most ever in the club’s history.
It took 35 seasons for Ken Whisenhunt to surpass that in 2012 with 49, and after another five when Bruce Arians reached 50. Both of those totals include playoff games. Arians’ teams won 49 regular-season games while Whisenhunt’s total was 45.
That is your top three!
Overall, the Cardinals have had 11 head coaches in their 106-season history win as many as 20 games and LaFleur is the 14th head coach in 49 seasons since 1978.
Only time will tell if LaFleur can have lasting success and work his way into that group or become yet another casualty when ownership decides it’s time to go in yet “another direction.”
Following is the opening-game results for the 15 head coaches from Coryell to LaFleur:
Year, coach, date, opponent, score, overall record that season
- 1973, Don Coryell: Sept. 16 at Philadelphia, 34-23, 4-9-1
- 1978, Bud Wilkinson: Sept. 3 at Chicago, 10-17, 6-10
- 1980, Jim Hanifan: Sept. 7, N.Y. Giants, 35-41, 5-11
- 1986, Gene Stallings: Sept 7, L.A. Rams, 10-16, 4-11-1
- 1990, Joe Bugel: Sept. 9, at Washington, 0-31, 5-11
- 1994, Buddy Ryan: Sept. 4, at L.A. Rams, 12-14, 8-8
- 1996, Vince Tobin: Sept. 1, at Indianapolis, 13-20, 7-9
- 2001, Dave McGinnis: Sept. 23, Denver, 17-38, 7-9. McGinnis also lost his debut game to New Orleans the season before after becoming the interim coach when Tobin was fired after seven games.
- 2004, Dennis Green: Sept. 12, at St. Louis, 10-17, 6-10
- 2007, Ken Whisenhunt: Sept. 10, at San Francisco, 17-20, 8-8
- 2013, Bruce Arians: Sept. 8, at St. Louis, 24-27, 10-6
- 2018, Steve Wilks: Sept. 9, Washington, 6-24, 3-13
- 2019, Kliff Kingsbury: Sept. 8, Detroit, 27-27, 5-10-1
- 2023, Jonathan Gannon: Sept. 10, at Washington, 16-20, 4-13
- 2026, Mike LaFleur: Sept. 13, at L.A. Chargers, 26-14, ???
Finally, here is the listing of the 11 coaches in franchise history who have won a minimum of 20 games. Those in bold had overall winning records.
- 50 (49 regular season): Bruce Arians, 2013-17, overall 50-31-1
- 49 (45 regular season): Ken Whisenhunt, 2007-12, overall 49-53
- 42: Don Coryell, 1973-77, overall 42-29-1
- 39: Jim Hanifan, 1980-85, overall 39-50-1
- 35 (34 regular season): Jimmy Conzelman, 1940-42, 1946-48, overall 35-32-3
- 35: Charley Winner: 1966-70, overall 35-30-5
- 29: Vince Tobin: 1996-2000, overall 29-44
- 28: Kliff Kingsbury: 2019-22, overall 28-38-1
- 27: Wally Lemm, 1962-65, overall 27-26-3
- 23, Gene Stallings, 1986-89, overall 23-34-1 (fired after 11 games)
- 20, Joe Bugel: 1990-93, overall 20-44
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Mike LaFleur milestone victory highlights Cardinals' history of head coaching changes
