Ken Whisenhunt

It also allowed the Cardinals to play in only their second home playoff game in franchise history, and their first since winning the NFL championship in 1947, while the team was still in Chicago (they never played a home playoff game in St. Louis despite winning two division titles there).

Kenneth Moore Whisenhunt (born February 28, 1962) is an American football coach and former tight end who is currently a special assistant to the head coach for Alabama.

After attending the Academy of Richmond County in Augusta, Georgia for high school, Whisenhunt played college football at Georgia Tech (1980–84) where he graduated with a degree in civil engineering.

During his senior season, he was an honorable mention All-American.

He finished first-team all-ACC during his final two college seasons.

He played college football at Georgia Tech and was drafted in the twelfth round of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons, with whom he played for four years.

He subsequently played two more years with the Washington Redskins and another two with the New York Jets.

His career as a player included four years (1985–88) as a tight end with the Atlanta Falcons, who drafted him in the twelfth round of the 1985 NFL Draft.

He had short stints of two seasons each with the Washington Redskins and New York Jets.

From 1986–1988 with Atlanta, he accumulated 53 catches for 503 yards with five touchdowns.

He retired from the league in 1993 after nine seasons in which he was mostly known as a blocking back.

Beginning his coaching career in 1995, he was head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2007 to 2012 and Tennessee Titans from 2014 to 2015.

Whisenhunt began his coaching career at Vanderbilt University, where he coached special teams, tight ends and running backs for the Commodores from 1995 to 1996.

In 1997, he returned to the National Football League as the tight ends coach for the Baltimore Ravens.

It was their first non-losing season since 1998, though they still failed to make the playoffs.

Whisenhunt was a transient in his early years in the league, moving to the staff of the Cleveland Browns in 1999 and to the New York Jets the following season.

In 2001, Whisenhunt was hired by the Steelers to coach their tight ends.

He was able to develop players such as Mark Bruener and Jay Riemersma, both considered past their prime, into excellent tight ends.

He also oversaw the early development of tight end Heath Miller, who has been a successful tight end in the league.

Whisenhunt took over the role of offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh for the 2004 season after Mike Mularkey became the head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

Although his predecessor Mularkey was known for creating flashy trick plays, Whisenhunt showed great success as more of a cautious innovator, whose well-timed trick plays contrasted the conservative Steelers run game.

One of Whisenhunt's most famous moments as a Steeler is the trick play he called in Super Bowl XL.

With Pittsburgh leading 14–10 over the Seattle Seahawks, Whisenhunt called a wide receiver reverse pass (Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward, the only TD pass thrown by a WR in Super Bowl history) that allowed Pittsburgh to extend the lead over the Seahawks.

He enjoyed success he had with the Pittsburgh Steelers in his three years as their offensive coordinator under Bill Cowher and winning Super Bowl XL over the Seattle Seahawks during the 2005 season.

He was previously interviewed to be the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in February 2006, but he pulled out of talks before an offer could be made.

The Cardinals showed improvement in Whisenhunt's first season, finishing 8–8 after finishing 5–11 the previous two seasons and losing 10 or more games in seven of the previous eight campaigns.

On January 14, 2007, the Arizona Cardinals hired Whisenhunt as their new head coach, with a contract to receive an average of $2.5 million annually.

Whisenhunt had also interviewed for the head coaching position with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, and Miami Dolphins.

In previous seasons, Warner had split time with the team's younger quarterback Matt Leinart, although Warner started the final 11 games of the 2007 season after Leinart suffered a season-ending injury.

He led the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history during the 2008 season, as well as their first home playoff games in 60 years.

However, following the retirement of Kurt Warner, Whisenhunt posted three straight non-winning seasons and was fired by the Cardinals.

He was fired by the Titans after compiling a record of 3–20 through 1 1⁄2 years.

Overall, Whisenhunt posted a record of 48–71 as head coach, including a 4–31 record in his last 35 games as a head coach.

Whisenhunt was 4–2 in the playoffs, but missed them in five of his seven seasons as coach.

Prior to and after his tenures as head coach of the Cardinals and Titans, Whisenhunt served as an offensive coordinator to various NFL teams.

Going into his second season in 2008, Whisenhunt made the decision to go with veteran quarterback Kurt Warner as his starter.

This decision paid off as Warner put up great numbers in leading the Cardinals to a 9–7 regular season record in the 2008 season and the NFC West Division championship, the Cardinals' first division title since 1975, when the team played in St. Louis, and the club's first playoff berth since 1998.

After defeating the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers in the first two rounds of the NFC playoffs, the Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game on January 18, 2009, and advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history to face his former employer, the Steelers.

Whisenhunt's Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23.

Most recently, Whisenhunt served as the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers for four seasons before being fired on October 28, 2019.