Ken Whisenhunt

“''He’s done a very, very good job. Our record of improvement speaks for itself. I joke about it a little bit, but we found a new way to win a football game when we blocked a kick against Dallas and recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown in overtime. You know, that’s how we used to lose games, and we’re not losing those games anymore''.”

- Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill on Whisenhunt's ability to coach all sides of the ball during the 2008 season

Ken Whisenhunt was an NFL player and is currently an NFL coach. Whisenhunt was offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers for Super Bowl XL and was head coach for the Arizona Cardinals for Super Bowl XLIII in which the Cardinals lost to the Steelers. After a 10-5 record in 2012 Whisenhunt was fired and currently is head coach for the Tennessee Titans.

Playing Career
Ken Whisenhunt grew up in Augusta, Georgia where he attended the Academy of Richmond County and later Georgia Tech. Ken graduated from Georgia Tech with civil engineering and was drafted in the final round of the NFL Draft as a tight end for the Atlanta Falcons in 1988. In the next few years he played for the Falcons as well as the Redskins and the Jets before retiring after the 1992 season. Whisenhunt had a very unexciting career as mainly a blocking tight end having only 5 touchdowns in his 8 year NFL career.

Early Coaching career
In 1995 Whisenhunt was recruited to the Vanderbilt Commodores as a special teams/tight end/half-back coach until 1997 when became a tight end coach for the Baltimore Ravens. After short stints with the Browns and his former team the Jets Ken coached the tight ends of the Pittsburgh Steelers for three seasons. In 2004 he was promoted to offensive coordinator, during this time he led the Steelers offense to win Super Bowl XL against the Seattle Seahawks.

Cardinals
In 2007 the Arizona Cardinals fired coach Dennis Green and hired Whisenhunt to be the new head coach. There was a lot of talent in Arizona to work with including wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald as well as quarterback Kurt Warner who had been cut from the New York Giants a season before. The Cardinals went 8-8 in the '07 season (Their best record in 9 years). In 2008 the Cardinals stunned the world as they got to the playoffs at 9-7 over the pitiful NFC West and then marched through the playoffs all the way to the Super Bowl. Ken Whisenhunt faced his former team the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII and fought hard. However the Cardinals would lose in the final minute as Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisbergur connected with Santonio Holmes for a touchdown with 35 seconds left in the game. The Cardinals would lose but would back in action the next season going 10-6. The Cardinals would win the highest scoring game in the Wildcard round as the defense stripped Aaron Rodgers of the football and getting touchdown winning 51-45. In the divisional round the New Orleans Saints would place a bounty on Warner for whoever could injure him. The Saints injured Warner and the Cardinals lost 52-14 as with Matt Leinart at the helm. Warner retired after that and Anquan Boldin left soon after, Whisenhunt did his best to coach the struggling team in 2010 in which many blamed the 5-11 record on Whisenhunt. When quarterback Kevin Kolb was recruited in 2011Whisenhunt had a chance to bring the Super Bowl magic back however Kolb struggled with injuries and early inefficiency and when Kolb was placed on Injured Reserved the back-ups wrecked their 4-1 season and after an 8-8 season in 2011 and a 5-11 season in '12 it was finally time to fire Whisenhunt and replace him with Bruce Arians.

Recent years
In 2013 Ken was hired as the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chagers in which he led them to an upset win in the Wildcard Round against the Cincinnati Bengals before losing to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round. In 2014 Whisenhunt was recruited to the Tennessee Titans, they went 2-14 that season.