Hi Mike, 

By now, you’ve probably asked yourself the same question as the three Cardinal head coaches fired in the last eight years. “How did I get here?” It’s OK; one day you’ll look back on this dumpster fire as part of your head-coaching journey. I haven’t given up on you; it’s far too soon, but the problem is you have an owner with a track record of losing. Essentially y0ur building a sandcastle at high tide. Years and years of bad ownership tend to send a franchise to the ditch. Google “Robert Sarver” or “Arizona Coyotes owners” for more context on the mess you find yourself in here in Arizona.  I wish I could say that Wilks, Kingsbury, and Gannon were a successful Arizona law firm (we have enough billboards and commercials for accident attorneys). But they blazed the trail you are now on, with 46 wins and 85 losses over the last six seasons. A beyond stupendously bad record. So, here you are trying to turn around the Titanic. 

After a while, you’ll realize every game in Glendale is just another road game. You’ll be asked the standard questions as those before you. It will get uncomfortable(at least it should) because you’ll be asked about the same topics over and over and over. Our media likes to ask about the lack of a home crowd, whether you’ll change quarterbacks, and what it will take to turn it all around. Pretty simple each and every week. Sure, there will be the usual injury stuff and how great Tery McBride is, but for the most part they just want a sound-bite, get out to the camera or mic, and say, “What a tough game for the Cardinals today.” The morning TV shows will use words/phrases like “we, us, hopefully, tough one, turned around soon”.  They will sit in the company seats or suite at your “home” game and take selfies. Cotton candy. You can’t control that, but you won’t be run out of town like other NFL markets because this fan base dislikes the owner so much.

Ah yes, the owner. 

The owner will NEVER say he was wrong about anything, so you’ll take all the heat. If you stumble into a victory, he’ll make sure he’s in the game-ball presentation video for all to see. You might even get lucky during your time here and land an “All or Nothing” Amazon Prime special like we were “treated to” in 2016. Trust me, it’s “Nothing”. 

All of us will hear repeatedly, because it’s the NFL way, that once the new facility is built, all will change. Of course, many of us remember hearing the same line when the stadium was approved in Glendale. To save you the time of looking it up, the team has an overall record of 150-195-2 ties. HOWEVER, 81-80-2 and 4-0 in home playoff games. So, yes, there is a glimmer of hope for you. 

I’m sure you have had some people in your circle point out that our hometown heroes on the gridiron have, um, er, struggled.. But I get it. If you want to be a successful head football coach in the NFL, you have to take the leap and start somewhere. The prime jobs with great ownership and management don’t open often, so here you are, trying to prove yourself like Wilks, Kingsbury, and Gannon. It might be good for you to pick Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillinghmas brain for our market. He walked into the same incompetence from the President’s office. Might be good to chat with him. 

Anyway, while I don’t root for wins or losses, I hope you’ll keep pushing the rock uphill and find a summit. Turning my attention to the 2027 NFL Draft in mid-October is never fun. Unfortunately, I’ve had to do that over and over and over and over and over for the past 33 years. 

One last thing: when you win, I call the team “My Cardinals”; when you lose, they are “Your Cardinals.”  In 2004, on the day Denny Green was hired as coach, the owner came up and asked, “Well, Brad, are they ‘your’ Cardinals today?” I just smiled and said, “Michael, you have to have a little bit of fun with this because the franchise has been so bad, the fans need a chuckle”. 22 years later, nothing has changed.

Keep your head up…

The post Open letter to Mike LaFleur… first appeared on Sports360AZ.



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