This is a fun exercise. Previously I said that I would like the Cardinals to hire Jim Harbaugh, and though I still think that could be interesting, I must admit that my thoughts primarily were because of what he did at Stanford and with the Niners, and obviously that is a long time ago. Also, I think he goes to Chicago or Indianapolis if he leaves Michigan.
So here are some other options I would like the Cardinals to at least think about.
David Shaw, Stanford
More or less every team looking for a head coach this offseason will have Shaw at the top of that list.
Since 2011 he has been a fantastic head coach at Stanford University, and the last couple of years he has turned down NFL team several times. He and his wife love their life at Palo Alto, and obviously Shaw doesn’t have that bad of a contract either. I don’t know if it would even be possible for the Cardinals to convince Shaw to move to Arizona, but I guess it might be an advantage over some of the other teams that the distance between Palo Alto and Glendale is not that big.
Through seven years as a head coach he is 73-20 with Stanford, he has lead them to six straight bowl games (and won four of them) and has won three Pac-12 titles. He is the most successful head coach in Stanford history, and he has recently been named Pac-12 coach of the year. He has spent nine years as an assistant with the Eagles, the Raiders and the Ravens.
Shaw is an offensive coach. His playcalling has consistently been called into question by fans because he is extremely dedicated to running the ball. That also means he always put a lot of stock into the offensive line, and additionally it means that his quarterbacks are usually pretty successful. In regard to the Cardinals I think it would be ideal to get a head coach who would shape the team around David Johnson and let a new and potentially very young quarterback lean on the running game, and we all know how Steve Keim values offensive line-play.
Matt Patricia, New England
Matt Patricia has been with the Patriots since 2004, and since 2009 he has been their defensive playcaller. I guess it is a very long time since Bill Belichick called plays himself, but he has obviously proven to be a very good leader and head coach. In some ways, Patricia has taken the same path as Belichick as both have coached various units on both the defensive and offensive side. Also, both are sort of charismatic characters who supposedly are held in high regard by their players. By the way, Patricia actually is a rocket scientist, so he certainly has the intelligence to control a football team.
He has done a great job with the New England defense for years, but the last two season has, in my opinion, really cemented his status as a very good coach and football mind. Before both season his unit has lost a lot of their best players (including Chandler Jones) but after some early-season corrections they have still managed to be well above average. Obviously, they are playing to let their offense be the teams decisive factor (if that makes any sense) but I think that is a strategic art as well as other ways of building a team.
I’ll admit that the Bill Belichick coaching tree is very underwhelming but after studying Patricia a bit I think he might the exception (maybe you could argue that it is together with Bill O’Brien).
Dave Toub, Kansas City
Dave Toub is hands down the best special teams coordinator in the NFL and maybe even one of the best of all time. It has been that way at least since he became the special teams coordinator with the Bears in 2004.
Toub is from the Andy Reid coaching tree which, to my knowledge, currently is the most successful in the NFL. Right now, Jim Harbaugh with the Ravens is the only NFL head coach who came directly from a position as a special teams coordinator which he held in Philadelphia under head coach Andy Reid. Dave Toub was an assistant to Harbaugh at that time.
As you all know, new head coaches are very often promoted from being either a defensive or offensive coordinator. That means that they know and probably favors one side of the ball more than the other, and I have read somewhere how that can sometimes lead to the head coach, unconsciously, having a better rapport with players from that unit. Special teams coaches are forced to work with all players from both sides of the ball, and I believe that is a huge strength for a first time head coach.
James Franklin, Penn State
This is kind of a dark horse, and it might not even be that realistic, especially since Franklin received a new contract with Penn State only some months ago. As far as I can tell though, he mainly got that contract extension to keep Texas A&M from pursuing him. Also, the new contract contains a buyout clause only for 2017 which might indicate that leaving is a possibility for him.
Franklin took over from Bill O’Brien at Penn State when O’Brien left for the Houston Texans in 2014, and there is no doubt that he took over a program that still suffered after the Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky scandal. That is a highly admirable task to willingly take on, in my opinion. On top of that, when he took the job the school was still very affected by NCAA sanctions and scholarship reductions.
I 2011 Franklin became the head coach of Vanderbilt University. They had been a laughing stock in the SEC for years, and in the two previous season they were a combined 4-20. Under Franklin, however, they finished in the top 25 in two out of three years (they haven’t been ranked in the top 25 since 1948), and they went to bowl games in all three seasons.
At Penn State the start was tough but last season they ended 11-3 and was #7 in the final rankings. This year they are 10-2 so far and are ranked as #9.
There have been some rumors that Franklin might not be the best tactician or playcaller but he is a highly respected leader who manage to hand out responsibility to his assistant coaches. It should also be noted that Franklin has studied under both Jimmy Johnson and Andy Reid.
He supposedly has a huge personality which both Steve Keim and Mr. Bidwill obviously likes.
