The Cardinals interviewed multiple former NFL head coaches during their 2019 coaching search, including the man they will be facing this week – the Jets' Adam Gase.
Instead of staying with convention, owner Michael Bidwill and GM Steve Keim made an out-of-the-box hire in Kliff Kingsbury, who didn't have any NFL coaching experience and was 35-40 in his Texas Tech stint.
The Cardinals have lost two straight heading into Week 5, which has taken some wind out of their sails, but the overall body of work under Kingsbury has been encouraging. The Cardinals improved their point-differential by 119 points from 2018 to 2019, the most among any team with a first-year coach, and have a positive point-differential through four games in 2020.
Kingsbury said Wednesday he wasn't surprised that both the Cardinals and the Jets wanted to interview him for their vacant spots last year, based on his collegiate offensive production and ability to develop a young quarterback.
Publicly, there was a healthy amount of skepticism, but the Cardinals' unconventional hire has proven promising after the first 20 games of Kingsbury's tenure.
| 2019 Coaching Hires | Record Before Arrival | Year 1 | Year 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt LaFleur, Packers | 6-9-1 (-24 point differential) | 13-3 (+63) | 4-0 (+51) |
| Bruce Arians, Buccaneers | 5-11 (-68) | 7-9 (+9) | 3-1 (+28) |
| Kliff Kingsbury, Cardinals | 3-13 (-200) | 5-10-1 (-81) | 2-2 (+6) |
| Vic Fangio, Broncos | 6-10 (-20) | 7-9 (-34) | 1-3 (-16) |
| Adam Gase, Jets | 4-12 (-108) | 7-9 (-83) | 0-4 (-66) |
| Brian Flores, Dolphins | 7-9 (-114) | 5-11 (-188) | 1-3 (-3) |
| Zac Taylor, Bengals | 6-10 (-87) | 2-14 (-141) | 1-2-1 (0) |
| Freddie Kitchens, Browns | 7-8-1 (-33) | 6-10 (-58) | N/A |
