The Cardinals Were Patient With Jonathan Gannon - And it Paid Off
The Arizona Cardinals have landed their new head coach in Philadelphia Eagles Jonathan Gannon.
The Cardinals were the very last team to hire a head coach this cycle, following in the footsteps of the Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos.
For Arizona, it was nothing short of a roller coaster hunt that first began on the famous "Black Monday" where coaches are canned the day after the final week of the regular season.
Kliff Kingsbury was the lone coach to actually be fired on that day, somewhat putting the Cardinals behind in the curve in terms of preparing for their coaching search.
Owner Michael Bidwill - still needing to replace GM Steve Keim - insisted a general manager was in place before a head coach was found, too.
Jan. 16 was when Monti Ossenfort was hired as Arizona's general manager, and two days removed from a full month, Gannon is reportedly the guy for the Cardinals moving forward.
Gannon and fellow Eagles coordinator were hot names for nearly every team throughout the process, yet with Ossenfort's timing the Cardinals were unable to interview Gannon until after his season was complete.
Two days after Philadelphia's loss in Super Bowl LVII, Gannon had completed two interviews and beat out other finalists that included Cincinnati Bengals DC Lou Anarumo and New York Giants OC Mike Kafka.
Gannon also met with the Houston Texans before they hired DeMeco Ryans.
It's not as if the Cardinals didn't entertain other candidates. They targeted names such as Frank Reich, Dan Quinn and Sean Payton among others earlier in the process. Brian Flores was once considered a front runner for the job before he declined a second interview with the team.
Yet Gannon was one of the top targets all along for Arizona.
"Jonathan Gannon was quietly a front-runner for the job from the minute Monti Ossenfort landed the GM spot," said Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. "The two got to know each other over the last year, and Ossenfort sees Gannon as having the 'it' factor necessary in a head coach."
NFL Media's Ian Rapoport says the Cardinals weren't going to make a decision before speaking with Gannon.
It's been a fairly long process (36 days but who's counting) for the Cardinals and their search, which finally comes to an end today.
Arizona got their guy, the one they seemingly coveted all along.
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