Ken Whisenhunt has been hired by the Tennessee Titans as their next head coach, according to multiple reports.
Whisenhunt spent the season with the San Diego Chargers and became a hot head coaching candidate after helping Philip Rivers and the San Diego offense turn things around. Tennessee was in the market for a new coach after firing Mike Munchak following a 7-9 season.
Whisenhunt gained recognition as an assistant coach on the Pittsburgh Steelers staff from 2001-2006. He was the team’s offensive coordinator from 2004-2006, but he left to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2007 after being passed over for the Steelers’ head coaching job (Mike Tomlin was hired instead). The Steelers and Cardinals both looked justified in their hires when Pittsburgh and Arizona met in the Super Bowl two seasons later.
Whisenhunt went 45-51 in six seasons as head coach of the Cardinals. He was extremely successful when he had a good quarterback — Kurt Warner — and he won more games than he probably should have when he had bad ones (e.g. John Skelton and Kevin Kolb). He’s a good coach and this is a good hire for Tennessee.
As an interesting note, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport says the Detroit Lions sent a plane for Whisenhunt, but he never got on it because he decided to accept the Titans job instead.
