Fitzgerald Cecilio

The Arizona Cardinals have dismissed head coach Ken Whisenhunt and general manager Rod Graves after a disastrous 5-11 campaign.

The Cardinals were full of promise at the start of the season, winning four straight games but suffered nine straight losses.

In his six years with the Cardinals, Whisenhunt had a 45-51 mark in the regular season and a 4-2 postseason record.

In 2008, he led the Cardinals to a spot in Super Bowl XLIII but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Worse, Whisenhunt and Graves gave former Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Kevin Kolb a six-year, $63.5 million contract in 2011 after trading a second-round pick and cornerback Dominique Rogers-Cromartie for his services.

Kolb has been limited by injuries to just 14 out of possible 32 games as starter and Arizona was 13-19 record over the last two seasons.

To replace Kolb, Whisenhunt used John Skelton, Ryan Lindley and former New England Patriots backup Brian Hoyer to end the season but failed.

Graves joined the Cardinals organization in 1997 and led the team's personnel department from 2003 through 2012.

The Cardinals also announced that assistant coaches Russ Grimm (assistant head coach/offensive line), Mike Miller (offensive coordinator), Chad Grimm (offensive quality control), John McNulty (quarterbacks), Frank Reich (wide receivers) and Tommie Robinson (running backs) were also dismissed.

 

NFL 2012 - Cardinals Fire Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt & GM Rod Graves