Jim Hanifan

James Martin Michael Hanifan (born September 21, 1933 in Compton, California) is a longtime American football coach and former head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons. He compiled a career record of 39-53-1.

Playing career

Hanifan played college football at the University of California, where he was an All-American and led the nation in receiving in 1954. He played professionally for one season with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

Coaching career

From 1959 to 1965, he coached at the high school(Charter Oak High School) and junior college level, he developed a reputation as an outstanding teacher and an offensive line guru.

He was an assistant coach at Utah from 1966 to 1969, California from 1970 to 1971, and San Diego State in 1972. During this time Hanifan joined the NFL in 1973, serving as offensive line coach for the St. Louis Cardinals until 1978. He was recognized as the NFL's Assistant Coach of the Year in 1977. After one year with the San Diego Chargers, Hanifan returned to the Cardinals and was their head coach from 1980 to 1985.

Hanifan went 39-49-1 in his six season with the Cardinals, leading St. Louis to the 16-team playoff tournament during the strike-shortened 1982 season. The "Gridbirds" went 8-7-1 in 1983 with a victory over the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Raiders, and in 1984, St. Louis was in position to win the NFC East championship with a victory in the season finale against the Washington Redskins. But Cardinal kicker Neil O'Donoghue missed a game-winning field goal attempt, giving the Redskins a 29-27 victory and the division title, while St. Louis was left out of the playoffs despite a 9-7 record. In 1985, St. Louis started the year 3-1 but would win only two of its final 12 games and finished at 5-11. Hanifan was fired that year by having the locks to his office changed during halftime of the final game of the year, against the Redskins.^[1] Hanifan is tied with Jimmy Conzelman and Ken Whisenhunt as the longest-serving head coaches in Cardinals history, with a mere 6 years of service. Conzelman coached the team on two separate occasions, while Hanifan's and Whisenhunt's tenures were consecutive. His 39 wins are the third-most in Cardinals history behind Ken Whisenhunt (49) and Don Coryell (42).

Hanifan resumed his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Falcons (1987–1989), and he served as the interim head coach when Marion Campbell was fired. He spent seven season as offensive line coach for the Washington Redskins (1990–1996) and St. Louis Rams (1997–2003) before retiring.

Commentator career

Hanifan (left) along with Kurt Warner.

From 2004 to 2008, he was a color commentator for the Rams radio broadcast team and hosted a weekly show on St. Louis station KLOU. During his time in the booth, Hanifan was known for praising and critiquing players, a style that was described as a "refreshing, straight-from-the-gut manner rarely heard anymore".^[2] Effective for the Rams' 2009 move to 101 ESPN, Hanifan has been replaced as the lead color commentator by former Super Bowl champion D'Marco Farr, and has been relegated to the analyst role on the pregame and postgame shows. The move has caused quite a stir among St. Louisans, inspiring several negatively toned articles by St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Dan Caesar, begging the Rams to reinstate Hanifan to the broadcast booth, his argument being that Rams fans will not listen to the broadcasts if Hanifan is not there. In August 2011, Hanifan's role was reduced further to a Thursday evening piece and a taped preview played during the pre-game.^[2]

Autobiography

Hanifan wrote an autobiography recounting his career titled "Beyond X's and O's: My Thirty Years in Football." He also produced a series of instructional videos on offensive line play.

References

↑ Jenkins, Lee (2009-02-02), "Woe, Be Gone", Sports Illustrated, pp. 48–50
1 2 Caesar, Dan (August 12, 2011). "Hanifan sacked again on Rams broadcasts". stltoday.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved August 12, 2011.

Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals head coaches

Paddy Driscoll (1920–1922)
Arnold Horween (1923–1924)
Norman Barry (1925–1926)
Guy Chamberlin (1927)
Fred Gillies (1928)
Dewey Scanlon (1929)
Ernie Nevers (1930–1931)
LeRoy Andrews (1931)
Jack Chevigny (1932)
Paul J. Schissler (1933–1934)
Milan Creighton (1935–1938)
Ernie Nevers (1939)
Jimmy Conzelman (1940–1942)
Phil Handler (1943–1945)
Jimmy Conzelman (1946–1948)
Phil Handler & Buddy Parker (1949)
Buddy Parker (1949)
Curly Lambeau (1950–1951)
Phil Handler & Cecil Isbell (1951)
Cecil Isbell (1951)
Joe Kuharich (1952)
Joe Stydahar (1953–1954)
Ray Richards (1955–1957)
Pop Ivy (1958–1961)
Chuck Drulis, Ray Prochaska, & Ray Willsey (1961)
Wally Lemm (1962–1965)
Charley Winner (1966–1970)
Bob Hollway (1971–1972)
Don Coryell (1973–1977)
Bud Wilkinson (1978–1979)
Larry Wilson (1979)
Jim Hanifan (1980–1985)
Gene Stallings (1986–1989)
Hank Kuhlmann (1989)
Joe Bugel (1990–1993)
Buddy Ryan (1994–1995)
Vince Tobin (1996–2000)
Dave McGinnis (2000–2003)
Dennis Green (2004–2006)
Ken Whisenhunt (2007–2012)
Bruce Arians (2013–)

Atlanta Falcons head coaches

Norb Hecker (1966–1968)
Norm Van Brocklin (1968–1974)
Marion Campbell (1974–1976)
Pat Peppler # (1976)
Leeman Bennett (1977–1982)
Dan Henning (1983–1986)
Marion Campbell (1987–1989)
Jim Hanifan # (1989)
Jerry Glanville (1990–1993)
June Jones (1994–1996)
Dan Reeves (1997–2003)
Wade Phillips # (2003)
Jim L. Mora (2004–2006)
Bobby Petrino (2007)
Emmitt Thomas # (2007)
Mike Smith (2008–2014)
Dan Quinn (2015– )

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

Washington Redskins Super Bowl XXVI Champions

St. Louis Rams Super Bowl XXXIV Champions

2 Mike Horan 9 Joe Germaine 10 Trent Green 11 Rick Tuten 13 Kurt Warner (MVP) 14 Jeff Wilkins 16 Paul Justin 20 Taje Allen 21 Dexter McCleon 22 Billy Jenkins 23 Devin Bush 24 Ron Carpenter 25 Robert Holcombe 26 Clifton Crosby 28 Marshall Faulk 31 Amp Lee 32 Dré Bly 33 Derrick Harris 35 Keith Lyle 36 Justin Watson 38 Rich Coady 41 Todd Lyght 42 James Hodgins 45 Jeff Robinson 50 Ryan Tucker 51 Lorenzo Styles 52 Mike Jones 54 Todd Collins 56 Charlie Clemons 57 Leonard Little 58 Mike Morton 59 London Fletcher 60 Mike Gruttadauria 61 Tom Nütten 62 Adam Timmerman 63 John Flannery 64 Andy McCollum 71 Cameron Spikes 73 Fred Miller 75 D'Marco Farr 76 Orlando Pace 77 Matt Willig 80 Isaac Bruce 81 Az-Zahir Hakim 82 Tony Horne 83 Chris Thomas 84 Ernie Conwell 86 Roland Williams 87 Ricky Proehl 88 Torry Holt 89 Chad Lewis 90 Jeff Zgonina 91 Troy Pelshak 92 Lionel Barnes 93 Kevin Carter 95 Nate Hobgood-Chittick 96 Jay Williams 98 Grant Wistrom 99 Ray Agnew

Head Coach: Dick Vermeil Coaches: Steve Brown John Bunting Sam Clark Frank Gansz Peter Giunta Carl Hairston Jim Hanifan Todd Howard Mike Martz John Matsko Wilbert Montgomery John Ramsdell Al Saunders Lynn Stiles Mike White

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