Cardinals name 11 assistants under Steve Wilks, retain six coaches
Feb 14, 2018, 1:59 PM | Updated: 2:42 pm
The Arizona Cardinals will retain six members of former head coach Bruce Arians’ staff and on Wednesday announced the hire of 11 assistants brought in by first-year coach Steve Wilks.
Byron Leftwich (quarterbacks), Terry Allen (Bill Bidwill Fellowship/running backs), Larry Foote (linebackers coach), Kevin Garver (wide receivers), Steve Heiden (assistant offensive line) and Buddy Morris (strength and conditioning) return under Wilks.
Here is the list of assistants new to Arizona:
Chris Achuff — Assistant Defensive Line
Ray Brown — Offensive Line
Alonso Escalante — Defensive Quality Control
Charlie Harbison — Assistant Defensive Backs
Don Johnson Sr. — Assistant/Defensive Line
Randall McCray — Assistant Special Teams
David Merritt — Defensive Backs
Jason Michael — Tight Ends
Troy Rothenbuhler — Offensive Quality Control
Cameron Turner — Offensive Assistant
Kirby Wilson — Running Backs
The Cardinals had previously named Mike McCoy the offensive coordinator and Al Holcomb defensive coordinator.
Achuff joins Arizona with 19 years of college coaching experience, having most recently coached the defensive line at Baylor from 2008-16. McCray, Texas State’s assistant head coach the past two years, pulls his experience exclusively from the college ranks, having spent 26 years coaching NCAA football.
The same goes for Rothenbuhler, who was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at University of Findlay from 2011-17.
Brown played for the Cardinals his first three NFL seasons (1986-88), and Merritt Sr., who was with the New York Giants the last two years, played 34 games with Arizona as a linebacker from 1993-95.
Wilson coached Cardinals running backs from 2004-06.
