Dave McGinnis

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Dave McGinnis is a former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

A graduate of TCU, McGinnis has coached 19 seasons in the NFL. From 1986-1995, McGinnis was the linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears, and spent 1996-2000 as defensive coordinator of Arizona before being hired to replace Vince Tobin.

From 2000-2003, McGinnis compiled a 17-40 record with the team. However, he had a record of 14-12 in games decided eight or less points. The reason for his lack of success as a head coach has been attributed to the lack of talent on his team, as his successor Dennis Green failed to win more than six games in any season despite previously earning acclaim as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

McGinnis is a true motivator to his players. He is also a down-to-earth person. During Cardinals training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, he made a point to go to as many fans in attendance as possible, and say "thanks for coming, thanks for your support".

As head coach, he befriended Comet the Wonder Dog, from Prescott, Arizona. Comet attended Cardinals camp each year. Coach McGinnis could be seen driving his cart with Comet in the passenger seat and Comet wearing a personalized Cardinals football jersey. McGinnis also enjoyed showing off the talents of Comet to his players and the media covering training.

McGinnis was the focal figure in an embarrassing public relations blunder by the Chicago Bears in 1999. After McGinnis interviewed for the vacant head coach position on Thursday, January 22nd, team president Mike McCaskey prematurely organized a news conference for the following day with local and national media to announce the hiring of McGinnis as the 11th Head Coach of the Chicago Bears. The news came as a surprise to most notably Dave McGinnis, who had not reached terms on a contract. In an attempt to save face, the Chicago Bears postponed the news conference and issued a personal apology to McGinnis from the patriarch of Bears ownership, Ed McCaskey. However, Dave McGinnis remained disenfranchised with the order of business conducted by the Chicago Bears organization and officially declined future consideration.

He is now the Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Coach for the Tennessee Titans.