August 3, 2012
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Every weekday at Cardinals training camp, the media are afforded the opportunity to eat lunch in the same Northern Arizona University cafeteria as the team, albeit in a curtained-off area. Most of the players eat before we enter, but there are always some stragglers and a handful of coaches in the dining room as we enter.
As I waited at the pasta bar this week for some whole wheat noodles, pesto and chicken, coach Ken Whisenhunt greeted me. The fatigue on his face was apparent, so I asked him about it and he admitted feeling a bit worn out.
"Just seems like I’m running from place to place," he said with a shrug.
"But that’s your job, right?" I said.
"That is the job," he acknowledged before moving on.
I hadn’t meant to sound so unsympathetic, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t looking for my sympathy anyway. A lot of us work hard because it’s "the job." But few of us face the emotional and physical drain of daily practices, daily interviews, daily glad-handing with sponsors and fans, daily meetings with coaches, players and owners -- not to mention the weekly public grading of our job performance.
The notable thing about Whisenhunt is that it takes a couple years of practice to be able to read his mood when he takes the podium for his daily lunch briefings with the media or when he speaks after practice. If you pay attention, you can tell when the strain is particularly great -- if something we wrote is irking him or if something internal is weighing on him.
The cynical among us may even think him thin-skinned at times, forgetting that we might react in the same manner if our abilities and job security were questioned.
But to most, including his players, Whisenhunt is the same even-keeled, articulate, analytical and often humorous coach we see every day. When you consider the aforementioned duties and pressures, that demeanor deserves more than a mention.
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