Revenge of the Birds
Is the Arizona Cardinals close to hiring a new head coach? The search began with a long list of candidates, and now it is down to the short list. Coaches have gone through a first interview, and a select few have been invited to a second interview.
Yet, still no hire. But that should come this week.
RELATED: CARDINALS FANS WANT A RAMS COORDINATOR
Perhaps, Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill just hasn’t found his guy yet. Whatever he wants specifically, that certain someone hasn’t surfaced. Oftentimes, people have to settle for one thing or another, and then make a choice with the options in full display.
One prospect that remains in the select few, is Jacksonville Jaguars DC Anthony Campanile. On Thursday, the Cardinals will conduct a second interview with Campanile.
Who is he? What are his qualifications?
Like most coaching prospects, Campanile was a high school athlete playing quarterback for Fair Lawn High School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. To be more specific, in Bergen County, New Jersey, which is the most populous county in the densest state in the union.
He is one of four brothers and is of Italian descent. Campanile will explain about his family’s Sunday dinners with traditional Italian food and often spending six hours at the table with family.
His love for these meals is well-documented, with reporters often asking him about his favorite Italian dishes.
His father, Mike, was a high school football coach. All four brothers are currently football coaches. At times, their coaching careers have intertwined, as in some years, with a couple of the brothers working on the same staff together. They’ve also coached against one another here and there.
Campanile’s brother, Nunzio, is the offensive coordinator at UConn. His other brother, Nicky, is the head coach at DePaul Catholic (NJ) High School.
This family is famous in the State of New Jersey for coaching high school football. In the last 25 years, 21 New Jersey state high school championships featured a team coached by either Mike, or one of his four sons.
Playing under his father, Campanile was situated in the run-and-shoot offense and eventually earned All-Bergen County honors. He went to Rutgers as a walk-on and was switched to linebacker for four seasons under head coach Greg Schiano.
After college, Campanile, now age 43, was hired by Fair Lawn High School as a linebacker coach. He was then hired by powerhouse Don Bosco Preparatory High School in nearby Ramsey, New Jersey as their DC. The school captured the 2011 and 2012 state championships. USA Today ranked the 2011 squad #1 in the nation.
After six seasons, Campanile took a position at Rutgers as a defensive assistant. He became part of a defense that ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense (14.15 points allowed per game). Then he became the TE and WR coach for three years.
Rutgers was busy trying to find a role for Campanile in their recruiting department. In the meantime, he had an...
