In 2020, Mike LaFleur was on the coaching staff of the San Francisco 49ers when Covid restrictions in California forced the team to move for six weeks into the Renaissance Hotel across from State Farm Stadium, where the 49ers played their last few games of the season.
In 2024, LaFleur was on the coaching staff of the Los Angeles Rams when wildfires forced the team to play a "home" playoff game at State Farm Stadium. With the Rams using the Dignity Health Training Center for practice, LaFleur installed plays in meeting rooms just feet from where he was now standing.
"I already know this building," the new head coach of the Cardinals said Tuesday during his introductory press conference. "I got to walk around this building for three days.
"I told (my wife) Lauren at the time about a year ago, 'I'm going to be the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals someday.' It just felt right."
LaFleur talked about how the area felt like home when he was there for the Rams game, and it certainly had that vibe Tuesday. Not only were his wife and children on hand, but his parents, his wife's parents, his brother Matt – who happens to be the head coach of the Green Bay Packers – and Matt's wife and kids were all in attendance.
Crowded into the back of the auditorium some 20 current Cardinals players were also there, drawing verbal appreciation from LaFleur as he began speaking.
"I can't wait to just get this show going," he told them.
The job is a big one, taking over a 3-14 team that has a question of who will play quarterback. But LaFleur presented an authentic message with both a hint of self-awareness (he noted to owner Michael Bidwill, "I'm not saying you got it right. I hope you got it right.") yet a heavy dose of self-confidence (of navigating the gauntlet of the powerful NFC West, he said "if it were easy, it wouldn't be worth it.")
LaFleur was the "clear winner" during the interview process, Bidwill said. Bidwill added that the Cardinals learned from each of the 14 candidates they talked to during their 27-day process.
"It gives us a chance to sort of have a free look at other organizations and how they do things," Bidwill said. "We benefitted from each of those interviews."
There is much to be done. The coaching staff must be assembled first, but the first-time head coach did say he wasn't necessarily seeking major experience in his coordinators, preferring to see how the process plays out. LaFleur added he had multiple coaches within the building he wanted to speak with about potential roles.
He didn't have any answers yet at quarterback, saying those conversations still needed to be had.
But LaFleur did say he will call the plays, something he last did full-time as the Jets offensive coordinator in 2021-22, before spending the last three seasons as the Rams offensive coordinator knowing head coach Sean McVay would be the playcaller.
"I missed it," LaFleur said.
The offensive players he had talked to were eager to see what it looked like on the field.
"He talked that this system is going to be built organically around the players, but I'm sure he's going to take and sprinkle in a lot of the McVay system and the Shanahan system," wide receiver Michael Wilson said. "It seems like all those guys that play for those organizations play really well and maximize their playability and their play speed, and honestly, turn into superstars. I'm just excited to get somebody from that tree, and hopefully they can bring some of that here."
His brother Matt, who like Mike also worked under both McVay and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, noted that working under those coaches helps a coach build a foundation on which to fall back upon. He had done it, and now, Mike has the same chance.
"I thought I was going to get more emotional than he was," Matt LeFleur said. "I am really excited for his opportunity. He's earned it, and he's done it the right way. There are no shortcuts, you have to put in the work, and I think he's going to do a great job."
GM Monti Ossenfort said it had been easy to envision LaFleur as someone who could lead a program. That aura was there on the stage Tuesday, as the Cardinals' new coach talked about the cutthroat business he was in and the wins and losses – and ultimately, only the wins and losses – that define both success and failure.
Bidwill had said after Gannon was let go that he believed the Cardinals could quickly turn things around.
LaFleur wasn't going there yet. It was about hiring coaches and building relationships with the players. The games that produce the wins and losses are still far away. But he knows there is pressure. That's just the NFL.
"Every year is a blank slate," LaFleur said. "I'm not worried about what our record was. The record last year, all that means is we have a higher draft pick. That's all that really matters at that point. We have to go to work to build this roster. Even if we were flipped and it was 14-3, guess what? You go right back to work.
"I'm just concerned about building this staff and getting to work with these guys so that when the time does come, we're putting our best foot forward to go win football games and hopefully update that back wall."
LaFleur looked at the back wall of the auditorium, right behind where his new players stood, at the replica banners of division and conference titles hung. Adding a banner himself would be the ultimate goal.
