Get to know new Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur

It is official, the Arizona Cardinals new head coach is Mike LaFleur.

The Cardinals fanbase and a lot of media outlets have expressed interest in hiring an offensive-minded guy to head the franchise instead of going with a coach to lead the defense. Currently, Arizona’s defense is in pretty good shape and certainly needs a piece here and there, but a qualified DC could come in and set up shop rather quickly with the talent on that side of the ball.

The Rams were this year’s NFC Championship Game and had a great showing against a very good Seattle Seahawks defense.

That is the result of LaFleur’s efforts. But who is he? What are his qualifications?

Beginnings

LaFleur grew up in the small town of Mount Pleasant, Michigan, nestled in the bullseye of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. To know Mike LaFleur, you have to be acquainted with his family.

His parents are Kristi and Denny LaFleur. His father, Denny, played linebacker at Central Michigan, which won the D-2 National Championship in 1974, while his mother was one of the team’s cheerleaders. Denny held the school’s record for most career tackles.

Denny then transitioned into teaching and became an assistant football coach for his alma mater. That lasted 20 years. Kristi was a physical education and health teacher who coached track and cheerleading. At Central Michigan, Denny had coached practically every position on defense. The couple has now been married for 51 years.

Kristi’s father, Bob Barringer, was also a football coach at Loy Norrix High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan. So, football was more than just a sport in her family. Barringer just happened to be a Central Michigan fan. Kristi and Deeny got married in their senior year at CMU.

Mike’s brother is Matt, currently the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. He played quarterback for most of his life and went to Western Michigan and then Saginaw Valley State. After going undrafted in the 2003 NFL draft, Matt signed with the Omaha Beef of the “National Indoor Football League.” The following season, he played for the Billings Outlaws of the same league.

Growing up, brothers Matt and Mike, who is the younger sibling, competed in the AAU basketball circuit. But their lives were football with their dad as a coach and their mom coaching the cheer squad. Both brothers were great kids to coach because they had such an intensity about the way they played.

Both boys knew that one day they would also be football coaches.

Matt got in the door when his father called the new CMU head coach, Brian Kelly, and asked if he needed any grad assistants. There, he met another grad assistant, Robert Saleh, who is now the head coach of the Tennessee Titans after building up the San Francisco 49ers’ defense.

When Matt became the OC with the Rams and Mike was hired as the 49ers WR coach, these two teams played each other twice a year both being NFC West Division members. Kristi LaFleur had a difficult time of which team to pull for when the two clubs met on the gridiron.

So, she devised a system. Kristi wore t-shirts she designed that appeared to be authentic NFL gear. The shirts read on the front, “The San Angeles Ram-ers.”  

Mike’s path

Mike LaFleur was also a quarterback, but played three sports in high school. He then played football for Elmhurst University, located in nearby Illinois. In addition to playing quarterback, he would also line up at safety and was elected team captain.

After graduation, he became an offensive assistant with Elmhurst. The following year, he became the QB coach for St. Joseph’s (IN) College and then was elevated to their OC for the following two seasons. In 2013, he accepted the OC position at Davidson, which was a D-1 school.

In 2014, he interviewed and was hired by the Cleveland Browns as an offensive coaching intern under Browns OC Kyle Shanahan. What was the connection with the Browns and Mike?

His brother Matt was then the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Redskins and before that had been on the coaching staff of the Houston Texans. Both stints overlapped with when Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for those teams. Shanahan knew of Mike through his brother and felt they could have the same type of chemistry on the staff.  

Suddenly, Mike was in the door of the NFL. When Shanahan left Cleveland the following year to become the OC with the Atlanta Falcons, Mike followed him as an offensive assistant for two seasons. In 2017, Shanahan was named head coach of the 49ers. As he was filling out his staff, he hired Mike as his passing game coordinator and WR coach. After two years, the franchise hired another guy to fill the WR coaching position so that Mike could focus solely on his duties as passing game coordinator.

During Mike’s time with San Fran, their DC was Saleh. He was hired as the head coach of the New York Jets, and Saleh hired Mike as his OC. Mike LaFleur was finally an offensive coordinator in the NFL.

Rams success

Saleh was fired during the 2022 season. Usually, this means that after the year is completed, the new head coach will want to bring in his own guys to fill out his staff, which is what happened.

Two weeks after losing his job with the Jets, he was interviewed and then hired to become the new OC with the Rams under head coach Sean McVay. He has been the OC for Los Angeles for three seasons now.

The Rams ranked #1 in total offense this year. That speaks for itself.

2025 NFL offensive rankings for Los Angeles Rams:

• Total offensive yards per game average: #1 (394.6)
• Passing yards: #2 (4,707)
• Passing TDs: #1 (46)
• Fewest interceptions: #4 (8)
• Passing first down conversions: #2 (236)
• Rushing yards: #7 (2,152)
• Rushing TDs: #16 (15)
• Fewest rushing fumbles: #12 (5)
• Rushing first down conversions: #6 (126)

Both brothers have been the OC with the Rams – Matt in 2017 and Mike from 2023-present. If Mike is hired to run the Cardinals, they would become the second brother head coaching duo in the NFL, joining John and Jim Harbaugh. There have been other brother coaching combinations, such as Rex and Rob Ryan, and Jon and Jay Gruden, but not two brothers who have been head coaches.

Mike’s offensive scheme is deeply rooted in the Shanahan/McVay tree. This emphasizes a strong outside run game. His offense also has simplicity for the quarterback to make early, easy decisions. Rams QB Matt Stafford is annually mentioned in the league MVP conversation because of this scheme geared to establish consistency for the signalcaller.

A lot of usage of jet sweeps, RPOs, and flood routes allows the offense to have effective passing plays and leverage the rushing attack. There is also a lot of motion and pre-snap movement. Motions are needed to gain the numbers advantage on the perimeter and create better blocking angles. Mike uses a teacher’s mentality in that he teaches core concepts so well that players don’t have to think much about what to do because it becomes instinctive.

Now, to accomplish most of his offensive techniques, he requires an excellent offensive line group and a competent quarterback who has the ability to run on occasion. It is a common occurrence to begin plays in an empty set. Both of these positions will need to be addressed immediately.

The wide zone run game will need to be effective and give the offense some needed help in protection on the interior. Again, another position that will need to be solved is the running back room. The Cardinals will require a dynamic running back who is capable of breaking off the big runs on the perimeter.

Mike married Lauren Ball in 2010. According to her Facebook page, she studied at Elmhurst College, went to Mt. Pleasant High School, and is from Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The couple has two children.