What you need to know about Ron Aiken

By Os Davis  |   Friday, February 16, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

Arizona Cardinals
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News item: former University of Iowa defensive line coach Ron Aiken has been hired for the position with the Arizona Cardinals.

With Aiken filling the final void in the Cardinals' coaching staff, RealFootball365 presents a bit of the lowdown on Ken Whisenhunt's newest employee.

Aiken brings 27 seasons worth of coaching experience to the position, none at the NFL level. (Which should make him ideal over at the brand-new University of Phoenix stadium.)

Aiken's most recent post was with the Hawkeyes, where the defensive line guru has coached since 1999. The Iowa program's most notable run at glory while Aiken was on the job ran from 2002-2005, when the team went 36-10.

In '02, Aiken was named American Football Coaches Association Division I Assistant Coach of the Year after a season in which the Hawkeyes crushed the opposition by an average score of 39-18 and were fifth in college football against the run. Aiken was noted for his work with All-American DT Colin Cole that season.

Aiken has worked under incoming Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt before. The two teamed previously at Vanderbilt for the 1995 and '96 seasons.

At the mighty Hawkeye team, Aiken was also a colleague of offensive line coach Joe Philbin, now offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers.

And like Philbin, Aiken has also produced a swell instructional video as part of the Hawkeye Coaching Instruction Series; Aiken's is titled "Defensive Line Drills" and promises that "Game day success starts with proper drill work as illustrated in this DVD by Hawkeye Assistant Coach Ron Aiken." Guess the Cardinals will be watching this one often, eh?

From 1990-1994, in his debut top-level college gig, Aiken's job was at the University of New Mexico -- always worthy of mention in this alum's columns -- where he coached the Lobos' LBs and DBs and helped produce five All-Western Athletic Conference players. You'll always be a Lobo, Ron (woof, woof, woof).

As a player, Aiken was an all-conference offensive lineman at North Carolina A&T.

Finally, Aiken is surely one of the few guys in the NFL coaching ranks with a master's degree. While coaching at Bethany College, Aiken found time to score his M.A. in secondary education at The Citadel.

Best of luck to coach Aiken. He will, as they say, need it.

Promising to keep at least one eye (OK, half an eye) on the Arizona Cardinals all year long at RealFootball.com.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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