If you thought the Cardinals seemed like an organization that doesn’t quite know what it’s doing, the latest allegations from former executive Terry McDonough will only cement that notion.
McDonough has filed an arbitration claim with the NFL accusing Cardinals owner Steve Bidwell of gross misconduct, including cheating, discrimination and harassment.
Here’s the specific reporting from Adam Schefter of ESPN:
McDonough maintained that both he and former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks were left with no choice but to follow Bidwill’s plan to use burner phones to communicate with former Arizona general manager Steve Keim while Keim was serving a five-week suspension after pleading guilty to extreme DUI in Arizona.
McDonough said he still has the phone, which he said contains the evidence of the cheating scandal, as well as additional documentation.
The Cardinals are calling the allegations “outlandish.”
“We are reluctantly obliged to provide a public response along with broader context for some disappointing and irresponsible actions by Terry McDonough,” external public relations adviser to the Cardinals Jim McCarthy said in a statement. “Claims he has made in an arbitration filing are wildly false, reckless, and an opportunistic ploy for financial gain.
“Our position was consistent with many efforts we’ve made to accommodate Terry during his time with the team, despite difficulties in his personal life and his often volatile demeanor toward colleagues,” the statement from McCarthy said. “That’s why we are saddened to see that Terry is now lashing out at our organization with disparagements and threats that are absurdly at odds with the facts. This unnecessary and vindictive action by Terry was intended to malign his co-workers, our owner Michael Bidwill, and our team with outlandish accusations.”
Essentially, McDonough is saying that while Keim was supposed to be serving a five-game suspension, Bidwill forced McDonough, then head coach Steve Wilks and others to continue to communicate with him via a burner phone scheme that the owner set up. The filing says that Wilks and McDonough objected to the scheme and that both were punished for it. McDonough says he was demoted, and that his standing within the league took a hit thereafter. McDonough says that Bidwell sabotaged Wilks first head coaching job then fired him after one season.
Other accusations include:
- Bidwill has established a culture of fear that has made employees afraid to speak out
- Bidwill had treated a Black employee and two pregnant women poorly, causing the latter two to cry after Bidwill screamed at them.
- Bidwill canceled an employee survey after he got wind that employees were critical of his conduct in it.
Bidwill and the Cardinals have largely denied all of the charges.
Here’s what happens next via ESPN:
The Cardinals have 20 days to respond to McDonough’s claims under the NFL’s dispute resolution procedural guidelines. Then Goodell “shall determine whether the dispute is football-oriented … or not football-oriented” and whether the dispute is subject to arbitration.
If it is, “the Commissioner will conduct the arbitration in a manner designed to reach a fair and prompt outcome, consistent with the circumstances of the particular dispute.”