Cardinals executive Terry McDonough filed an arbitration claim against Michael Bidwill, accusing the owner of cheating and gross misconduct. McDonough’s filing alleges the owner sabotaged his career in retaliation for an objection to support a plan to illegally communicate with then-suspended GM Steve Keim, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports.
A former GM candidate, McDonough accuses Bidwill of hatching a scheme in which McDonough and then-head coach Steve Wilks would communicate with Keim using burner phones during the GM’s team-imposed suspension in 2018. The Cards suspended Keim after his extreme DUI arrest that year. McDonough’s claim indicates he and Wilks objected to Bidwill’s plan, and each voiced this objection on July 23, 2018. Upon voicing concerns about the alleged plan, McDonough said Bidwill wrote him up for insubordination and later followed through with a demotion. The demotion occurred in 2019, according to Stewart Mandel, Kalyn Kahler and Mike Sando of The Athletic.
A Cardinals exec for the past 10 years, McDonough was a finalist for the 49ers GM job that ended up going to John Lynch in 2017. He has hovered off the radar since but has been an NFL staffer for 31 years. The claim also accuses Bidwill of sabotaging Wilks’ first HC opportunity — which ended after one season, a 3-13 year in 2018 — and berating McDonough since he came forward with objections to the 2018 plan. Wilks, whom the Cardinals replaced with Kliff Kingsbury in 2019, joined Brian Flores‘ class-action discrimination lawsuit last year.
The Cardinals, who have since replaced Keim after 10 seasons in the GM chair, have denied McDonough’s allegations, calling them “outlandish.” McDonough is seeking damages for breach of contract and emotional distress.
Keim’s suspension, which ran from July to August 2018, prevented him from communication with Cardinals personnel. McDonough and Wilks followed through with Bidwill’s alleged scheme and used the burner phones to talk with Keim, per Schefter. McDonough is still in possession of the burner phone, according to his claim, which includes a picture of the device.
Once the Cardinals VP of player personnel, McDonough is listed on the team's website as a senior personnel executive. When Keim took a leave of absence last year — a hiatus that led to his permanent departure from the team — Bidwill installed execs Quentin Harris and Adrian Wilson as front office bosses in the interim. McDonough has alleged his refusal to go along with Bidwill’s plan led to career advancement opportunities disappearing. McDonough has not interviewed for a GM position since 2017.
Regarding the phone scheme, the Cardinals denied Bidwill orchestrated it. The team said, via Schefter, another Cards exec “interfered with the protocol of that suspension” and credits the owner of directing the phones be retrieved and all communication with Keim stopped. McDonough’s filing also accuses Bidwill of treating a Black employee and two pregnant women poorly and creating “an environment of fear for minority employees.” Denying this allegation as well, the Cardinals labeled it “a transparent smear that is truly beneath contempt.”
Under league rules, the Cardinals have 20 days to respond to McDonough’s filing. The NFL will handle the matter through its arbitration policy, per The Athletic. McDonough has been in the NFL since interning with the 49ers in 1989. He is the son of famed reporter Will McDonough and brother of ESPN play-by-play man Sean McDonough and former Suns GM Ryan McDonough.
More must-reads: