The Kansas City Chiefs on Friday hired Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley to be their next head coach. Haley was formally introduced at a Friday afternoon press conference.

Terms of Haley's contract were unavailable.

The 41-year-old Haley could not be hired until after the Cardinals faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII on Sunday. The Steelers defeated the Cardinals, 27-23.

Haley interviewed for the position earlier this week and an unnamed Cardinals player at the Pro Bowl told FOXSports.com insider Jay Glazer that Haley was scheduled to arrive in Honolulu for the Pro Bowl Thursday as a guest of Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald, but canceled at the last moment because of the Kansas City job.

"He's going to be a big loss for us," another Cards player told Glazer.

A different Cardinals player said, "He was really liked in the locker room, because we felt like he was always trying to figure something out for us for Sundays. He never stopped."

Haley becomes the Chiefs' 11th head coach. He replaces Herman Edwards, who went just 15-33 with the Chiefs before being fired on January 23.

Edwards lost his biggest supporter when Carl Peterson resigned after 20 seasons at the helm. Scott Pioli was named general manager of the Chiefs on January 13. He has served as the New England Patriots vice president of player personnel since 2002.

The Chiefs lost 21 of their last 23 games overall under Edwards, who coached the New York Jets for five seasons prior to his stint in Kansas City.

Haley has a history with Pioli, serving at wide receivers coach with the New York Jets in the mid-1990s when Pioli was the team's director of pro personnel.

The hiring of Haley marks a dramatic shift in style from the defensive-minded Edwards.

In his second season as offensive coordinator, Haley presided over an offense that scored a franchise-record 427 points this season.

In his first season with Arizona, the team set a franchise record with 32 passing touchdowns and were second in the NFL (94 percent) in scoring inside the red zone. They followed that up with 31 TD passes in 2008.

The Cardinals rode that high-powered attacked, fueled mainly by a passing game that feature All-Pros in quarterback Kurt Warner, Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, to a surprising spot in the Super Bowl.

Arizona scored at least 30 points in each of its three postseason playoff contests and amassed the most yards yielded by Pittsburgh's top-ranked defense this season.

Haley could have some immediate issues to resolves with two of the team's best players. Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez and running back Larry Johnson each asked for trades in the past week.

Gonzalez, however, said he wanted to see who was named the team's next head coach and softened his stance somewhat if Haley would be the team's choice.

(Neither Haley nor Pioli were interested in discussing personnel issues on Friday, but I will have more on both Johnson and Gonzalez in this weekend's Fantasy Notebook. ... Check back Sunday for more).

Asked during his introductory press conference if he'll be running the offense or if a coordinator will take the lead on that side of the ball, Haley was noncommittal but did suggest he planned to run the entire team.

Haley didn't say if current coordinator Chan Gailey would remain with the team but the new coach added that he would talk to the current staff before making any decisions.

As Kansas City Star staffer Adam Teicher noted, the Chiefs could have pursued an established head coach such as Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan or Jon Gruden. Instead, in hiring Haley, the Chiefs are trying to copy the success of other teams that recently hired first-time head coaches.

The Steelers (Mike Tomlin) and the Cardinals (Ken Whisenhunt) were guided by coaches in their second NFL seasons. Baltimore, which lost to Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game, was led by a rookie head coach, John Harbaugh.

Nine NFL teams will enter next season with new head coaches. Seven will be guided by rookie head coaches.