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High-school years gave Rams coach Sean McVay his first taste of fame
Sam FarmerContact Reporter
The legend of Sean McVay only grows at the Marist School, a sprawling campus of red-brick buildings tucked into the hilly suburbs just north of Atlanta.
It wasn’t so long ago that the 31-year-old Rams wunderkind — the likely NFL coach of the year — thrilled Marist students and fans, not with his headset wizardry but with his forehead-slapping, ankle-snapping moves as a high school quarterback.
McVay’s game video was like a video game. The bright-eyed kid with straight and shaggy blond hair (not spiked like now) was so good that he was named 2003 State Player of the Year in Georgia, edging future Detroit Lionsstar Calvin Johnson in the process.
“That was ridiculous,” McVay said almost sheepishly this week during a break from preparations for Saturday night’s playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons at the Coliseum. “He was a five-star recruit, best receiver in the country, and here I am, just a tough competitor that’s on a state championship team. Really what that was is it was a reflection of the team success we had, and then we were able to have some good stats because we won the state championship.
Miami of Ohio, didn’t get a chance to throw the ball much in the run-based offense at Marist. So he took particular umbrage on those rare occasions when his passes were intercepted.
Kathleen Hersey, actor David Hasselhoff, Fox News anchor Brett Baier and longtime Miss America host Bert Parks.
Marist football plays in Georgia’s AAAA division, even though it would be in the bottom third of smaller AAA schools in terms of enrollment. Still, the program has been remarkably successful under coach Alan Chadwick, winning two state championships and finishing as runner-up nine times.
These days, there’s an island of Rams fans in the middle of Falcons country.
“I’m just walking around with my chest poking out like you wouldn’t believe,” said Chadwick, who has coached at the school for 41 years. “I’ll be sitting at the bar having dinner or something like that. The TV is on, and I’ll be sitting next to some guy I don’t even know, and they’ll have the Rams on there, and I’ll say, ‘Hey, I coached that guy.’ I’m just bragging like crazy all over the place.
“I’m spreading that word as much as I can.”
McVay, who was an outstanding soccer player as a kid, eventually gravitated to football, where his grandfather and father made their mark. His grandfather, John McVay, coached the New York Giants then, as a front-office executive, helped build the San Francisco 49ers dynasty with Bill Walsh. Sean’s father, Tim, was a defensive back at Indiana.
Tim has been a constant at Rams games this season, watching as his son has run a reverse with a franchise that went 4-12 last year. These Rams finished 11-5 — although they didn’t play their starters in the finale, a meaningless loss to the 49ers — and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Football courses through the family’s veins, so it’s no surprise the young McVay grew obsessed with it. His friends would tease him about being a football nerd, often opting to study film with coaches when he could have been hanging out.
“We’ve had a lot of talented kids, we’ve had a lot of talented quarterbacks, but nobody like Sean,” said Paul Etheridge, his offensive coordinator in high school. “I’d say he was the best Marist quarterback we’ve ever had. We’ve had some better passers, but we’ve never had a better runner or a better overall quarterback.
“I’m not just talking about football skills. I’m talking about understanding the offense, reading defenses, and most importantly ability to lead and ability to communicate.”
McVay said those experiences in high school helped him pour the foundation for the coach he is today.
“Marist is a special place,” he said. “Some of the best coaches I’ve been around are those people I worked with in high school. What you realize is when you have an environment and an atmosphere like we had at Marist, where guys cared about each other, the coaches were great teachers and communicators, whether it’s high school, college or pro, I think coaching is coaching.
“That was really for me, as a young guy growing up, is seeing what you think is doing it the right way.”
sam.farmer@latimes.com
Follow Sam Farmer on Twitter @LATimesfarmer
Times staff writers Gary Klein and Andy McCullough contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2018, Los Angeles Times
High-school years gave Rams coach Sean McVay his first taste of fame
Sam FarmerContact Reporter
The legend of Sean McVay only grows at the Marist School, a sprawling campus of red-brick buildings tucked into the hilly suburbs just north of Atlanta.
It wasn’t so long ago that the 31-year-old Rams wunderkind — the likely NFL coach of the year — thrilled Marist students and fans, not with his headset wizardry but with his forehead-slapping, ankle-snapping moves as a high school quarterback.
McVay’s game video was like a video game. The bright-eyed kid with straight and shaggy blond hair (not spiked like now) was so good that he was named 2003 State Player of the Year in Georgia, edging future Detroit Lionsstar Calvin Johnson in the process.
“That was ridiculous,” McVay said almost sheepishly this week during a break from preparations for Saturday night’s playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons at the Coliseum. “He was a five-star recruit, best receiver in the country, and here I am, just a tough competitor that’s on a state championship team. Really what that was is it was a reflection of the team success we had, and then we were able to have some good stats because we won the state championship.
Miami of Ohio, didn’t get a chance to throw the ball much in the run-based offense at Marist. So he took particular umbrage on those rare occasions when his passes were intercepted.
Kathleen Hersey, actor David Hasselhoff, Fox News anchor Brett Baier and longtime Miss America host Bert Parks.
Marist football plays in Georgia’s AAAA division, even though it would be in the bottom third of smaller AAA schools in terms of enrollment. Still, the program has been remarkably successful under coach Alan Chadwick, winning two state championships and finishing as runner-up nine times.
These days, there’s an island of Rams fans in the middle of Falcons country.
“I’m just walking around with my chest poking out like you wouldn’t believe,” said Chadwick, who has coached at the school for 41 years. “I’ll be sitting at the bar having dinner or something like that. The TV is on, and I’ll be sitting next to some guy I don’t even know, and they’ll have the Rams on there, and I’ll say, ‘Hey, I coached that guy.’ I’m just bragging like crazy all over the place.
“I’m spreading that word as much as I can.”
McVay, who was an outstanding soccer player as a kid, eventually gravitated to football, where his grandfather and father made their mark. His grandfather, John McVay, coached the New York Giants then, as a front-office executive, helped build the San Francisco 49ers dynasty with Bill Walsh. Sean’s father, Tim, was a defensive back at Indiana.
Tim has been a constant at Rams games this season, watching as his son has run a reverse with a franchise that went 4-12 last year. These Rams finished 11-5 — although they didn’t play their starters in the finale, a meaningless loss to the 49ers — and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
Football courses through the family’s veins, so it’s no surprise the young McVay grew obsessed with it. His friends would tease him about being a football nerd, often opting to study film with coaches when he could have been hanging out.
“We’ve had a lot of talented kids, we’ve had a lot of talented quarterbacks, but nobody like Sean,” said Paul Etheridge, his offensive coordinator in high school. “I’d say he was the best Marist quarterback we’ve ever had. We’ve had some better passers, but we’ve never had a better runner or a better overall quarterback.
“I’m not just talking about football skills. I’m talking about understanding the offense, reading defenses, and most importantly ability to lead and ability to communicate.”
McVay said those experiences in high school helped him pour the foundation for the coach he is today.
“Marist is a special place,” he said. “Some of the best coaches I’ve been around are those people I worked with in high school. What you realize is when you have an environment and an atmosphere like we had at Marist, where guys cared about each other, the coaches were great teachers and communicators, whether it’s high school, college or pro, I think coaching is coaching.
“That was really for me, as a young guy growing up, is seeing what you think is doing it the right way.”
sam.farmer@latimes.com
Follow Sam Farmer on Twitter @LATimesfarmer
Times staff writers Gary Klein and Andy McCullough contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2018, Los Angeles Times
