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BY BERNIE MIKLASZ, Post-Dispatch Sports Columnist STLtoday.com
Monday, January 2, 2012
Share In the aftermath of the earthquake at Earth City, let's take a look at the Rams' shakeup and what could happen next ...
* Kudos to Rams owner Stan Kroenke for acting quickly and decisively. Nothing would have been gained by hesitating and delaying. The most important thing for Kroenke is to expedite the process of finding and installing new leadership at Rams Park. And by immediately sacking GM Billy Devaney and head coach Steve Spagnuolo, Kroenke has put his organization in position to take fast action. Kroenke has made a statement here; he wants to win. He insists on it. He won't put up with chronic losing. At the end of his second season as the Rams' owner, Kroenke has made it clear that he wants to put his mark on this team. That's a welcome development.....
....
* This was an easy and obvious call. There was simply no justification for retaining Devaney and Spagnuolo. The Rams have done a weak job in the draft, and in free-agent shopping. Devaney and Spags were accountable. I'm still mystified by those who inexplicably believed that Spagnuolo was just a coach, and didn't have considerable clout in making personnel decisions. Spagnuolo was as much to blame for the draft/FA strikeouts as Devaney.
* No organization that aspires to win should ever tolerate a 10-38 record over three seasons. I don't care what the circumstances are; it's simply unacceptable. The Rams owed it to their fans and their veteran players to strive to do better. You don't settle for 10-38 out of fear that you can't find someone that's capable of exceeding in this gig. Spagnuolo surrounded himself with mostly weak assistant coaches. Even more important: Spags never showed improvement on the sideline as a game-day manager. Until the end -- when the Rams were caught off guard by San Francisco's fake field goal that went for a TD -- Spags was frequently a step slow or out of sync in his game management. It's a bad sign when a young head coach still hasn't shown growth on the sideline after three seasons and 48 games on the job. I'll never forget the 16th game of the 2010 season, when the Rams flopped at Seattle with a division title at stake, losing to backup Seahawks QB Charlie Whitehurst. The Rams weren't prepared. Spagnuolo seemed overwhelmed. The coaching staff failed to adjust. The Rams unraveled. The coaches made a baffling decision to stop giving the ball to Steven Jackson against a poor Seattle run defense. It was an epic fail. It was not a good sign.
* Like many young head coaches Spagnuolo made the destructive mistake of concerning himself with things that had nothing to do with winning or losing games. Firing equipment managers and trainers. Bossing around the PR staff and other Rams' non-football employees. Worrying about having control over everything. Sealing off parts of the building. I have never understood coaches that spend so much time on matters that simply don't translate into victories. Here's all we needed to know: the HC was given a franchise piece in QB Sam Bradford, and didn't even hire a quarterbacks coach to help Bradford in 2011. By focusing on non-essential areas, Spags overlooked one of the more important aspects of his responsibility in building a winner.
* It's way past time to put an end to this nonsense. Here's what Kroenke must tell the next coach: you just worry about coaching and winning football games and keep your nose out of everything else. We'll handle the other stuff. And unless the new head coach is a proven winner with a good record in personnel, there's no reason to empower him and let him have authority in the draft and free agency.
* The Rams' coaching opening is more attractive than you may think. I'll let others rank the coaching openings; I have no interest in playing this little parlor game. But this franchise does have some appealing elements. There's the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft. With the smart Kevin Demoff in place, the salary cap is in excellent shape; there will be room for spending over the next couple of seasons (at least.) Last summer Kroenke showed he was willing to step up and invest in free agents. A talented young QB, Sam Bradford, is in place. Despite the absurd bashing that Bradford has taken from a minority of irrational fans, he's viewed as an asset around the NFL. Bradford is a reason why this coaching job has appeal. There are several other building blocks in place including Chris Long and James Laurinaitis. Steven Jackson is still good to go for a while. There are a few young players in house with legitimate potential.
* Let's not not overlook another reason why this job has promise: the expectations are low. This is not a pressure cooker. It's been an unbelievably bad run of grotesque football here; the Rams are 15-65 since the start of the 2007 season. And over those five seasons exactly half of the NFL's 32 teams have won at least 40 games. The Rams have not had a winning season since 2003, have not won a postseason game since 2004. With Kroenke in place as the new owner, the Rams have some hope. It's a tame media market; even after 10-38 Spagnuolo got the benefit of the doubt from some, and there was at least some push to keep him. A coach that comes to STL and makes progress and wins games will be heralded as if he's the next Vince Lombardi.
* So what's next? Tough question. It depends on the owner's preferred model. Does Kroenke bring in a CEO to oversee the operation? As president of the baseball Cardinals, Mark Lamping did a terrific job of setting up the operation, and he's also a stadium expert, which would serve the Rams well for obvious reasons. (After leaving the Cardinals Lamping went to New York and oversaw the raising of the new football stadium for the Giants and Jets.) Does Kroenke promote Demoff? Think a little outside the box and bring in Marshall Faulk? (Faulk and Dick Vermeil already have been enlisted as consultants in the job searches.) Does he hire a GM and then have the GM pursue the coach? Or does he go hard after an established coach such as Jeff Fisher and bring in a younger GM that will work closely with the coach? There are many attractive assistant-GM types out there waiting for an opportunity that could mesh well with Fisher.
* The main problem in pursuing a so-called proven coach is this: the pool is limited. There are three highly visible TV coaches in Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden and Tony Dungy. Do they have any desire to leave the studio? And if so, would this job interest them? Brian Billick is another coach that's doing well in his TV career; would he be on the list? Does he want to coach again? If Kroenke can't get one of the TV guys to return to coaching, then where does he turn?
* Fisher would be a good choice. There's already been some nitpicking of his record with the Titans. Fisher had 16 full seasons as the Tennessee coach; some point out that he had only six winning seasons. Well, it depends on how you look at it. Fisher's 16-year run also included five 8-8 seasons, meaning that Fisher had only five losing seasons with the Titans. But I can tell you this: over Fisher's 16 full seasons (1995-2010) the Titans ranked seventh in the NFL in wins over that time. Only New England, Indianapolis, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Denver and Philadelphia won more games over 16 seasons than Fisher's Titans. That's impressive. Fisher was in some tough company, going head-to-head with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and a good Jacksonville team in the old AFC Central from 1995 through 2001. He went 8-6 against Pittsburgh, 6-6 against Baltimore and 7-7 vs. Jacksonville. When the NFL realigned in 2002, the Titans were placed in the same division as Indianapolis; Fisher went 5-13 against the Colts. That may not seem like much, but from 2002-2010 only Dallas (2-1) and San Diego (3-2) had winning records vs. Peyton Manning and the Colts. A few other teams went .500 against Manning's Colts, including New England (4-4.) The point: it wasn't easy to beat Indianapolis, and at least Fisher won his share of games.
* More than anything, Fisher is a strong leader. And his teams always had an identity. It was an identity that Fisher created. The Titans were tough. They were physical. They were relentless. They played with an attitude. They were never going to back down.Going on the road did not intimidate them; over Fisher's 16 full seasons the Titans had the NFL's fifth-best road winning percentage. Even when the Titans had losing seasons, they were not a team that opponents enjoyed facing. Over Fisher's 16 full years, the Titans ranked 6th in the NFL in rushing, and were No. 4 in stopping the run. They were 4th in sacking the QB and allowed the third-fewest number of sacks. The Titans passed the ball better than they were generally given credit for; over 16 seasons they had the league's 10th-best touchdown/interception ratio. Just very solid, tough and fundamentally sound football.
* Fisher will be coveted by the Rams and multiple teams. The competition will be tough. If Kroenke can't get his man, Fisher, then it gets scary. Presumably Kroenke has a Plan B in place. What about Billick? Do the Rams go out and hire another coordinator? That didn't work in the hirings of Scott Linehan and Spagnuolo. But you can't eliminate that possibility. More than 20 current NFL head coaches are in their first HC jobs. That includes the last three coaches that have won the Super Bowl. Was Mike McCarthy (Green Bay) an exciting hire at the time? Or Asshole Face (New Orleans?) The list of current first-time head coaches that have done well in making the jump from coordinator to HC includes Payton, McCarthy, Mike Tomlin, Andy Reid, Rex Ryan, Lovie Smith, John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, Ken Whisenhunt, Jim Schwartz. So it would be foolish to dismiss a coordinator as a possibility. The Rams need to identify an impressive coaching talent; the profile and the background does not matter.
* The No. 1 thing the Rams have to do is this: improve their talent. Because if they don't start to do a considerably better job in the draft and free agency, the coach won't have much of a chance for success. That's been a huge problem at Rams Park, going back to the sad and premature decline of the "Greatest Show" era.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Share In the aftermath of the earthquake at Earth City, let's take a look at the Rams' shakeup and what could happen next ...
* Kudos to Rams owner Stan Kroenke for acting quickly and decisively. Nothing would have been gained by hesitating and delaying. The most important thing for Kroenke is to expedite the process of finding and installing new leadership at Rams Park. And by immediately sacking GM Billy Devaney and head coach Steve Spagnuolo, Kroenke has put his organization in position to take fast action. Kroenke has made a statement here; he wants to win. He insists on it. He won't put up with chronic losing. At the end of his second season as the Rams' owner, Kroenke has made it clear that he wants to put his mark on this team. That's a welcome development.....
....
* This was an easy and obvious call. There was simply no justification for retaining Devaney and Spagnuolo. The Rams have done a weak job in the draft, and in free-agent shopping. Devaney and Spags were accountable. I'm still mystified by those who inexplicably believed that Spagnuolo was just a coach, and didn't have considerable clout in making personnel decisions. Spagnuolo was as much to blame for the draft/FA strikeouts as Devaney.
* No organization that aspires to win should ever tolerate a 10-38 record over three seasons. I don't care what the circumstances are; it's simply unacceptable. The Rams owed it to their fans and their veteran players to strive to do better. You don't settle for 10-38 out of fear that you can't find someone that's capable of exceeding in this gig. Spagnuolo surrounded himself with mostly weak assistant coaches. Even more important: Spags never showed improvement on the sideline as a game-day manager. Until the end -- when the Rams were caught off guard by San Francisco's fake field goal that went for a TD -- Spags was frequently a step slow or out of sync in his game management. It's a bad sign when a young head coach still hasn't shown growth on the sideline after three seasons and 48 games on the job. I'll never forget the 16th game of the 2010 season, when the Rams flopped at Seattle with a division title at stake, losing to backup Seahawks QB Charlie Whitehurst. The Rams weren't prepared. Spagnuolo seemed overwhelmed. The coaching staff failed to adjust. The Rams unraveled. The coaches made a baffling decision to stop giving the ball to Steven Jackson against a poor Seattle run defense. It was an epic fail. It was not a good sign.
* Like many young head coaches Spagnuolo made the destructive mistake of concerning himself with things that had nothing to do with winning or losing games. Firing equipment managers and trainers. Bossing around the PR staff and other Rams' non-football employees. Worrying about having control over everything. Sealing off parts of the building. I have never understood coaches that spend so much time on matters that simply don't translate into victories. Here's all we needed to know: the HC was given a franchise piece in QB Sam Bradford, and didn't even hire a quarterbacks coach to help Bradford in 2011. By focusing on non-essential areas, Spags overlooked one of the more important aspects of his responsibility in building a winner.
* It's way past time to put an end to this nonsense. Here's what Kroenke must tell the next coach: you just worry about coaching and winning football games and keep your nose out of everything else. We'll handle the other stuff. And unless the new head coach is a proven winner with a good record in personnel, there's no reason to empower him and let him have authority in the draft and free agency.
* The Rams' coaching opening is more attractive than you may think. I'll let others rank the coaching openings; I have no interest in playing this little parlor game. But this franchise does have some appealing elements. There's the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft. With the smart Kevin Demoff in place, the salary cap is in excellent shape; there will be room for spending over the next couple of seasons (at least.) Last summer Kroenke showed he was willing to step up and invest in free agents. A talented young QB, Sam Bradford, is in place. Despite the absurd bashing that Bradford has taken from a minority of irrational fans, he's viewed as an asset around the NFL. Bradford is a reason why this coaching job has appeal. There are several other building blocks in place including Chris Long and James Laurinaitis. Steven Jackson is still good to go for a while. There are a few young players in house with legitimate potential.
* Let's not not overlook another reason why this job has promise: the expectations are low. This is not a pressure cooker. It's been an unbelievably bad run of grotesque football here; the Rams are 15-65 since the start of the 2007 season. And over those five seasons exactly half of the NFL's 32 teams have won at least 40 games. The Rams have not had a winning season since 2003, have not won a postseason game since 2004. With Kroenke in place as the new owner, the Rams have some hope. It's a tame media market; even after 10-38 Spagnuolo got the benefit of the doubt from some, and there was at least some push to keep him. A coach that comes to STL and makes progress and wins games will be heralded as if he's the next Vince Lombardi.
* So what's next? Tough question. It depends on the owner's preferred model. Does Kroenke bring in a CEO to oversee the operation? As president of the baseball Cardinals, Mark Lamping did a terrific job of setting up the operation, and he's also a stadium expert, which would serve the Rams well for obvious reasons. (After leaving the Cardinals Lamping went to New York and oversaw the raising of the new football stadium for the Giants and Jets.) Does Kroenke promote Demoff? Think a little outside the box and bring in Marshall Faulk? (Faulk and Dick Vermeil already have been enlisted as consultants in the job searches.) Does he hire a GM and then have the GM pursue the coach? Or does he go hard after an established coach such as Jeff Fisher and bring in a younger GM that will work closely with the coach? There are many attractive assistant-GM types out there waiting for an opportunity that could mesh well with Fisher.
* The main problem in pursuing a so-called proven coach is this: the pool is limited. There are three highly visible TV coaches in Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden and Tony Dungy. Do they have any desire to leave the studio? And if so, would this job interest them? Brian Billick is another coach that's doing well in his TV career; would he be on the list? Does he want to coach again? If Kroenke can't get one of the TV guys to return to coaching, then where does he turn?
* Fisher would be a good choice. There's already been some nitpicking of his record with the Titans. Fisher had 16 full seasons as the Tennessee coach; some point out that he had only six winning seasons. Well, it depends on how you look at it. Fisher's 16-year run also included five 8-8 seasons, meaning that Fisher had only five losing seasons with the Titans. But I can tell you this: over Fisher's 16 full seasons (1995-2010) the Titans ranked seventh in the NFL in wins over that time. Only New England, Indianapolis, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Denver and Philadelphia won more games over 16 seasons than Fisher's Titans. That's impressive. Fisher was in some tough company, going head-to-head with Pittsburgh, Baltimore and a good Jacksonville team in the old AFC Central from 1995 through 2001. He went 8-6 against Pittsburgh, 6-6 against Baltimore and 7-7 vs. Jacksonville. When the NFL realigned in 2002, the Titans were placed in the same division as Indianapolis; Fisher went 5-13 against the Colts. That may not seem like much, but from 2002-2010 only Dallas (2-1) and San Diego (3-2) had winning records vs. Peyton Manning and the Colts. A few other teams went .500 against Manning's Colts, including New England (4-4.) The point: it wasn't easy to beat Indianapolis, and at least Fisher won his share of games.
* More than anything, Fisher is a strong leader. And his teams always had an identity. It was an identity that Fisher created. The Titans were tough. They were physical. They were relentless. They played with an attitude. They were never going to back down.Going on the road did not intimidate them; over Fisher's 16 full seasons the Titans had the NFL's fifth-best road winning percentage. Even when the Titans had losing seasons, they were not a team that opponents enjoyed facing. Over Fisher's 16 full years, the Titans ranked 6th in the NFL in rushing, and were No. 4 in stopping the run. They were 4th in sacking the QB and allowed the third-fewest number of sacks. The Titans passed the ball better than they were generally given credit for; over 16 seasons they had the league's 10th-best touchdown/interception ratio. Just very solid, tough and fundamentally sound football.
* Fisher will be coveted by the Rams and multiple teams. The competition will be tough. If Kroenke can't get his man, Fisher, then it gets scary. Presumably Kroenke has a Plan B in place. What about Billick? Do the Rams go out and hire another coordinator? That didn't work in the hirings of Scott Linehan and Spagnuolo. But you can't eliminate that possibility. More than 20 current NFL head coaches are in their first HC jobs. That includes the last three coaches that have won the Super Bowl. Was Mike McCarthy (Green Bay) an exciting hire at the time? Or Asshole Face (New Orleans?) The list of current first-time head coaches that have done well in making the jump from coordinator to HC includes Payton, McCarthy, Mike Tomlin, Andy Reid, Rex Ryan, Lovie Smith, John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, Ken Whisenhunt, Jim Schwartz. So it would be foolish to dismiss a coordinator as a possibility. The Rams need to identify an impressive coaching talent; the profile and the background does not matter.
* The No. 1 thing the Rams have to do is this: improve their talent. Because if they don't start to do a considerably better job in the draft and free agency, the coach won't have much of a chance for success. That's been a huge problem at Rams Park, going back to the sad and premature decline of the "Greatest Show" era.