Hail to the Patriots (Kroenke Style)

[den-the-coach]

On this Memorial Day, it is time to pay tribute to an organization that is responsible for the paradigm that Enos Stanley “Stan” Kroenke utilized for the structure of the St. Louis Rams. When Kroenke decided to trump Shad Khan’s bid and became majority owner of the St. Louis Rams Stan had a plan as he became close to an owner who’s team had been the biggest winners and the most consistent over the last several years albeit a team that brought most Ram fans misery.

Robert Kraft took over a downtrodden franchise with an eroding fan base and a stadium that still had aluminum bench seats. A team known as perennial loser so even when Kraft sought out to build a new stadium with public funds, he was stonewalled by old New England style politics. Does this story sound familiar?

Kraft’s first move was to start with a strong Head Coach first & foremost and then build the organization around that Head Coach. To give his Head Coach all means necessary to be successful and to also trade wisely and build up draft picks so at times you could trade up and trade down depending on the common good of the football team. The Head Coach would have final say although he would be surrounded by individuals that he could work with in order to come to the best decision.

Now enter Stan Kroenke who needed to put a plan in place to catapult a franchise that was like “Land that time forgot.” The key for Stan was to find his man that could be prototype Head Coach who when entrusted with that power would not overreach like so many have done in the past. Kroenke takes more of a laissez-faire approach than Sir Robert Kraft so Kroenke started with a Chief Operating Officer that had an inside track to a Head Coach he felt could be the cornerstone of the structure he envisioned.

Kevin Demoff a young up and comer executive not only offered an approach to improve the team on the field, but off the field as well and with his association with Jeffrey Michael Fisher, it only made him the natural to be Stan’s right hand man to put the plan together. Fisher was the big fish that had to be landed for the paradigm to be put in place and in Stan’s mind…At all costs.

It was not easy, but when you’re building something special nothing is as the man named after St. Louis Cardinal Greats Enos Slaughter & Stan Musial has found out in his professional life time & time again. Fisher could have landed in Miami, but once he had the opportunity to meet with Stan Kroenke he realized the Gateway City was the perfect fit.

The Rams followed with finding a young, effervescent rising General Manager in Les Snead who also came from an organization who had a sprinkle of this paradigm with being the chief lieutenant to Thomas Dimitroff who was one of Belichick’s personnel gurus in New England.

Kroenke has given the triumvirate of Demoff, Snead & Fisher all the means necessary to propel the Rams into the upper echelon of the NFL and now Kroenke turns his attention to the Stadium issue looming in St. Louis. However, all of us can thank that Patriot Robert Kraft for providing the blue print so the St. Louis Rams were no longer a team that time forgot.

 

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Good post. That's really all the "Patriot Way" is about. As an owner, get out of the way and let your football do their football thing. Individually, everyone do their job so that everyone around THEM can do THEIR job. It's not rocket science.

Demoff has a knack for landing the top (sought after) Head Coaches so far, and obviously this was his trophy catch with Jeff Fisher. Much appreciation to Stan Kroenke for giving Fisher everything he needs in the way of assistants so that he can be free to do HIS thing. There's a strong family vibe on this team, and everyone seems to have each other's back. They're also having fun for once, and that can go a long, long way.