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Nick Wagoner
http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-eve ... c0d8eecc7b
Nearly 30 years into a long and successful NFL coaching career, Dave McGinnis has again been energized by an opportunity that he felt was too good to pass up.
When the call came from newly named Rams coach Jeff Fisher to join he and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in St. Louis, McGinnis didn’t need much time to jump at the chance to make one final stand with two of his closest friends in the business.
“That’s a major, major part of this,” McGinnis said. “I am really fired up and this is very exciting for me just for that reason that you said. To be able to get with guys that you know, that you trust, that you know are going to do it the right way, and also be able to watch this team. They’re going to be extremely excited about what’s going on here. It’s going to be very professional; it’s going to be very disciplined. Jeff’s teams have always been like that. To be able to get with those guys was a major, major factor in what I wanted to do. You’re exactly right. If I sound excited, it’s because I am.”
McGinnis did indeed sound excited when speaking with the St. Louis media for the first time during a conference call Wednesday afternoon. On the job for a couple of weeks now, McGinnis is settling in to his new role as assistant head coach.
Unlike many coaches around the league with that title, McGinnis isn’t expected to pick up an additional title that requires him to coach a specific position in addition to those duties.
Instead, McGinnis will serve as a legitimate assistant head coach, a de facto consigliere to Fisher who will have his hand in helping out all aspects of the team so Fisher can truly serve as a CEO.
It’s a role similar to what McGinnis did for Titans coach Mike Munchak last year in Tennessee.
“You know what; I’m going to be helping in all aspects of the team,” McGinnis said. “I’m going to be assisting Jeff and both coordinators and the special teams coordinator in a lot of various capacities. It’s a position that Jeff and I had talked about progressing to when I was there with him in Nashville. The times that I was there with him, every year I was fortunate enough, people would call with other job opportunities other places, but I really, really wanted to stay with Jeff just because I admired the way that he does things. He is the guy that is just so spot-on with what he’s doing in all aspects of it. He just gets it, guys, on every level in this league. As you know, as head coach there are a lot of levels that you have to be very, very spot-on with. My role will be helping him encompass the whole team and I’m really looking forward to it.”
In other words, McGinnis won’t be coaching linebackers as some have speculated or defensive backs or anything else specifically so much as working with everyone in effort to make the whole team better.
McGinnis brings with him an impressive resume that includes more NFL experience than any coach on Fisher’s staff, including Fisher himself.
Entering the 2012 season, McGinnis will be starting his 39th season as a coach, 25 of which he has spent coaching in some capacity in the NFL.
Fisher and McGinnis spent seven seasons working together in Tennessee, where McGinnis stayed last season before accepting this newest role with St. Louis.
The bond that pair forged in Tennessee made McGinnis’ decision to come to the Gateway City from a place he liked so much in Tennessee an easy one.
“Once you become associated with Jeff Fisher and once you’ve been fortunate enough to work for him, you understand that the way he does things and what he stands for and absolutely, I’ve become very close to Jeff and with his family,” McGinnis said. “Football wise I just have such great respect. As I said, as soon as he called and said, ’Mac, here’s what I’m doing,’ it was instantaneous. I said, ‘Jeff, let’s go.’”
McGinnis’ qualifications for his role as a true assistant head coach are nothing to sneeze at considering he actually has experience as a NFL head coach.
Before he arrived in Tennessee to work with Fisher, McGinnis was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for three and a half years beginning in 2000.
In fact, that job came about after McGinnis had a brief marriage with the Bears annulled only about six hours after accepting the Chicago job in 1999.
Oddly enough, that simple twist of fate was a coup for the Rams considering the way the dominoes fell. McGinnis had planned to bring aboard a star coaching staff in Chicago that would have included a talented young offensive mind named Mike Martz as his offensive coordinator.
When things fell apart, Martz became the offensive coordinator in St. Louis and the rest, as they say, is football history.
“The way that things are intertwined in this league, it is amazing,” McGinnis said. “Really, when you start connecting all the dots and the ifs and buts and candy and nuts, I mean, it really is amazing. ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’ did materialize and it was a great, great thing for the Rams organization and the city of St. Louis.”
McGinnis went back to the waiting game before becoming Arizona’s head coach in 2000 and though it didn’t last as long he would have liked, it certainly provided him with the experience that would serve him well the rest of his career.
“I know that until you ever sit in that chair and it’s you and it says ‘head coach’ on that door, you really can’t explain it to anybody,” McGinnis said. “Because once you get there, no matter how long it’s taken you to get there, once you’re in that chair, there are so many things that come up, that go through you, that you’re not prepared for, you really aren’t. I think that helps and it gives you a broader perspective of what’s going on because you really have to put your high beams on as a head coach. As an assistant coach, you can sometimes look through a little narrower scope. As a head coach, you’ve got to open it. It’s got to be wide open…that experience really helps you because one thing you can’t manufacture in this league or professional sports or really whatever you do, you just can’t manufacture experience. That three and a half, four years that I was the head coach there in Arizona, that experience was invaluable.”
It’s that experience that McGinnis hopes will help him help Fisher and the rest of the new coaching staff get the Rams turned around on a long-term basis.
For now, McGinnis is working with the rest of the staff on reviewing tape of the Rams and getting a feel for the roster that’s already in place. That’s an ongoing process but it’s part of a much bigger process that by his own admission has McGinnis excited to get back to work.
“I’ve been in this league for 27 years,” McGinnis said. “I wanted to be somewhere with somebody that I knew, knew what they were doing, was confident in what they were doing, and plus is just a good person to be with, not only as a football coach, but just as a human being.”
http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-eve ... c0d8eecc7b
Nearly 30 years into a long and successful NFL coaching career, Dave McGinnis has again been energized by an opportunity that he felt was too good to pass up.
When the call came from newly named Rams coach Jeff Fisher to join he and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in St. Louis, McGinnis didn’t need much time to jump at the chance to make one final stand with two of his closest friends in the business.
“That’s a major, major part of this,” McGinnis said. “I am really fired up and this is very exciting for me just for that reason that you said. To be able to get with guys that you know, that you trust, that you know are going to do it the right way, and also be able to watch this team. They’re going to be extremely excited about what’s going on here. It’s going to be very professional; it’s going to be very disciplined. Jeff’s teams have always been like that. To be able to get with those guys was a major, major factor in what I wanted to do. You’re exactly right. If I sound excited, it’s because I am.”
McGinnis did indeed sound excited when speaking with the St. Louis media for the first time during a conference call Wednesday afternoon. On the job for a couple of weeks now, McGinnis is settling in to his new role as assistant head coach.
Unlike many coaches around the league with that title, McGinnis isn’t expected to pick up an additional title that requires him to coach a specific position in addition to those duties.
Instead, McGinnis will serve as a legitimate assistant head coach, a de facto consigliere to Fisher who will have his hand in helping out all aspects of the team so Fisher can truly serve as a CEO.
It’s a role similar to what McGinnis did for Titans coach Mike Munchak last year in Tennessee.
“You know what; I’m going to be helping in all aspects of the team,” McGinnis said. “I’m going to be assisting Jeff and both coordinators and the special teams coordinator in a lot of various capacities. It’s a position that Jeff and I had talked about progressing to when I was there with him in Nashville. The times that I was there with him, every year I was fortunate enough, people would call with other job opportunities other places, but I really, really wanted to stay with Jeff just because I admired the way that he does things. He is the guy that is just so spot-on with what he’s doing in all aspects of it. He just gets it, guys, on every level in this league. As you know, as head coach there are a lot of levels that you have to be very, very spot-on with. My role will be helping him encompass the whole team and I’m really looking forward to it.”
In other words, McGinnis won’t be coaching linebackers as some have speculated or defensive backs or anything else specifically so much as working with everyone in effort to make the whole team better.
McGinnis brings with him an impressive resume that includes more NFL experience than any coach on Fisher’s staff, including Fisher himself.
Entering the 2012 season, McGinnis will be starting his 39th season as a coach, 25 of which he has spent coaching in some capacity in the NFL.
Fisher and McGinnis spent seven seasons working together in Tennessee, where McGinnis stayed last season before accepting this newest role with St. Louis.
The bond that pair forged in Tennessee made McGinnis’ decision to come to the Gateway City from a place he liked so much in Tennessee an easy one.
“Once you become associated with Jeff Fisher and once you’ve been fortunate enough to work for him, you understand that the way he does things and what he stands for and absolutely, I’ve become very close to Jeff and with his family,” McGinnis said. “Football wise I just have such great respect. As I said, as soon as he called and said, ’Mac, here’s what I’m doing,’ it was instantaneous. I said, ‘Jeff, let’s go.’”
McGinnis’ qualifications for his role as a true assistant head coach are nothing to sneeze at considering he actually has experience as a NFL head coach.
Before he arrived in Tennessee to work with Fisher, McGinnis was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for three and a half years beginning in 2000.
In fact, that job came about after McGinnis had a brief marriage with the Bears annulled only about six hours after accepting the Chicago job in 1999.
Oddly enough, that simple twist of fate was a coup for the Rams considering the way the dominoes fell. McGinnis had planned to bring aboard a star coaching staff in Chicago that would have included a talented young offensive mind named Mike Martz as his offensive coordinator.
When things fell apart, Martz became the offensive coordinator in St. Louis and the rest, as they say, is football history.
“The way that things are intertwined in this league, it is amazing,” McGinnis said. “Really, when you start connecting all the dots and the ifs and buts and candy and nuts, I mean, it really is amazing. ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’ did materialize and it was a great, great thing for the Rams organization and the city of St. Louis.”
McGinnis went back to the waiting game before becoming Arizona’s head coach in 2000 and though it didn’t last as long he would have liked, it certainly provided him with the experience that would serve him well the rest of his career.
“I know that until you ever sit in that chair and it’s you and it says ‘head coach’ on that door, you really can’t explain it to anybody,” McGinnis said. “Because once you get there, no matter how long it’s taken you to get there, once you’re in that chair, there are so many things that come up, that go through you, that you’re not prepared for, you really aren’t. I think that helps and it gives you a broader perspective of what’s going on because you really have to put your high beams on as a head coach. As an assistant coach, you can sometimes look through a little narrower scope. As a head coach, you’ve got to open it. It’s got to be wide open…that experience really helps you because one thing you can’t manufacture in this league or professional sports or really whatever you do, you just can’t manufacture experience. That three and a half, four years that I was the head coach there in Arizona, that experience was invaluable.”
It’s that experience that McGinnis hopes will help him help Fisher and the rest of the new coaching staff get the Rams turned around on a long-term basis.
For now, McGinnis is working with the rest of the staff on reviewing tape of the Rams and getting a feel for the roster that’s already in place. That’s an ongoing process but it’s part of a much bigger process that by his own admission has McGinnis excited to get back to work.
“I’ve been in this league for 27 years,” McGinnis said. “I wanted to be somewhere with somebody that I knew, knew what they were doing, was confident in what they were doing, and plus is just a good person to be with, not only as a football coach, but just as a human being.”