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D.J. Gelner
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At 10:11 am, the Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney era ended in Earth City, not with a bang, but with a...press release?
“I would like to personally thank Steve and Billy for their dedication to the St. Louis Rams organization over the past several seasons,” Rams owner Stan Kroenke said in the release. “This was a difficult decision for many reasons. We have tremendous respect for Steve and Billy as people and football professionals."
“No one individual is to blame for this disappointing season and we all must hold ourselves accountable. However, we believe it’s in the best interest of the St. Louis Rams to make theses changes as we continue our quest to build a team that consistently competes for playoffs and championships. We wish Steve, Billy and their families the very best in the future and thank them again for their commitment to our organization and the city of St. Louis.”
It’s a move that was expected, though with all of the rumors floating around Rams Park in recent weeks, it was tough to know exactly what today would bring. For a while the hot rumor was that Spags was in, but Billy was out. Then it was the opposite; Billy was set to stay and Spags was on the outs.
It appears that Kroenke didn’t tip his hand until this morning, when Spags and Billy were informed of their fates. Spagnuolo, in turn, informed the team of his termination during a morning meeting.
“In this business, you know pretty much a decision was going to be made one way or another,” Steven Jackson said in the locker room after news of the firing broke. “Wasn’t quite sure what it was going to be, but coach addressed the team this morning, let us know that he was terminated and he was sorry, especially for the guys that have been the entire three years he’s been head coach, that he didn’t get the job done. He took full responsibility, and really regret that he couldn’t turn this franchise back around.”
The reaction from players was fairly somber, but they all noted that this is the nature of the business.
“This is the business we sign up for, so this is one business where it’s just black and white, there are no shades of gray,” CB Ron Bartell said. “When you don’t get the job done, you don’t get the wins you’re supposed to get, this is what happens, from the top down. So we’ll all be held accountable, the next people that come in will make sure that players are held accountable, so we’ll see what happens.”
“It’s very sad, and disappointing, but this is a league where there are great expectations on both sides of the football, great expectations from our fans, great expectations from our management and definitely from our owner,” OL Jason Brown said. “It’s tough that it has to come down to this, but when you don’t get things done out there on the football field, you paint yourself into a corner where tough decisions have to be made, and they’re definitely being made right now.”
“Been through this a couple of times now, and it’s never pretty when someone’s losing their job,” Chris Long said. “I certainly wish Spags the best and Billy the best, I’m very appreciative especially of Billy for bringing me here.”
Don’t get me wrong; this change was long in the making, and necessary. As Ron Bartell put it very succinctly, it is a black-and-white business; wins and losses, no in between. Well, unless you count ties, but those are so few and far between in the modern NFL that they’re more of a vestigial curiosity than anything else.
Spags leaves the legacy of the now much-derided four pillars and a 10-38, as well as a professionalism and positive attitude that his players continued to discuss after his firing.
“There was commitment to excellence, a commitment to integrity, and doing things the right way,” Brown said of what attracted him to the Rams and Spagnuolo in particular as a free agent. “For some reason, along the way, we’ve been trying to pinpoint exactly why and what, for what reason…it’s not just a million dollar question, it’s a billion dollar question, and it’s been very hard to find those answers.”
Whomever takes over for the departed has to find those answers. Rams fans are by nature a patient lot, but after the stomach-churning roller coaster ride of emotions they’ve been put through over the past three years, it’s understandable if they ask to see some steady improvement as this operation is rebuilt.
“You know, it’s building, it’s rebuilding, it’s building, it’s rebuilding,” Long said. “We take some hits and then we have to get back up and dust ourselves off, and certainly we’ll have to dust ourselves off after this season.” “I know the nucleus of guys that are in here, we believe in those guys, and just having an owner like Stan, we believe there’s something to be said for that continuity and having a guy that’s committed, and we all appreciate the way he’s handled this. Certainly it’s not easy to make the decisions that he has, but we believe in whoever he decides is going to come in here.”
Various candidates have already emerged for the vacancies, especially for the head coaching position. Jeff Fisher has been mentioned seemingly since the bye week as a potential replacement, but he seems to be the hot girl at the sock hop that everyone wants to dance with. Mike Sherman, Jon Gruden, and even Marty Mornhenweig have all been mentioned as guys with previous head coaching experience that could be a good fit, though a new head coach will need to bring a lot more to the table than “had his nameplate above ‘Head Coach’ somewhere else in the league.”
“You need a lot in the head coach…I think one you need one that is a leader, that knows how to, one, lead men, and secondly, listen to them, you know, when they tell you that some things need to be adjusted,” Jackson said. “I think the most important is one that has a clear cut vision of what he wants for the franchise and knows how to get them there.”
“Along with those abilities, you have to have wins and losses too,” Jackson continued. “In this business, I’ve been around a lot of great people, but unfortunately that’s not what keeps people around all the time.”
I think that’s a fitting epitaph for Spags; a guy who did seem to be generally fairly personable in the short time we were allowed to spend with him all season. I say "short time" because press conferences were usually between five and fifteen minutes, but we probably had around 40 minutes of press conferences per week times twenty weeks. It's somewhere around 13 hours by my back-of-the-envelope math; that should be enough time to get a flavor for someone.
But as affable as the man was, you don’t get paid for “being a nice guy” in the NFL. He’ll find work elsewhere in short order as a defensive coordinator, and he’s been paid millions for his three years in St. Louis.
Likewise, Billy Devaney will end up on his feet elsewhere. It has to be a tough time for these guys, and it may seem like their dreams are shattered at the moment, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a bump in the road; a detour that will likely take their careers in different directions. It’s up to them to not feel sorry for themselves and to move forward, get back on the horse, and make things happen.
It’s amazing; I’ve seemingly already written this same obituary a number of times this season. Here’s one example. Here’s another. There’s an odd finality about it this time that’s a little weird for me; Spags is gone, Billy is gone, and the whole operation out in Earth City is up in the air.
But for Rams fans, it’s a fresh start, a clean slate. Fans finally get to put this awful season behind them, and get some hope that things will change for the better this time. Coaches come and go, GMs come and go, but fans now have to hope that Stan Kroenke and Kevin Demoff have the answers, and will put a front office and coach in place that will show steady improvement, and get the Rams back on track to become a winning team once more.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLcom/STLSports/STLRams/tabid/137/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/8053/The-Axe-Falls.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLcom/S ... Falls.aspx</a>
At 10:11 am, the Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney era ended in Earth City, not with a bang, but with a...press release?
“I would like to personally thank Steve and Billy for their dedication to the St. Louis Rams organization over the past several seasons,” Rams owner Stan Kroenke said in the release. “This was a difficult decision for many reasons. We have tremendous respect for Steve and Billy as people and football professionals."
“No one individual is to blame for this disappointing season and we all must hold ourselves accountable. However, we believe it’s in the best interest of the St. Louis Rams to make theses changes as we continue our quest to build a team that consistently competes for playoffs and championships. We wish Steve, Billy and their families the very best in the future and thank them again for their commitment to our organization and the city of St. Louis.”
It’s a move that was expected, though with all of the rumors floating around Rams Park in recent weeks, it was tough to know exactly what today would bring. For a while the hot rumor was that Spags was in, but Billy was out. Then it was the opposite; Billy was set to stay and Spags was on the outs.
It appears that Kroenke didn’t tip his hand until this morning, when Spags and Billy were informed of their fates. Spagnuolo, in turn, informed the team of his termination during a morning meeting.
“In this business, you know pretty much a decision was going to be made one way or another,” Steven Jackson said in the locker room after news of the firing broke. “Wasn’t quite sure what it was going to be, but coach addressed the team this morning, let us know that he was terminated and he was sorry, especially for the guys that have been the entire three years he’s been head coach, that he didn’t get the job done. He took full responsibility, and really regret that he couldn’t turn this franchise back around.”
The reaction from players was fairly somber, but they all noted that this is the nature of the business.
“This is the business we sign up for, so this is one business where it’s just black and white, there are no shades of gray,” CB Ron Bartell said. “When you don’t get the job done, you don’t get the wins you’re supposed to get, this is what happens, from the top down. So we’ll all be held accountable, the next people that come in will make sure that players are held accountable, so we’ll see what happens.”
“It’s very sad, and disappointing, but this is a league where there are great expectations on both sides of the football, great expectations from our fans, great expectations from our management and definitely from our owner,” OL Jason Brown said. “It’s tough that it has to come down to this, but when you don’t get things done out there on the football field, you paint yourself into a corner where tough decisions have to be made, and they’re definitely being made right now.”
“Been through this a couple of times now, and it’s never pretty when someone’s losing their job,” Chris Long said. “I certainly wish Spags the best and Billy the best, I’m very appreciative especially of Billy for bringing me here.”
Don’t get me wrong; this change was long in the making, and necessary. As Ron Bartell put it very succinctly, it is a black-and-white business; wins and losses, no in between. Well, unless you count ties, but those are so few and far between in the modern NFL that they’re more of a vestigial curiosity than anything else.
Spags leaves the legacy of the now much-derided four pillars and a 10-38, as well as a professionalism and positive attitude that his players continued to discuss after his firing.
“There was commitment to excellence, a commitment to integrity, and doing things the right way,” Brown said of what attracted him to the Rams and Spagnuolo in particular as a free agent. “For some reason, along the way, we’ve been trying to pinpoint exactly why and what, for what reason…it’s not just a million dollar question, it’s a billion dollar question, and it’s been very hard to find those answers.”
Whomever takes over for the departed has to find those answers. Rams fans are by nature a patient lot, but after the stomach-churning roller coaster ride of emotions they’ve been put through over the past three years, it’s understandable if they ask to see some steady improvement as this operation is rebuilt.
“You know, it’s building, it’s rebuilding, it’s building, it’s rebuilding,” Long said. “We take some hits and then we have to get back up and dust ourselves off, and certainly we’ll have to dust ourselves off after this season.” “I know the nucleus of guys that are in here, we believe in those guys, and just having an owner like Stan, we believe there’s something to be said for that continuity and having a guy that’s committed, and we all appreciate the way he’s handled this. Certainly it’s not easy to make the decisions that he has, but we believe in whoever he decides is going to come in here.”
Various candidates have already emerged for the vacancies, especially for the head coaching position. Jeff Fisher has been mentioned seemingly since the bye week as a potential replacement, but he seems to be the hot girl at the sock hop that everyone wants to dance with. Mike Sherman, Jon Gruden, and even Marty Mornhenweig have all been mentioned as guys with previous head coaching experience that could be a good fit, though a new head coach will need to bring a lot more to the table than “had his nameplate above ‘Head Coach’ somewhere else in the league.”
“You need a lot in the head coach…I think one you need one that is a leader, that knows how to, one, lead men, and secondly, listen to them, you know, when they tell you that some things need to be adjusted,” Jackson said. “I think the most important is one that has a clear cut vision of what he wants for the franchise and knows how to get them there.”
“Along with those abilities, you have to have wins and losses too,” Jackson continued. “In this business, I’ve been around a lot of great people, but unfortunately that’s not what keeps people around all the time.”
I think that’s a fitting epitaph for Spags; a guy who did seem to be generally fairly personable in the short time we were allowed to spend with him all season. I say "short time" because press conferences were usually between five and fifteen minutes, but we probably had around 40 minutes of press conferences per week times twenty weeks. It's somewhere around 13 hours by my back-of-the-envelope math; that should be enough time to get a flavor for someone.
But as affable as the man was, you don’t get paid for “being a nice guy” in the NFL. He’ll find work elsewhere in short order as a defensive coordinator, and he’s been paid millions for his three years in St. Louis.
Likewise, Billy Devaney will end up on his feet elsewhere. It has to be a tough time for these guys, and it may seem like their dreams are shattered at the moment, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a bump in the road; a detour that will likely take their careers in different directions. It’s up to them to not feel sorry for themselves and to move forward, get back on the horse, and make things happen.
It’s amazing; I’ve seemingly already written this same obituary a number of times this season. Here’s one example. Here’s another. There’s an odd finality about it this time that’s a little weird for me; Spags is gone, Billy is gone, and the whole operation out in Earth City is up in the air.
But for Rams fans, it’s a fresh start, a clean slate. Fans finally get to put this awful season behind them, and get some hope that things will change for the better this time. Coaches come and go, GMs come and go, but fans now have to hope that Stan Kroenke and Kevin Demoff have the answers, and will put a front office and coach in place that will show steady improvement, and get the Rams back on track to become a winning team once more.
