Who was worse, Spags or Linehan?

[psxpaul]

I don't know if I'd fault either one for poor drafting- its debatable how much of that is due to the GM and scouting department.

But Linehan fired Paul Boudreau in favor of Steve Loney. He let Isaac Bruce go in favor of Drew Bennett. He stuck by Jim Hasslett. He gave up play calling duties, then later took them back. He abandoned his own system and ran a bunch of Martz's plays.

 

[So Ram]

Spags was flat out bad.Him and pencil in his ear.He at least did not have to deal with Georgia,Shaw & JZ.

Linehan was over his head,and did not trust Olsen.
Haselett went behind his back.Trying to get the head coaching job.
Offensive line got hurt, look back at SJ39 #'s .
To think Linehan was put in the toughest position of any Rams coach in history.Look at the cap.Then think of Bruuce's,Pace,Holts contract.Bulger was going to holdout,SJ did holdout & Lunehan has to try to keep everything together.
Spags in NO after G. Williams was a joke.
Linehan in Detroit put up numbers,& I say watch Dallas Cowboys offense this year.I can't wait to see The Rams D though.

--Bottom line is Spags had everything to build with his pillars.

--Linehan came in when Rome was burning.It's like the pink Panther.Which way do you go.

Redskin Red Head what ever he is.Can't believe Hasseltt survived another coaching firing.He must kiss some good ownership butt

 

[CGI_Ram]

I voted Spags. Here's why;

Linehan proved he could not lead men. He failed miserably in that regard.

But Spags, as a strategic coach, was absolutely horrific. Interesting too that he can't even latch on as a DC anywhere. Meanwhile Linehan is still considered a solid OC for the Lions.

Give these two men equal talent and I believe Linehan outcoaches Spags - easily.

 

[Loyal]

I wonder why Rich Brooks wasn't included? All three are carrying 50 lbs of suck

 

[Boffo97]

I know some here have a mad-on about Spags, but even mentioning the two in the same sentence is ridiculous IMO. Linehan coasted on the momentum he inherited, earning one more 8-8 season, then went 5-27 in the last two seasons losing the team and causing it to lose pretty much all its talent except Jackson (even though I liked Bulger, he was already beaten down at that point. Spags inherited nothing (again, except Jackson), went 1-15 the next year, then improved to 7-9 the next year (I've challenged people before to name another "bad coach" who showed a 6 game improvement over the previous year, it's gone either unanswered or sidestepped.)... then 2011, while obviously the Spagsvaney regime wasn't perfect, 2011 was all about the injuries. Period. Even the best coach in the world couldn't have done much with the 2011 team. When Fisher was hired, he talked about how Bradford and other players who were here caused him to choose us over Miami.

Linehan lost the team. It was obvious and public. Spags didn't, unless one wants to claim that it was all secret.

Their coaching jobs since don't impress me, since Spags had the misfortune of going to the single worst DC posting imaginable after Bountygate came out.

People started hating Spags after the Rams lost the Seattle game in 2010, which shouldn't have even mattered unless the Rams hadn't been playing out of their minds.

If Fisher doesn't work out, we'll start hearing comparisons of him to Linehan as well. It's just nature of the beast.

Spags by a county mile. It wasn't bad enough that he sucked, because he totally did, but to go through Rams park and tear down all of the greatest show on turf history is just wrong. That move alone earned him the honor of sticking his 4 pillars in a very specific region of his body.

Linehan was a crappy head coach, Spags was a crappy man.

It was just recently discussed and an article linked to which says that the tearing down all the pictures thing never happened.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Their coaching jobs since don't impress me, since Spags had the misfortune of going to the single worst DC posting imaginable after Bountygate came out.

Ahh... But Sexy Rexy turned Spags 32nd ranked defense into the 4th ranked in total yards allowed - in one offseason.

 

[Boffo97]

Ahh... But Sexy Rexy turned Spags 32nd ranked defense into the 4th ranked in total yards allowed - in one offseason.

Sure.... after the whole Bountygate thing calmed down.

But I really look at what was done here rather than what people did elsewhere after leaving.

And honestly, Spags is just one of those issues where people have made up their minds, no one's changing them, and it's best just to let them go since in that respect they're very comparable to politics or religion discussion...

 

[Ram Quixote]

Ahh... But Sexy Rexy turned Spags 32nd ranked defense into the 4th ranked in total yards allowed - in one offseason.

Don't you mean Slob Rob?

 

[Rams43]

Interesting topic and a very tough call for me.

Both coaches were embarrassments, obviously.

In a verrrrry close call, I'm going with Spags as the worst.

Several reasons that I think give him the slight edge...

He took down the GSOT posters.
He fired the equipment manager because of his own insecurities. The equipment manager!
I hate micro managers who are control freaks. Period.
Hiring McDaniels after a strike shortened offseason for a 2nd year QB, then letting him install an O for which we lacked the proper personnel.
Continuing to play Bradford on a high ankle sprain (risking Bradford's career) in a pathetic attempt to save his own job.
After becoming DC for the Saints, he only further embarrassed himself. I mean record setting embarrassment. Linehan didn't.
Did I mention that I hate micro managing control freaks? Lol.

So I'm going with Spags as the worst, but it's close. Linehan was no prize, either.

Gawd, I'm SO happy we now have Kroenke, Demoff, Snead, and Fisher now!

 

[RamFan503]

I have to go Linny by a hair. I'll admit that I didn't like the hire from the get go but it got to the point where I couldn't stand even looking at the guy. Don't recall that with any Rams coach - ever.

 

[Boffo97]

Interesting topic and a very tough call for me.

Both coaches were embarrassments, obviously.

In a verrrrry close call, I'm going with Spags as the worst.

Several reasons that I think give him the slight edge...

He took down the GSOT posters.

That didn't actually happen.

He fired the equipment manager because of his own insecurities. The equipment manager!

Because the dude was a locker room leak. Had nothing to do with supposed insecurities.

 

[Dodgersrf]

I chose Linny, but it could have just as easily been spags.
Linny did have some aging talent.
Spags did a lot of questionable things though.
Taking all the former Rams pictures down.
Firing the equipment manager for sitting on the bench when fixing something.(so Ive read)
Not changing offensive game plans when Mc D was calling seven step drops and getting Sam killed do to lack of protection.

 

[Ram Quixote]

Because the dude was a locker room leak. Had nothing to do with supposed insecurities.

As proof of that, note the invective that went down from the normally objective JT. He even gave Hewitt a pulpit to preach from.

 

[Boffo97]

Not changing offensive game plans when Mc D was calling seven step drops and getting Sam killed do to lack of protection.

One thing about that.... had he stepped in sooner to change McD's plans (remember, Spags is a defensive guy), everyone would have been calling "control freak!"

Damned if you do and damned if you don't sometimes. McDaniels was supposed to be a lot better for us than he was.

 

[Debacled]

Voting Linehan all the way. He completely lost the team after grasping at the little that was left from the GSOT days. I would wager the drafts while he was here were worse than the Devaney days (Carriker for a 4-3 defense that aborted the 3-4 transition and Brian Leonard anyone?)

Spags seems to have a knack for landing in bad situations. 2011 we saw this team catch fire with injuries. They had to resort to bringing in Rod Hood and Al Harris at CB due to injuries (if that doesn't sink a team I don't know what will). Brought in during that time that FA was litterally a wasteland due to the holdout (for every year he was here). Bad cap obligations due to no rookie cap and previous contracts handed out by that brilliant JZ. Hired on with the Saints following the bounty gate snafu. McDaniels was a hugely popular hire until it didn't work (patchwork offensive line with a young a learning QB getting smacked around was not a good combo for him).

Spags coached like Coughlin in NY. Can't blame the guy for using the approach he was most familiar with. Its worked out for Coughlin (iron fist, my way or high way). People like to pop off about the pictures (which were just moved) and the equipment coach thing (entitled much? he went a bit off the deepend (and is still there) following his firing, it seems to make more sense). He was simply a guy that didn't work out. Teams hire and fire guys like him every year.

 

[-X-]

Not changing offensive game plans when Mc D was calling seven step drops and getting Sam killed do to lack of protection.

They did change the gameplan, and that's the problem. Because they changed it weekly depending on who they were playing.
And the problem with THAT, was the team had no familiarity with the playbook, and all were mostly rookies/2nd year guys on top of it.

 

[LesBaker]

Well lets look at what they did in their past, then what they did with the Rams, then what they have done after being fired.

Spagnuolo comes up light on the scale in comparison, not by a lot because they both were very poor at a lot of different things. But Spagnuolo wins this contest by a nose.

 

[LesBaker]

They did change the gameplan, and that's the problem. Because they changed it weekly depending on who they were playing.
And the problem with THAT, was the team had no familiarity with the playbook, and all were mostly rookies/2nd year guys on top of it.

It was more than that and I was pointing this out right away.

Bradford wasn't capable of making the line calls, he didjn't have the experience to do it, he was getting himself hit and sacked.

He made the calls and directed the guys based on what he "saw" pre-snap. He was too often confused or unsure because countless times thee was a DLman coming in untouched with an OLman 3 feet away turned to the inside or outside. Plenty of blame can be spread around for sure, and that was an ugly time for the fans, but Bradford was a big part of the problem and later we found out that there were struggles recognizing what was happening.

 

[Boffo97]

Well lets look at what they did in their past, then what they did with the Rams, then what they have done after being fired.

Spagnuolo comes up light on the scale in comparison, not by a lot because they both were very poor at a lot of different things. But Spagnuolo wins this contest by a nose.

I personally look only at what they did with the Rams, both during their time here, and the quality difference of the team between when they came to the Rams and when they left. By that standard, Linehan loses big time. And I think the poll results thus far are bearing that out.

 

[LesBaker]

I personally look only at what they did with the Rams, both during their time here, and the quality difference of the team between when they came to the Rams and when they left. By that standard, Linehan loses big time. And I think the poll results thus far are bearing that out.

I personally look only at what they did with the Rams, both during their time here, and the quality difference of the team between when they came to the Rams and when they left. By that standard, Linehan loses big time. And I think the poll results thus far are bearing that out.

It's shades of gray, they were both terrible. If we made a list of what each was really bad at there would probably be about the same number of negatives, the lists would just look a little different for each guy.