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Bernie Miklasz » Friendly Advice to Sean McVay: Beware of the Rams and Club Demoff
Friendly Advice to Sean McVay: Beware of the Rams and Club Demoff
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Bernie Miklasz in
Bernie Miklasz,
National Football League January 11, 2017
Based on multiple
media reports, it appears that the Los Angeles Rams are moving closer to offering their head-coaching job to Washington Redskins’ offensive coordinator
Sean McVay.
Rams executive VP Kevin Demoff
That certainly would be interesting.
By all accounts McVay has done a good job as the Redskins’ OC. He comes from an impressive NFL blood line; grandfather
John McVay was VP and director of football operations who worked with
Bill Walsh (and others) during a prosperous era in San Francisco highlighted by five Super Bowl titles.
Oh and by the way …
McVay is 30 — at least until his 31st birthday on Jan. 24.
The Rams’ hiring makes at least
some sense if you believe that McVay is some mystical quarterback guru that can turn unimpressive, overwhelmed Rams quarterback
Jared Goff into
Kirk Cousins. The hiring would make
some sense if you believe that the boy wonder McVay — and not head coach
Jay Gruden — was the predominant brain behind the Washington offense.
It makes
some sense if you believe that a 31-year-old dude is ready to be a successful head coach.
To this point
Lane Kiffin was the youngest head coach in NFL history, hired by Oakland in 2007 at age 31. His record as the HC: lasted 20 games; 5-15.
Raheem Morris was 32 when Tampa Bay elevated him to head coach in 2009. Record: three seasons, 17-31.
David Shula (Don’s son) was 32 when Cincinnati surprisingly named him (at the time) the youngest HC in league history back in 1992. Record: despite being given four-plus years to prove himself, Shula never won more than five games in a season and ended with a 19-52 record.
Another 32-year-old,
Josh McDaniels, was hired as HC by Denver in 2009. Record: incessant chaos, foolishly spending a No. 1 draft choice on
Tim Tebow, and getting run off 12 games into his second season after winning only 11 of 28 games.
The four youngest coaches in NFL history — Kiffin, Morris, Shula and McDaniels — combined for a 52-115 record for a .311 winning percentage.
Evidently they weren’t quite ready.
Other Thirty-Somethings have won after receiving early opportunities.
Jon Gruden,
Bill Cowher,
Mike Tomlin,and
Eric Mangini each were 35 when they worked their first game as an NFL head coach. And
Mike Shanahan was 36.
But if hired by the Rams, McVay would be four (or five) years younger than those guys when making his debut as head coach. Does four or five years make a difference? Probably so. I guess it depends on the person … and the organization that’s hiring him. Cowher and Tomlin had the advantage of taking over the very smart and proven football operation in Pittsburgh.
Gruden was able to effectively work within the borderline-insane culture of the late Raiders owner
Al Davis — at least for a while. Shanahan, on the other hand, couldn’t navigate the bizarro Raiders World and lasted only 20 games. Mangini posted winning records in two of his first three seasons with the New York Jets, but was fired after five seasons — and 10-22 record over his final two years.
It’s no coincidence that Cowher and Tomlin fared better than the others (as first-time head coaches) because the Steelers know what they’re doing in scouting, drafting and signing players.
Other than his mind for offense, why would the Rams be smitten with McVay?
This is where Jon Gruden comes in. He has a long football association with the McVay family. Jon’s father, Jimmy, coached for with John McVay at Dayton. And in 1979, when the 49ers were thinking about drafting a quarterback named
Joe Montana, John McVay called Notre Dame assistant coach Jimmy Gruden to get a detailed (and glowing) scouting report. At 26, Jon Gruden was hired by John McVay in 1990 to work as a special assistant in San Francisco.
Jon Gruden returned the favor in 2008. Then the head coach at Tampa Bay, Gruden hired Sean McVay, a pup of 22, as an assistant wide receivers coach.
And of course Sean McVay was promoted to offensive coordinator in Washington by Jon’s little brother, Jay.
There’s been multiple generations of McVays and Grudens hiring each other.
And let us not forget that the Tampa Bay administrative staff in 2008 included
Kevin Demoff.
The Tampa Bay football staff in ’08 included Jon Gruden and Sean McVay … as well as Bruce Allen, now the top executive for the Redskins.
Do you see all of the connections?
The Rams couldn’t convince Jon Gruden to take their HC gig, but he agreed to serve as a consultant in the search.
With Jon and Jay Gruden lining up in support of Sean McVay, you can see why Demoff made a beeline to McVay.
Not only does Demoff know McVay, but Jon Gruden’s endorsement adds luster to the potential McVay hire.
McVay’s nickname, at least in some coaching circles, is “Little Jon.”
As Sean McVay’s father, Tim, told the
Sacramento Bee: “Jon Gruden always liked Sean, and I think he probably saw himself in Sean. So he loved to take Sean under his wing and push him.”
So if the Rams go forward and hire McVay, it sets up a great marketing opportunity: selling the idea that they’ve hired the next Jon Gruden. That angle will arouse the columnists and talk-show hosts and play well in LA — at least for a while.
As a bonus, it’s been reported that McVay won’t insist on having control over personnel if he goes with the Rams — which means that Demoff’s BFF,
Les Snead, can stay on as general manager.
This is all very convenient, with the Rams turning into Club Demoff.
Which is nice for Demoff and his cronies … but it may not be so swell for a young and upcoming head coach.
The Rams are 41-86-1 since Demoff became the organization’s top executive — with the power to hire and fire coaches and general managers set a general football direction.
McVay could ruin his career — at least as a head coach — by joining Club Demoff.
Of course, the dysfunction and football futility transcend Demoff.
Kroenke has an abysmal record as the Rams’ owner.
It goes back to his days as an ownership partner when Kroenke made a real-estate deal to build a hotel directly across the street from the Rams’ practice facility in Earth City. Guests that booked a room on one of the higher floors could look directly at every inch of the Rams’ practice field; until irate coach
Mike Martz insisted on having a tall, covered fence constructed to block the line of vision from the hotel to prevent spying it was easy for anonymous scouts to watch practice and take notes in preparation for their teams’ upcoming games with the Rams. Making money has always been the top priority for Kroenke. Winning football games is far down on Kronk’s list of goals.
Sean McVay may want to call
Scott Linehan and
Steve Spagnulo, two prominent assistant coaches who got chewed up and expulsed after sad, regrettable stints as Rams’ head coaches.
Linehan went 11-25 as coach of the Rams; Spagnuolo’s record was 10-38. Both continue to earn respect as coordinators. Linehan runs the Dallas offense, and Spags has rebuilt his coaching rep in his second tour as the NY Giants’ defensive coordinator. But even with so many head-coaching jobs open, no team has expressed interest in interviewing Linehan or Spagnuolo. They still carry the Rams’ taint in some way.
I’m not trying to revise history here by belatedly insisting they were good head coaches who got a raw deal in St. Louis. Not at all. But if you look at the horrendous leadership at the top levels of the Rams’ organization through the years — and the long and ugly history of deceit, dysfunction, profiteering, backstabbing and losing — I don’t know if Linehan or Spagnuolo ever had a true chance to prove themselves as head coaches during their time with the Rams.
And they’re still waiting for a second HC opportunity that may never come.
Sean McVay will have other opportunities to become a head coach in this league.
He may want to consider waiting for a head-coaching job that offers a winning structure that will only enhance his prospects for success — instead of rushing in and taking a Rams’ head-coach berth that will likely lead to frustration and failure.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie