The List: Who's Who of Rams HC Candidates

[Goldenfleece]

The Unusual Suspects

Winston Moss, GB Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers
Playing Career: He was an NFL linebacker for the Buccaneers, Raiders, and Seahawks.
Coaching Career: After a brief stint with the Seahawks, Moss went to work with Haslett as a linebackers coach in New Orleans for six years before joining the Packers staff in a similar capacity in 2007. He was named assistant head coach because of his leadership abilities.
Pedigree/Style Points: Does Haslett get his own coaching tree?
Status: Interviewed Jan. 3

Todd Bowles, MIA Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Backs
Playing Career: He played 8 seasons as an NFL safety, mostly with the Redskins.
Coaching Career: Bowles worked with the Browns secondary before joining Bill Parcells in Dallas. When Parcells went to Miami, Bowles followed. The Fins defense ranked 25th against the pass in 2008.
Pedigree/Style Points: Parcells coaching tree.
Status: Interview TBD

Ray Sherman, DAL Assistant/Wide Receivers
Playing Career: WR/DB for Fresno State
Coaching Career: He started as a runningbacks coach with the Oilers for 1 year, then switched to coaching receivers for 1 year. He spent 1 year as assistant head coach/offense for the Falcons. Then he went to the ***** and coached runningbacks for 1 year and receivers for 2. After that, he was offensive coordinator of the Jets for 1 year until the head coach (Pete Carroll) got fired. He was quarterbacks coach for the Vikings for 2 years after that before being promoted to offensive coordinator. He took an offensive coordinator job with the Steelers for 1 year before leaving to take a new offensive coordinator job with the Vikings...also for 1 year. Finally landing in one place for a while, he spent 5 years coaching receivers in Green Bay. Then he put in 2 more years coaching the Titans' receivers before making his way to Dallas for 2 more years coaching receivers. That's a lot of jobs!
Pedigree/Style Points: Journeyman.
Status: Interview TBD

Josh McDaniels, NE Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Playing Career: WR at John Carrol U.
Coaching Career: He has been with New England since 2001 as a personnel assistant, defensive assistant, quarterbacks coach, and most recently (since 2006) offensive coordinator .
Pedigree/Style Points: Belichick coaching tree
Status: Interviewed Jan. 9, Signed with the Broncos

Raheem Morris, TB Ass./Defensive Backs
Pedigree/Style Points: Cover 2
Status: Rams nixed rumors of interest

Now interviewing for “Head Coach/Starting Right Tackle”

Mike Munchak, TEN Assistant/Offensive Line
Playing Career: Hall of Fame offensive lineman for the Houston Oilers
Coaching Career: After working in quality control for 3 years, he took over as the Titans' offensive line coach in 1997 and has held that position ever since.
Pedigree/Style Points: Hard to say as he has never run an offensive system.
Status: Rams elected not to interview

Russ Grimm, ARI Assistant/Offensive Line
Playing Career: One of the founding members of the Redskins' memorable “Hogs” offensive lines.
Coaching Career: He started out working with the Redskins' offensive line for 2 years before joining the Steelers in a similar capacity. The Steelers did well running the ball and won a Super Bowl in 2005. Grimm followed Ken Whisenhunt to the desert in 2007.
Pedigree/Style Points: Ties to Joe Gibbs and Bill Cowher. One would assume he would favor running the ball.
Status: Rumored interest.

The Re-Treads

Jim Haslett, STL Defensive Coordinator
Playing Career: He was defensive rookie of the year in 1979 and went on to play at linebacker for the Bills for 7 years and the Jets for one after that.
Coaching Career: He started out with the Raiders and then Saints, but made his name as a defensive coordinator in Pittsburgh from 1997-1999. He took over as head coach of the Saints in 2000 and led them to the first playoff victory in team history against the Rams' own Greatest Show on Turf. Unable to maintain that success, his teams hovered around .500 with the exception of his hurricane-racked final season. After leaving the Saints, he took over as defensive coordinator of the Rams.
Pedigree/Style Points: Most associated with Cowher coaching tree; blitzes aggressively. His defenses have been undersized in St. Louis, but this was not the case at past positions. Reportedly wants to bring Martz back as offensive coordinator.
Status: Finalist, Interviewed Jan. 5

Jim Fassel, Free Agent
Playing Career: QB for USC, then Long Beach State
Coaching Career: He served as offensive coordinator for the Raiders from 1990-1992. He was re-united with John Elway (whom he had mentored as a college coach) from 1993-1995 with the Broncos. He was coordinator for the Cardinals in 1996 before taking a head coaching position with the Giants. His NY teams made the playoffs 3 times in 7 years, including one Super Bowl appearance against the Ravens. He was fired after going 4-12 in 2003 and took a job as offensive coordinator of the Ravens from 2004-2006. He is not currently affiliated with any NFL team.
Pedigree/Style Points: Said to be a quarterback guru.
Status: Interviewed Jan. 8

The DC's (Devastating Coordinators)

Rex Ryan, BAL Defensive Coordinator
Playing Career: DE at Southwestern Oklahoma State
Coaching Career: He coached the Ravens' defensive line from 2000-2004 before taking over as defensive coordinator in 2005.
Pedigree/Style Points: Son of Buddy Ryan; implements attacking 3-4 with lots of blitzing.
Status: Finalist, Interview Jan. 11

Leslie Frazier, MIN Defensive Coordinator
Playing Career: Frazier joined the Chicago Bears in 1981 and led the team in interceptions each year from '83-'85 but suffered a career ending injury in Super Bowl XX.
Coaching Career: He worked with the Eagles' defensive backs under Jim Johnson from 1999-2002, spent 2 years as defensive coordinator of the Bengals, and then spent 2 more years as an assistant head coach/defensive backs coach under Tony Dungy. He has spent the last two years as defensive coordinator of the Vikings.
Pedigree/Style Points: He is said to like a 4-3 combining elements of Jim Johnson's blitzing and Dungy's Cover 2.
Status: Finalist, Interview Jan. 13

Jim Schwartz, TEN Defensive Coordinator
Playing Career: LB at Georgetown
Coaching Career: He started out working for Bill Belichick in the Browns' personnel department as a college and pro scout. He also assisted the defense in breaking down film. When the team moved to Baltimore, he became a quality control coach and later coached outside linebackers. He moved to Tennessee in 1999 as a defensive assistant for quality control, but took on coaching linebackers and working the third down package in 2000. He became defensive coordinator in 2001 and has held that position ever since.
Pedigree/Style Points: Said to approach the game with a “moneyball” approach of breaking down statistics that lead to success. He emphasizes stopping the run and performance on third down.
Status: Rams elected not to interview

Steve Spagnuolo, NYG Defensive Coordinator
Playing Career: WR at Springfield (Mass.) College
Coaching Career: After 15 years in the college ranks, Spagnuolo joined the Eagles staff in 1998 working first as a quality control coach, later with defensive backs, and eventually with linebackers. He served under DC Jim Johnson for 8 seasons before joining the Giants as defensive coordinator in 2007. In his first year with the team, they won a Super Bowl in no small part because of their defense.
Pedigree/Style Points: Jim Johnson tree; uses 4-3 relying on strong defensive line rotation to get pressure
Status: Finalist, Interview Jan. 15

The Mystery Candidate

Jason Garrett, DAL Offensive Coordinator
Playing Career: Journeyman backup quarterback for the Cowboys ('93-'99), Giants ('00-'03), Buccaneers and Dolphins ('04)
Coaching Career: He coached quarterbacks in Miami in 2005-2006. He has been Dallas' offensive coordinator since 2007.
Pedigree/Style Points: Spent many years with Barry Switzer backing up Troy Aikman; more recently a Parcells disciple
Status: Finalist, Interview Jan. 14

The Goldenfleece Perspective:

Moss - The fact that he was the only one on the Packers defensive staff not canned this off-season is a good sign I guess. However, coaching a whole team is a bit different than coaching just the linebackers.
Bowles - Is there any reason we are interested other than his connection to Parcells? His units haven't even been that successful.
Sherman - The good news is that he is used to leaving after 1-2 years.
McDaniels - Young, inexperienced, might get in over his head...sound familiar? Also, it's hard to like anyone who has been with the Patriots.

Munchak and Grimm - I'd love to have either coaching our offensive line, but both have spent their entire careers focused on the microcosm of the trenches. I'm not sure whether either would be ready to deal with the big picture.

Haslett - I like his enthusiasm. I like his attitude. I like that he can be tough with the players and still command their respect and loyalty because they know he has been in their shoes. I don't like his record so much, but even Ditka couldn't win in New Orleans.

Fassel - Not exactly a hot commodity right now, but he does own a better than .500 record as a head coach. All the same, I just have this feeling we need someone who can put more fight into this team.

Ryan - I have to wonder if he was just one cog in the machine. By the time he joined the team, they already had one of the best defenses in the NFL. It sure would be exciting to see our defense play like the Ravens, but is it realistic to think he could offer us that?

Frazier - I like his approach, and personally I don't think that he has had the best personnel to work with once you get past the studs at defensive tackle (and the recent addition of Jared Allen). Ironically, people criticize him for his recent teams' pass defense when he was a defensive back himself and successfully coached defensive backs for most of his career.

Schwartz - He has been in charge of the Titans defense for long enough and through enough personnel changes that I think you have to give him a good deal of credit for what they've accomplished. The most interesting thing to me about him as a head coaching candidate is that he got his start working on scouting and breaking down film. His analytical style seems like it would lend itself well to looking at the overall picture, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of his team, and formulating a game plan. His bio on the Titans web site notes that he is an avid chess player. Somehow that seems fitting.

Spagnuolo - "Spags" might be the hottest coaching candidate in the league right now given what the Giants have been able to do on defense. All told, he has about 26 years of coaching experience. The divisional playoff between the Eagles and the Giants serves as a nice backdrop to remind us that neither of the teams he has coached for in recent years is a slouch. The main thing here will be not to get too caught up in the hype when comparing him to the others. Much like the draft, just because the media is talking about how a coaching prospect is going to be one of the best doesn't mean he's going to be.

Garrett - Did I mention that he was a backup quarterback four years ago?

[RockinRam]

Great post. I agree with all your analysis of the candidates.

I have no clue why we were interested in Todd Bowles and Ray Sherman. If they were picked to be our HC, it would be a disaster.

I really don't see us getting Munchak or Grimm. I'm not sure if they're ready to be a HC.

[Ramblin` Ram]

good read GF. well put together...one minor slip,Frazier`s injury in the 85/86 SB was Career ending instead of season.

im disappointed that they dont seem to be interested in Schwartz..he seems to have done the best job out of the DC`s when you think about the talent of players he`s had to play with compared to say Rex Ryan and that in recent years the high draft picks have been spent on the O.
also take a look at Kyle Vanden Bosch`s stats before he worked under Schwartz. the turn around in his fortunes is HUGE!!!

tho the color of K.V.B`s pupils last night might indicate something amiss..

[Gateway Rams]

Here's a stat for you, 8 out of the last 10 super bowl winners have been head coaches on there second stint. Translation: experience can and more often than not, lead to very succesful programs. Jim Fassel is one of the final canditates and would be the best fit for this team. He would bring in a very experienced Defensive coordinator and that would have the experince needed to get this team on the right track.....thought?

[maineram]

" Who's been able to do much of anything in New Orleans " ??

Nice summary of all the candidates, kind of put's them all in proper perspective really.

Appears to be a no brainer that Haslett is a finalist.

Maineram..... "HAS" supporter

[Ramblin` Ram]

Here's a stat for you, 8 out of the last 10 super bowl winners have been head coaches on there second stint. Translation: experience can and more often than not, lead to very succesful programs. Jim Fassel is one of the final canditates and would be the best fit for this team. He would bring in a very experienced Defensive coordinator and that would have the experince needed to get this team on the right track.....thought?

Jim"country club" Fassel has already been interviewed...and doesnt appear to be getting another one.

hence why ive started to breathe properly again...

the only thing i can say positive about Jim Fassel is that he`s got a habit of coaching his teams to beat better teams and lose to lesser ones..so looking at the roster that would mean we go 15-1 next season with our only defeat being to Detroit!

[Ramblin` Ram]

ive got an interesting fact of my own..out of all the teams in this years AFC/NFC championship games..(counting Pittsburgh to win) Andy Reid,Ken Wishenhunt,Mike Tomlin & John Harbaugh are all first time coaches and all the coaches involved this weekend only 2 are "second time around coaches" and again counting the steelers to beat the chargers..both have lost!

[Gateway Rams]

ive got an interesting fact of my own..out of all the teams in this years AFC/NFC championship games..(counting Pittsburgh to win) Andy Reid,Ken Wishenhunt,Mike Tomlin & John Harbaugh are all first time coaches and all the coaches involved this weekend only 2 are "second time around coaches" and again counting the steelers to beat the chargers..both have lost!

Every dog has thier day. And San Diego isn't done yet. Tomlin walked into a winning team, they should be here. Harbaugh walked into one of the great defenses of all time (and is a good coach). Andy Ried has been with the eagles long enough that he doesn't even count as a new coach. So say a new coach does win it, thats still 8 out of 11 coaches. I like the idea of letting some other team teach someone how to be a successful head coach and then let us hire them when they are ready to put in place what they have learned....ie not go through the learning pains....and I'm pretty sure Fassel has a second interview.

[Goldenfleece]

good read GF. well put together...one minor slip,Frazier`s injury in the 85/86 SB was Career ending instead of season.

Thanks for catching that. It should be fixed now.

Here's a stat for you, 8 out of the last 10 super bowl winners have been head coaches on there second stint. Translation: experience can and more often than not, lead to very succesful programs. Jim Fassel is one of the final canditates and would be the best fit for this team. He would bring in a very experienced Defensive coordinator and that would have the experince needed to get this team on the right track.....thought?

That is a good point, and it's part of the reason I'm hesitant to write Haslett off. My concern with Fassel is whether he would be a fit for our team right now. The big knock on him in New York was that he was too lax with discipline, but I think there's a feeling at least among the fan base that we need somebody who can push the players to work harder. Fassel's big claim to fame was offense at a time when we seem to be leaning towards putting a defensive mind in charge.

[Gateway Rams]

Thanks for catching that. It should be fixed now.



That is a good point, and it's part of the reason I'm hesitant to write Haslett off. My concern with Fassel is whether he would be a fit for our team right now. The big knock on him in New York was that he was too lax with discipline, but I think there's a feeling at least among the fan base that we need somebody who can push the players to work harder. Fassel's big claim to fame was offense at a time when we seem to be leaning towards putting a defensive mind in charge.

That country club stuff is all the media!!!!! I lived in NY during fassel's tenure and when any of the players were asked about wether that is true or not, they said that was not the case. The whole thing stems from the fact that he is from the west coast and they think he is laid back. It's the media trying to make a story. As for the defense, he would bring in Dom Capers or someone like that, he is the best D Cordinator we could get right now.

[Bar-bq]

Fleece, this is epic. I'd rep you if I could. Great summary, sticky-worthy if you ask me.

An frequently updated list like this would probably be a good way to keep on top of 'who's doing what'.

[RealRam]

GF: most excellent info! Well done, amigo. [I was able to Rep you with a big + approval].

When all is said and completed (interviews, etc.), I hope I will see a Haslett / Martz tandem in 2009.

[UtterBlitz]

I gave him some rep points for this. I need this kind of summary of the people that we are bringing in. It is very helpful for me.

Thanks GoldenFleece... please update this as we move along in the process.

[laram0]

" Who's been able to do much of anything in New Orleans " ??

Nice summary of all the candidates, kind of put's them all in proper perspective really.

Appears to be a no brainer that Haslett is a finalist.

Maineram..... "HAS" supporter

Seems to be either Spags, Frazier or Haslett?

Haslett would be my choice.