No surprise: Rams blowing chance to land top coaches

[RamWraith]

By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/09/2008


Leave it to the St. Louis Rams to do everything they can to not take advantage of their miserable circumstances as the NFL's second-worst football team. While de facto owner John Shaw and his crack staff of yes men go about the business of reshaping this 3-13 team into something that slightly resembles a functional professional franchise, they are doing it in typically awkward fashion.

Shaw and his right-hand man, Jay Zygmunt, have wasted little time in dropping the ax on offensive coordinator Greg Olson and offensive line coach Paul Boudreau. But they are operating under the grand delusion that this is the first step toward dramatically improving the coaching staff by plucking off the hottest names on the coaching free-agent market to help embattled Scott Linehan fix all of his sagging offensive woes.

The talk abounds that Cam Cameron is their top choice to replace Olson as offensive coordinator and that two of the best available offensive line coaches, Mike Solari and Hudson Hauk, are also on Shaw's wish list. But this is the ultimate in pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking, because on the NFL job market, these guys are hot properties, and the Rams are definitely not.

It's not unfair to say that every other NFL team with staff openings has far more appealing situations than the Rams. And those teams are already 10 steps ahead of the Rams, hotly pursuing them with more promising long-term job security.


The Rams, who have a head coach on a short leash and a broiling hot seat, and an uncertain ownership situation with Georgia Frontiere gravely ill, should be finding 100 ways to show Cameron, Solari and Hauk that coming to St. Louis makes all the sense in the world.



The trouble is, that isn't even close to being true. While Shaw has moved swiftly to fire Olson and Boudreau, he seems to be preparing his next steps for fixing the franchise with all the urgency of a tired man on a three-week vacation. The annual end-of-season meeting with Zygmunt and Linehan, which should have been conducted weeks ago, is not scheduled until next week, which puts the Rams even further behind the more aggressive — and more attractive — franchises that are already zeroing in on the top candidates.

The Rams are blowing it, just as they always do. The team is in such obvious upheaval that even the NFL has little faith in their ability to get their act together. According to the Rams' website, the NFL informed the Rams coaching staff that it will not be invited to work the Senior Bowl on Jan. 26 even though it's a custom to invite the teams with the two worst records to coach the college seniors who will participate in the Senior Bowl.

So the Rams lose a huge advantage to actually have that kind of valuable hands-on coaching experience with the top draftee candidates for a week of practice sessions in Mobile, Ala., because Shaw is moving too slowly to make his staff changes. Typical Rams

[txramsfan]

Great article by Burwell. I wish I could give him positive rep points.

[cfh128]

txramsfan I am surprised that you want to do anything positive for anybody with all the griping you do around here

[txramsfan]

Why shouldn't I gripe? Why shouldn't I be a disgruntled fan? What have the Rams done in the last few years to make me a cheerleader?

[Tony Soprano]

.
The bottom line is there is no urgency to win - and it's evident.

You can see what Miami is doing and where they are headed, quite a contrast to our FO.

Zygmunt sounded like a two bit politician hoping his audience was really dumb during his
latest round of comments.

[mikhal5569]

All I am hearing is panicking. I don't see why this team couldn't attract a big nmae OC like Cameron. I mean we still have talents of Steven Jackson, Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, Randy McMichael, Isaac Bruce and the number 2 pick in the draft. Doesn't look that all hopeless to me.

[Rambos]

TX griping? I have too give you more rep TX.

[eldfan]

"It's not unfair to say that every other NFL team with staff openings has far more appealing situations than the Rams. And those teams are already 10 steps ahead of the Rams, hotly pursuing them with more promising long-term job security."

That statement tell's it all to me. Linehan is a lame duck coach what big name coaches want to come in here with uncertainty at ownership and top management. It could be another house cleaning next year this time.

[BigGameMN]

Great article. Why would any top coaches want to stop here, where they will have 1 year to install their system and get immediate results, or they know they'll be out the door with Linehan?

[HUbison]

According to the Rams' website, the NFL informed the Rams coaching staff that it will not be invited to work the Senior Bowl on Jan. 26 even though it's a custom to invite the teams with the two worst records to coach the college seniors who will participate in the Senior Bowl.

So the Rams lose a huge advantage to actually have that kind of valuable hands-on coaching experience with the top draftee candidates for a week of practice sessions in Mobile, Ala., because Shaw is moving too slowly to make his staff changes. Typical Rams

I still can't get over this one. This is the embarassing cherry on top of the humiliation sundae that is the 2007 season. We suffer through a 3-13 season; that is good (bad) enough to garner an opportunity to coach in the Senior Bowl. To the losers, go the spoils....know what I mean?

But no, it's not bad enough to suck like we do, now the league tells us we're too screwed up to even have this opportunity. Instead, organizational gems like the whiners and faiders should be there.

Gimme a big fat break.

[NJRamsGuy]

This is nothing new. Our front office has been corroded for awhile. How many times after a player leaves St Louis do they turn around and say how unprofessional the front office is? Sure, some may be bitterness, but all of it?

I'm really worried that the Rams are so far screwed in so many positions of their franchise that it will take way to loo long to turn it around. From a coach who can't rally his players to a president who's too slow to make a move. I hope I'm wrong about all this, but with so many problems up and down the line, there is no quick fix coming.

[RAMarkable]

All I am hearing is panicking. I don't see why this team couldn't attract a big nmae OC like Cameron. I mean we still have talents of Steven Jackson, Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, Randy McMichael, Isaac Bruce and the number 2 pick in the draft. Doesn't look that all hopeless to me.

Talent on the field is only part of the overall equation. "Big name" coaches want what most everybody else wants: job security and a stable working situation. This chicken *bleep* 'organization' can provide neither, and this is a big consideration when trying to lure quality people to work for you. As I believe HUbison has previously documented, the GSOT years were but a blip on the loser radar screen that is the Rams under this ownership.

WHAT SAY YE?

[bruce4life]

Hey Burwell must be reading some of my points i make out here at clanram...

SAME OL'E SORRY RAMS... HE GOT THAT FROM ME!!! LOL....

[Nick]

I still can't get over this one. This is the embarassing cherry on top of the humiliation sundae that is the 2007 season. We suffer through a 3-13 season; that is good (bad) enough to garner an opportunity to coach in the Senior Bowl. To the losers, go the spoils....know what I mean?

But no, it's not bad enough to suck like we do, now the league tells us we're too screwed up to even have this opportunity. Instead, organizational gems like the whiners and faiders should be there.

Gimme a big fat break.

I agree, it's actually pretty ridiculous. The ***** have gone through a new OC just as it appears we will. They've also had this opportunity at the Senior Bowl three years in a row. There's no legitimate reason it shouldn't have been offered to us, IMO.

Anyways, as for the rest of the article, it's disappointing if it's accurate. My impression from previous writings was that the Shaw/Linehan meeting would be this week, not next. Word is that five potential head coaching candidates have already contacting Cam Cameron about being their OC should they be hired, so if the Rams want him they should be working the phones.

[theodus69]

Seems that the draft aggressiveness is be diverted to the finding of an OC. Yes I would say they are laying an egg here. Lots of injuries were the cause of a terrible year I will admit,But I don't see Pace coming back and that is a major loss. So we go to the draft with what I feel are a lot of holes to fill and no left tackle.........I think we need to trade down for more picks......Am I wrong? But back to the coaching issue/ I am surprised Linehan is still here. And who is really gonna help this team? Cowhre(spelling)? Sorry but he just another Knox with 3 extra plays. and he had quite a load of talent!!!