Spagnuolo brings intensity to the job

[RamWraith]

By Jeff Gordon
STLTODAY.COM SPORTS COLUMNIST
Monday, Jan. 19 2009
As head coach of the Rams, former Dolphins offensive coordinator Scott Linehan
was in well over his head.

That became evident almost immediately. Linehan’s introductory news conference
was a vanilla presentation. His regime started out vanilla . . . and then went
sour as the losses mounted. He lacked the wherewithal to lead the whole group.

Naturally, some fans were worried that Giants defensive coordinator Steve
Spagnuolo could have similar issues making the transition to head coaching.

Spagnuolo, though, harbors no such concerns and projects no such weakness.

For 27 years he prepared for this opportunity. He has turned down other
head-coaching opportunities and he only took this one because he believed it
would work.

From the look of things, Spagnuolo seems more than ready to take on this
massive challenge. A shrinking violet, he is not.

“You just feel down deep, as a confident person, that this is the next step,”
Spagnuolo said during his introductory news conference at Rams Park on Monday
morning.

Spagnuolo has coached groups of players at a position. He has coached an entire
defense. And now he will coach the Rams.

“To me, only because I have a lot of confidence in myself, I believe it is a
natural progression,” he said.

Spagnuolo is not an imposing figure. He and Rams general manager Billy Devaney
traded short jokes during their initial media session together. They go way
back together, from their time with the Washington Redskins.

Their mutual comfort makes them a natural football team. (This is more than
they can say from their days as a basketball tandem, getting handled in pick-up
games by their Redskin colleagues.)

But Spagnuolo’s intensity is obvious. The man speaks directly. He has a quality
glare. He didn’t offer elaborate thoughts about his plans for the team, but he
spelled out his priorities clearly.

“Quite simply stated, team first,” he said. "It will always be about the team.
Nobody cares who gets the credit. It begins and starts there.”

If you’ve watched the Giants play, you’ve seen his defense. He brought the
aggressive blitz schemes with him from Philadelphia, where he spent eight years
as an assistant coach.

He won’t have the talent he had in Philly and New York, at least not initially,
but he will bring the principles that worked elsewhere.

The offense won’t be anything fancy.

“Offenses get tagged,” Spagnuolo said. “You have the West Coast, you have this
and that.

“I would say offensively, you have to be able to run the football and protect
the quarterback. We’ll start from there.”

Spagnuolo offered no predictions or proclamations. He knows he has much heavy
lifting to do.

“We’re going to start from the beginning,” he said. “It’s a process. You’re
going to hear that a lot.”

During his conversations with Rams officials, Spagnuolo had no reservations
about working for a franchise that could be sold during the next few years.

“We were focused on the football and the things that are important to winning,”
Spagnuolo said.

And so it begins. After learning from Andy Reid, Tom Coughlin and a legion of
colleagues and cohorts, he gets to run his own football operation.

Will he win? We’ll see. But we learned this much Monday: The new Rams coach isn’
t going to duck and he’s not going to flinch.

[Head Slap]

One thing is for sure. Steven Jackson better hit the weights now because will se a lot of contact this pre season. For a change

[Mooselini]

I''m getting way too excited for this.

I believe that now we have a coach selected, its time to sign Atogwe and Bartell.

It seems like he is a focused person and maybe that is what we truly needed for a coach.

[Ram Dragoon]

No nonsense-simple--in your face football is what to expect. I like the idea of getting back to basics--running and protecting the QB...a formula that ought to work provided the execution is there

Yes expect more Jackson, just hope he can remain healthy--I suspect a good number 2 RB is on the WANT list. I'm more curious to see what he does with the line on both offense and defense...pity likely have to wait 6 months to get answers to that question to see what develops