Publication: STLToday.com
Section/# of Pages: Sports/1 of 2 Date: 9/18/11
Rams Spagnuolo Will Keep The Faith BY BERNIE MIKLASZ
In the late stages of his team's disappointing 31-13 loss to Philadelphia, Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo was already working on next week's game plan. It began with the effort to restore his players emotionally.
Spags moved from player to player on the sideline, offering words of encouragement and a pat on the back. You could see the players nod at the coach in agreement. Some put an arm around him.
"I knew there was a teaching moment there," Spagnuolo said Saturday afternoon in his office at Rams Park. "Most of what I was saying was, 'Hey, men, we have a long way to go. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Get your heads up.' I'd like to consider myself to be a teacher. I'm here for them. Not to bang them down and wear them out because I want to show that I'm some kind of tough guy or 'leader.' I don't believe in tearing people down. I'm here to hopefully build something."
Spagnuolo believes that it's best to challenge players after they've had time to cool down, and think. In the days after the loss to the Eagles, Spagnuolo's upbeat persona gave way to his more pragmatic side. In reviewing what went wrong against the Eagles, he isolated their mistakes and demanded more attention to detail.
"It doesn't accomplish anything to overreact," he said. "I don't think knee-jerk is the way to go. It just shows a lack of composure. After a couple of days, I still jumped them for things that shouldn't have happened."
Spagnuolo's patience and power of positive thinking will likely be tested in the coming weeks as the Rams navigate their way through a vicious early-season schedule. Next up: Monday night's game in New Jersey against the New York Giants.
Whether the Rams win or lose, you can count on Spagnuolo to keep his head together. That consistency is a reason why players appreciate playing for Spagnuolo.
Coaches tend to be insecure. The pressure, the losing, can drive them crazy. When things get nasty, you'll see coaches try to score points with the media and fans by berating players publicly. These diatribes are entertaining, but they tend to damage the trust between player and coach.
Rams players know that Spagnuolo will have their back. He won't sell them out to redirect the heat away from him. If he's upset, he'll deal with his guys privately, and his criticism is almost always constructive.
So where does this come from? Why does Steve Spagnuolo strive to see the best in people when it would be so much easier to wallow in negativity and misery?
Faith is an important component of Spagnuolo's life. Faith formed much of the foundation of his marriage to wife Maria. Faith is the fabric that holds everything together, including his positive coaching philosophy.
"Faith is huge to me," Spagnuolo said. "There is no conceivable way that I should be sitting where I am. There's only one reason that I'm here, it's because God wanted me here."
And to understand why Spagnuolo considers it something of a miracle to be sitting there in his office on this gray Saturday, preparing for the Giants, you have to go back to a warm summer night in 1980, when he was 20.
It was July 8, the evening of the annual MLB All-Star Game. Spagnuolo, living in Grafton, Mass., made plans to go watch the game with his best friends Richie Vacca, Jackie Herbst and Craig LeClaire at a local hangout.
At the family dinner table, Steve's mom, Carol Spagnuolo, asked him to reconsider. Her father — his Grandpa Leo — wanted to come over and watch the game with Steve.
Spagnuolo initially resisted. But he remembered a conversation with his girlfriend after the death of her grandfather. She told Steve to appreciate opportunities to be with Grandpa Leo while he still had the chance.
And so the young Spags called his friends, told them to go on without him. He stayed home to watch the All-Star Game with Grandpa Leo.
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ST. LOUIS RAMS NEWS CLIPS
Publication: STLToday.com
Section/# of Pages: Sports/2 of 2 Date: 9/18/11
At 7 a.m. the next morning the phone rang.Richie, Jackie and Craig never made it home. After midnight, their car had swerved into an oncoming tractor trailer, and all three were killed in a horrific head-on collision.
"I should have been in that car," Spagnuolo said. "I shouldn't be here. Someone, for whatever reason, watched over me. There are no normal reasons why I should have been in New York and won a Super Bowl in my first year with the Giants (as defensive coordinator.) Or why I should be the head coach of this team.
"When I have doubts in my mind, I go back and say 'Wait a minute, I know God has got me here for a reason.' And I don't believe He'd set me up to fail, because look at what all that He has done for me.' So it gives me strength."
And it keeps Spags positive, too. That wasn't always the case. The shocking death of his friends actually pushed Spagnuolo away from his faith.
"I was pretty young, confused, searching for answers," he said. "And I remember thinking about why my life was saved that night. And why my friends died. I have to tell you I had a dark period for eight, nine years after that.
"I was always thinking, you know, 'How could You let that happen to my three friends? There must not be a God.' I was lost for a while. But there were people in my life who kept knocking on the door. They weren't going to let me stay in that place. Finally, I began to come around, and I grew."
Spagnuolo is grateful to Leslie Frazier, now the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. As assistants on Andy Reid's staff in Philadelphia they shared an office. Frazier, a devout Christian, helped Spagnuolo clear his head during long talks at night, after the football work was done for the day.
Frazier helped revive Spagnuolo, spiritually. And when Maria came into his life, Spanguolo was rescued completely.
"My wife is so unique and special," he said. "She never has a weak moment. She is an amazing person. I believe the reason she is like that is because she has Christ in her. That's where I think it comes from. I'm not always like that. I fail all of the time. But she has it. And how lucky I am to have someone with me like that every day."
During quiet moments, Spagnuolo will occasionally think about his three friends, Grandpa Leo, and the twist of fate that eventually led him on a path to become head coach of the Rams.
"When we leave our high school years, and go away to college, you probably end up with only two or three really close friends in life from that time," he said. "And three of mine were just wiped out. So there was a big void there. I think about it a lot on the anniversary." Richie, Jackie and Craig died on July 9, 1980.
Steve and Maria Spagnuolo were married at the Vatican in Rome in a small, quiet ceremony on July 9, 2005. "We didn't plan it that way," he said. "But it's a good thing. It really is a good thing."
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ST. LOUIS RAMS NEWS CLIPS
Publication: STLToday.com
Section/# of Pages: Sports/1 of 3 Date: 9/10/11
McDaniels' philosophy: 'I just want to win' BY JIM THOMAS
Josh McDaniels grew up in a football town, in a football family and the son of a football coach. And all the stories surrounding that are true.
By age 4 he was attending two-a-days to watch his dad's high school team. By age 10 he was scouting games with his father. He got a football for Christmas every year, and slept with a football every night well into his teen-age years. He'd wrap the footballs in a towel to keep them warm; it helped keep them properly inflated.
When it was story time, his grandmother pulled out the NFL Football Encyclopedia and read to him.
"I still have that book," McDaniels said. "I had asthma, so I was sick a little bit more than most kids. So my grandmother spent a little bit more time with me. My parents spent a lot of time with me."
Anybody who knows anything about Ohio high school football knows who Josh's father is — Thom McDaniels. From 1982-97, the elder McDaniels went 134-42 at powerhouse McKinley High in Canton, winning a state title. He later coached Maurice Clarett at Harding High. In a twist of fate, he's now an assistant coach at McKinley's archrival — Massillon High. "He's gone over to the dark side," McDaniels said, laughing.
With all that in his background, was there any other way for Josh McDaniels to go career-wise than coaching football?
"I was around it a lot," said McDaniels, who eventually played quarterback for his father at McKinley. "Got to go to practice. Got to go to the games. Got to be in the locker room. See all the inner-workings of a football program. And just kind of fell in love with it.
“I didn't have any idea I would do it at the NFL. Never really thought about that till I had the opportunity to latch on with New England. But I just wanted to be involved in the game because I think it's great. I think it was a great way for me to grow up.”
So, long before McDaniels was a graduate assistant under Nick Saban at Michigan State, or was hired by Bill Belichick in New England, or learned the Patriots' offense from Charlie Weis, he learned football from his father. And Thom McDaniels wasn't just a football coach, he was a football junkie.
He attended a clinic almost every weekend throughout the winter. Every spring he'd make a couple of visits to a college campus, where he'd watch practice and study film. Legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler was a big influence; so was former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
"Maryland, West Virginia, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Minnesota," Thom McDaniels said. "I've gone all over the place to get answers and to learn more about whatever phase of the game I had an interest in at that time.".
At first it may have come more by osmosis, but young Josh McDaniels was the beneficiary of all that football exposure and knowledge. He couldn't help but have a higher football IQ than many of his peers, be it in high school or as a quarterback-turned-wide receiver at John Carroll University in suburban Cleveland. (One of McDaniels' college teammates was London Fletcher, the former Rams linebacker now with Washington.)
Who knows what McDaniels would be doing now if his father were ... an insurance salesman.
"I don't know," he said. "I always felt when I was younger that I learned more from being around football stuff than I did in any class I ever took or any year of schooling that I was ever involved in. Because you get to learn about adversity and teamwork and leadership and working with people."
UP THE COACHING LADDER
McDaniels had barely gotten his feet wet in coaching, when he found himself out on the street. Saban left Michigan State for Louisiana State following the 1999 season, and in the aftermath McDaniels was out of a job. He didn't have to sell insurance; just scrap plastic. "We'd bring it in, melt it down, and sell it," McDaniels said.
Brian Daboll, currently the Miami Dolphins' offensive coordinator, helped get McDaniels out of plastics. Daboll had been on that Michigan State staff in '99, was with New England in 2000, and helped hook McDaniels up with the Patriots.
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ST. LOUIS RAMS NEWS CLIPS
Publication: STLToday.com
Section/# of Pages: Sports/2 of 3 Date: 9/10/11
McDaniels interviewed with Belichick and Patriots executive Scott Pioli in February 2001. His first day on the job came later that month at the NFL scouting combine. He split his time doing grunt work for Pioli in the front office and grunt work for Belichick and the coaching staff."They put me in charge of breaking down all the film for the Patriots' defense to study," McDaniels said. "So I was breaking down the offenses that we were playing. That was when I got to see St. Louis in depth that year because we played them in the regular season, then we also played them in the Super Bowl. It was kind of a neat deal because you got to see all the things Mike (Martz) was doing."
As stunning as the Patriots' Super Bowl victory was over the Rams, Martz said after the regular-season victory at Foxborough 2½ months earlier that the Patriots were good enough to reach the Super Bowl.
"I remember that game," McDaniels said. "We blitzed a ton. It was like 55 blitzes, and I don't think we got to Kurt (Warner) once. It was close — 24-17 or something like that. But we weren't quite good enough at that point. We were getting better."
(Actually, the Patriots did sack Warner once in a game where he threw 41 times for 401 yards and three touchdowns.)
Next came two years as a defensive assistant. "Those two years, where I was actually in the (meeting) room on the defense side, were totally invaluable to me because I got to spent every day with Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Rob Ryan, Pepper Johnson, and Bill." In '04, Belichick switched him to quarterbacks coach, and in '05 after offensive coordinator Charlie Weis left to become head coach at Notre Dame, McDaniels began calling plays. At age 29. He wasn't officially given the title of offensive coordinator until the following season.
It was a meteoric rise up the coaching ranks, and one that didn't stop there. Following the 2008 season, he was hired as head coach of the Denver Broncos. At age 32. Maybe it was a case of too much too fast, because McDaniels crashed and burned in the Mile High City. After a 6-0 start in '09, the Broncos lost 17 of their next 22 games. Little more than a week after it was discovered that the Broncos had illegally taped a San Francisco walk-through practice prior to a game in London, McDaniels was fired with four games left in the 2010 season. He wasn't unemployed long.
REVIVING AN OFFENSE
For McDaniels, Denver already seems a long way off. He likes being back in the Midwest, and seems relaxed entering his first season as Rams offensive coordinator. He has a No. 1 overall draft pick at quarterback in Sam Bradford and a two-time Pro Bowl running back in Steven Jackson. But there are question marks in a revamped receiver corps, and the offensive line must show improvement.
The Rams drafted a tight end and two wide receivers; in free agency they signed a wide receiver, a right guard and a pair of backup running backs. But really, the team's biggest offseason acquisition was McDaniels.
"Bar none, he's one of the best coordinators in the business," said defensive tackle Justin Bannan, who came to the Rams via free agency from Denver. "This guy knows football like no other. He knows the offensive side, and he knows the defensive side. He knows football pretty much better than anyone I've ever seen, so as far as an offensive coordinator you're getting a guy that's a complete student of the game. That knows the game, and knows how to attack weaknesses."
The Rams averaged only 18 points a game last season, tied for 26th in the league. To be a legitimate playoff team, they need another touchdown a game. Where does McDaniels find it?
"Whenever you go back and look at your team from the last year, there's always things that you see and you say, 'You know what, we've got to improve in these areas,' " McDaniels said. "There's usually a lot of 'em."
MISCONCEPTIONS
The challenge is identifying the best ways to improve in those areas, and hope that those improvements make you more efficient, more explosive, more productive. Which all sounds pretty basic. On the other hand, trying to pigeon-hole McDaniels' offensive philosophy is trickier. In fact, since he arrived in St. Louis a couple of misconceptions already have sprung up. Namely:
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ST. LOUIS RAMS NEWS CLIPS
Publication: STLToday.com
Section/# of Pages: Sports/3 of 3 Date: 9/10/11
Not really. During four seasons calling plays in New England and two years doing so as Denver's head coach, McDaniels had a tight end catch more than 36 passes only once. In comparison, last year's top tight end in St. Louis (Daniel Fells, now with the Broncos) had 41 catches.As a unit, Rams tight ends caught 70 passes for 697 yards and seven TDs last season. In his six seasons calling plays, McDaniels' tight end units topped 70 receptions only once, had more than 697 yards only twice, and combined for more than seven TDs only twice. 2.) McDaniels is all about the passing game.
Not necessarily. Although he's never had a 1,000-yard rusher in New England or Denver, the Patriots finished sixth in rushing offense in 2008, 12th in '06, and 13th in '07. So in three of those six seasons, McDaniels-coached offenses finished in the top half of the league in rushing. They weren't far away from that in 2009, either, when the Broncos finished 18th.
So what is his offensive philosophy?
"First of all, I just want to win," he said. "That sounds simple, but sometimes I think that means we've got to do what's necessary that week against that team. Sometimes it may be asked of us to play faster and be no-huddle because that's the best thing for that game. Other times it may be run the ball a whole bunch — maybe more than normal because that's the best way to play 'em.
"The way that I would describe it is we want to try to use the people in our room to give ourselves the best chance to succeed. So if the tight ends warrant us throwing them the ball a whole bunch because they're that good in the passing game, then that's what we should do. "And if we have a great running back — which I think we do here — then he deserves to touch the ball a certain number of times every week. If the quarterback plays better in the shotgun, then we'll be in the shotgun more. The receivers, if we're better out of a bunch formation than we are in a spread formation, then we should be in a bunch formation."
TAKING IT WEEK TO WEEK
So take the notion of being flexible using offensive personnel. Couple that with the idea of attacking specific weaknesses of the opposing defense each week. And you have the two basic tenets of the McDaniels' system. In that sense, it's a week-to-week proposition
"Largely our concepts and our protections, and what runs we want to run, those will stay fairly the same," McDaniels said. "It's just how