MVN - Most Valuable Network

Rams’ Linehan in danger of a Trump-ing?

With each passing week, it seems like Scott Linehan is closer and closer to being without a job come season’s end.

Even as we here at RAMblings enumerated Linehan’s offenses just a couple weeks ago, it seemed unlikely that Linehan’s job was in any danger. After all, the last Rams head coach to only last two years with the team was Rich Brooks in 1995 and ‘96. Dick Vermeil even made it to year three after going 5-11 and 4-12 in his freshman and sophomore seasons with the Rams.

But as the possibility of going 0-16 looms greater and greater (and as Linehan continues to botch his dealings with the media), it’s begun to look like there’s a very real possibility that the Rams could be lining up a new coaching staff on the sidelines in 2008.

So just who are the candidates? Let’s take a look at five possibilities, with the typical forward-thinking eye you’ve come to expect from your friends at RAMblings.

Pete Carroll
Alright, I’ll admit it: this column was largely conceived as a response to some particularly vocal Carroll supporters over at stlouisramsx.com. He’s achieved a nearly unmatched level of success in his time at USC: a 70-13 record, two national championships, a 4-2 record in bowl games, a record 33 weeks as the AP’s no. 1 team and four top-5 recruiting classes. And though he’s often derided on the basis of his brief NFL head coaching career, he still managed a 33-31 record with the Jets and Patriots. Unfortunately, Carroll installs a “bend-but-don’t-break” scheme on defense, hardly what Rams fans are looking for after the last few seasons, and his clock-management skills are questionable at best. His teams also have been susceptible to upsets - his teams have lost to unranked teams Stanford, Oregon State, UCLA and Cal - and in this parity-stricken league, beating the bad teams is often more important than beating the good ones, at least in the regular season. His players lack discipline; could that be a result of his “player-friendly” demeanor? What the Rams really need is an enforcer for a coach, someone like…

Dennis Green
Admit it: you want to see Green in the blue-and-gold if only to hear those gems of post-game press conferences. In fact, if the Rams could somehow lure Herm Edwards over as a coordinator and install Jim Mora in the front office, they could have a trifecta of hilarity, a new “axis of upheaval”, so to speak. SportsCenter would have to re-name itself RamsCenter, because, let’s be honest, what else would be making it on that show? Anyway, with all the hub-bub over his hysterics, it’s easy to forget that Green coached some very good Vikings teams in the late ’90s. Green has a strong offensive mind, and the title of his autobiography, No Room For Crybabies, would be a good place to start with this Rams team. At the very least, I’d have something new to write every week. Now if only he could get over that playoff hump, which brings us to our next candidate…

Marty Schottenheimer
Schotteheimer has spent time as a head coach of the Browns, Chiefs, Redskins and Chargers, building an impressive regular season record of 200-126. Schottenheimer’s teams have always been known for their tough, physical style of play, and the Chargers’ rough start this year under Norv Turner (with nearly identical personnel to Schottenheimer’s group last year) is a testament to Schottenheimer’s preparation. He’s also a quality drafter, dealing Eli Manning for Philip Rivers and additional picks in 2004, taking Pro Bowler Shawne Merriman in the first round 2005 and wunderbackup Michael Turner in the fifth round in 2004 and, in short, building the roster of one of the most talented teams in the league (other notable selections: Luis Castillo, Igor Olshansky, Nick Hardwick, Antonio Gates). Schottenheimer is also responsible for the careers of current coaches Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy, Edwards, Wade Phillips and Cam Cameron. So we come to the most consistent knock on Schottenheimer: his 5-13 record in the playoffs. In fact, Schottenheimer has the distinction of being the winningest coach in the Super Bowl era to have never made the championship game. Yet, with the exception of his 2006 Chargers, most of his teams have not had the elite talent to dominate in the postseason. He was abruptly let go in February “without cause,” though his strained relationship with general manager A.J. Smith and the Chargers’ quick playoff exit are generally cited as the main contributing factors. Schottenheimer is currently serving as an ESPN analyst, a job he also held between is stints with Washington and San Diego. So if the Rams are looking more in the direction of someone currently in the game who’s looking for a shot at running his own team, they may find no better candidate than…

Mike Singletary
“Samurai Mike,” as the Hall of Fame linebacker is nicknamed, is currently the assistant head coach and linebackers coach with the 49ers. He’s shown a natural knack for coaching on the defensive side of the ball, as evidenced by the play of his superb unit in Baltimore and his developing group in San Francisco. Singletary prefers a 3-4 alignment, which would require an adjustment for a Rams defense that has used the look only sparingly in their time under Jim Haslett. Yet the Rams have the personnel to make such a switch: Adam Carriker has great size to be an end in the 3-4, Clifton Ryan has already shown he can handle the load at the nose and Leonard Little could work in as a pass rusher out of an outside linebacker spot (much as Merriman does with the Chargers). Perhaps most importantly, Singletary would bring the toughness and winning attitude that this team seems to be missing; he won a Super Bowl with the Bears in 1985. There may be no better indication of Singletary’s skills than his consideration for the Baylor head coaching job in 2002, with no prior head or assistant coaching experience. Singletary has also interviewed for gigs with the Cowboys and Chargers, so he obviously wants a shot. Yet there’s no reason to believe the 49ers would let “The Minister of Defense” depart for a division rival, so the best candidate might be…

Bill Cowher
Cowher grabbed his first head coaching job in 1992 with Pittsburgh and didn’t let go until 2006. Following Steelers legend Chuck Noll was a tough assignment, but Cowher led his team to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons and made two Super Bowls, winning one. His regular season record sits at 149-90-1, and at the end of the 2005 season, Cowher’s Steelers had had the best record of any team in the league since his hiring. His worst team in his run won six games - which is six more than the Rams are likely to win this year - and only once suffered two consecutive losing seasons (in 1998 and 1999). Few coaches in NFL history have had the kind of sustained success Cowher achieved in his 15 seasons, and his teams have always displayed a remarkable amount of discipline, as evidenced by their average finish of 23rd in penalty yards since 2000. And despite - or perhaps because of? - his hard-nosed attitude, his players always seemed to be strikingly loyal. Cowher resigned in January and now serves as a studio analyst for The NFL Today; former player Jerome Bettis, an NFL Network analyst, announced recently he believes Cowher will be with the Giants next season, for what that’s worth. Forget the Giants; give us The Chin!

There are a number of other talented candidates out there as well, including Bill Parcells and Russ Grimm. Unfortunately, the problem with following is the Rams is that you’re often left scrounging for the coaches that other teams have already passed on; for some reason, be it the bickering front staff, the brain-dead owner or whatever, top coaching candidates seem to pass on the Rams. It’s conceivable that all five of the above coaches could be available this offseason and all five could leave the Rams in the dust. Just one more thing to get down about in an already tough season.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 1:36 pm and is filed under 2008 NFL Off-Season, Scott Linehan, St. Louis Rams, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.