Rams coaching history and how it might impact Brad Holmes with the Lions
In trying to figure out who Brad Holmes might favor as a head coach to work with in his new capacity as the Detroit Lions general manager, it’s worth looking into what coaching experiences he saw firsthand in his time with the Rams franchise. And boy, did Holmes see some things on the coaching front in his 18 years in St. Louis and Los Angeles.
Holmes started with the Rams in 2003 as a public relations intern, a proverbial “foot in the NFL door” gig. They were winding down the days of the “Greatest Show on Turf” era with Mike Martz as the head coach. Martz would last until midway through the 2005 season, when he was fired and replaced by interim coach Joe Vitt. Martz would quickly resurface with the Lions as the offensive coordinator, so Detroit should be familiar with his coaching style and personality.
Vitt as the interim coach was the polar opposite of Martz. A hard-nosed defensive coach, Vitt’s style was more old-school than the offensive master schemer that Martz brought to the equation. Vitt went 4-7 and impressed enough that he got another interim gig with the Saints in 2012 (during Sean Payton’s suspension). It was a radical change within the season, akin but antipodal to the move the Lions made in replacing Matt Patricia with interim Darrell Bevell in 2020.
The Rams changed both GM and head coach after the 2005 season. Lions fans know the head coaching hire well: Scott Linehan. Then 43, he was a rookie head coach lured away from the Minnesota Vikings. Linehan’s style of offense was more subdued than Martz. The Rams paired the rookie head coach with a seasoned defensive coordinator in Jim Haslett, who had just been fired by the New Orleans Saints as their head coach.
That combo lasted less than three seasons and fell from 8-8 to 4-12 to 2-14, with Haslett taking over for a fired Linehan in 2008. The once-feared offense got old and then-GM Jay Zygmunt did a poor job replacing key pieces and building depth.
The next regime change brought in GM Billy Devaney and new coach Steve Spagnuolo. “Spags” was a defensive coach, a rookie head coach hired from the Giants. The team cratered immediately to 1-15 in 2009, finishing 32nd in offense and 31st in defense. Spagnuolo was not a dynamic personality on the sideline and the team was criticized for being predictable and vanilla. It lasted three miserable seasons before ownership pulled the plug on both GM and head coach.
This is when Holmes took over the collegiate scouting department, before the 2012 season. New GM Les Snead, who still holds the job in Los Angeles, was a young rookie GM. The team hired retread coach Jeff Fisher, a longtime (17 years) Titans coach who had taken the prior season off from coaching. Fisher was a controlling, defensive-oriented coach who had final say on personnel decisions over Snead. Their arranged marriage didn’t go well but wasn’t terrible. The Rams won seven games in the two seasons they coexisted.
It’s a pertinent experience because many expect the Lions to pair the rookie GM in Holmes with an experienced head coach with some personnel background. Holmes might push back against that, based on how the Fisher/Snead dynamic played out. Snead gained the personnel control over Fisher for the 2014 season and Fisher squeezed out two more underwhelming seasons where the team failed to hit its preseason over/under win total.
A more confident and seasoned Snead fired Fisher midway through a bad 2016 season. Into the 2017 offseason, Holmes witnessed the Rams swing for the fences with a young hotshot offensive guru in Sean McVay. And he was the needed infusion of energy and ideas to wash away the tired, stolid Fisher era.
McVay was a controversial choice. Just 31 at the time, he had been the offensive coordinator in Washington. In his three seasons in Washington, McVay’s offenses were slightly above-average at their best, but Snead saw something that made him believe.
If Holmes draws upon that experience, it makes sense. McVay has led the Rams to one Super Bowl and they’re still playing in the playoff this season. His “bad” year of 2019 saw the Rams go 9-7. McVay was the youngest head coach ever hired at the time, and to help on that front the Rams brought in veteran defensive guru Wade Philips. That worked out very well for all parties, and it’s worth noting Philips is once again available (at 73) and looking for work.
It’s too early to know how much say or sway Holmes will have in hiring Detroit’s head coach. But the Lions would be wise to listen to what he has to say about his enlightening and diverse experiences with the Rams.
