Rams coaching staff review, part 1

So much to post, so little time...

Steve Spagnuolo pretty much finished up hiring the coaching staff the last couple of weeks while yours truly was caught up in the throes of the winter flu and a crush at work. To try to catch up, I'll do a three-part review on everybody who's on board for 2009, starting with the defensive position and strength coaches:

* Defensive line: Brendan Daly. Daly's most important experience is that he's coached the Vikings defensive line since 2006. The Rams website is quick to point out the Vikings had the league's best run defense all three of those years. They also went from 30 sacks (25th in NFL) in 2006 to 38 (8th) in 2007 to 45 (4th) in 2008. Compare that to the Rams' 34/31/30. It would certainly be short-sighted not to mention that Daly won't have Pat Williams, Kevin Williams or Jared Allen here. But unmistakably, Daly has worked with defensive lines that accomplish everything you want a defensive line to do. RamView grade: A-.

* Linebackers: RamView's already offered a review of new LB coach Paul Ferraro. Until I know better, his primary qualification appears to be that he was HC Steve Spagnuolo's college roommate. RamView grade: C-.

* Secondary: UPDATE (2/9): The Rams have hired Clayton Lopez as their new cornerbacks coach.
It appears previously-hired defensive assistant Andre Curtis will coach the Rams' safeties. Curtis is another extremely green member of the Rams' coaching staff, with just three years in the pros. His primary qualification at this time appears to be that he worked for Spagnuolo in New York. Lopez has coached DBs the last three years with... THE DETROIT LIONS. Yes, there is a team with a lot of outstanding secondary play. He was DB coach at Oakland (another fantastically successful football team) in 04-05 and assistant DB coach in Seattle in 02-03. Well, at least Lopez has coached Nnamdi Asomugha, (which I just spelled correctly WITHOUT looking up!) because I cannot imagine why in THE BLUE HELL you would raid DETROIT's staff for position coaches. Detroit the last three years with Lopez on the staff: 2008 - 27th in pass defense, 32nd (i.e. DEAD LAST) in INTs; 2007 - 31st in pass defense, 14th in INTs; 2006 - 25th in pass defense and in INTs. What exactly is the thought process that says, yes, I've got to have THAT guy? Is Spagnuolo trying to fill up his defensive staff with questionable hires to make himself look better? I am really puzzled on the coaches he's hired to run the back seven.

RamView grade: D.

* Strength coaches: Rock Gullickson and Chuck Faucette. Faucette is the assistant coach and a holdover from Scott Linehan's staff. Spagnuolo says it's "evident" that Faucette is valuable in the weight room. Everything I know about strength coaches is what I see on NFL Network at the NFL Combine, so to me, that means he's good at being a spotter and yelling things like "Hup!" and "Shoot this thing!". Gullickson and his awesome first name come to the Rams after three years with the Packers and six with the Saints. So that's funny; he worked with Jim Haslett but comes here after Haslett's gone. A little more weird irony: he was at Louisville the first year Scott Linehan was offensive coordinator there. Oddly, and unlike most of this staff, there's no time Gullickson and Spagnuolo worked together, though Rock did put in three years at Rutgers.

Do I know if the Packers or Saints of the Rock Gullickson Era were particularly well-conditioned or strong teams? Nope. I do like that he was strength coach at Texas for five years. That's one of those college programs I'm convinced knows what they're doing in a weight room. Therefore, Gullickson knows what he's doing in there. The Rams in recent years have been a team of repeated
injuries and a team that gets outmuscled constantly at the line of scrimmage. There were rumors that Dana LaDuc's training regimen was weirdly better-suited for hockey players than football players. The best training innovation at Rams Park the last three years, installing a sand pit to run in to strengthen ankles and cut down on the Rams' ridiculous number of ankle sprains, didn't come from the training staff; it came from center Brett Romberg. Christie Brinkley would be an upgrade for the Rams as a strength coach. Actually, it would be fun if the Rams would try that, or infinitely more awesomely, Chuck Norris.

RamView doesn't know Rock Gullickson from Tim or Tom Gullickson, but the change in strength coach by itself merits no worse than a B grade.

Next post: the offensive position coaches.