With the very recent deaths of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon, it's not exactly topical to be talking about Frank Gansz, the former Rams special teams coach who passed away a couple of months ago. But he's one of the important figures of the St. Louis Rams' brief history, and I've had a note ever since he passed to mention him here. I just regret it took two months.
Gansz was the best (unfortunately the only even-good one so far) special teams coach the Rams have had here. Many coaches seem to have problems getting their point across to players. This was no problem for Frank, who charged around practices barking out orders over a bullhorn. This intensity in a part of the game that revolves a lot around intensity served him well here and at Kansas City, whose special teams of the late 80s were incredible, and where Gansz won the NFL's Special Teams Coach of the Year award in 1989.
He repeated that feat here in 1999, and it's easy to see why. The '99 Rams led the league in kickoff returns, with Tony Horne averaging nearly 30 yards an attempt. The Rams were fifth in the league covering punts. That's fifth-best, not fifth-worst (or worse) like we've gotten used to around here. Special teams scored three TDs in 1999. We remember Az Hakim breaking that early October game in Cincinnati open with a punt return TD. We certainly remember Horne's kick return TD right after halftime of the 1999 divisional playoff against Minnesota. It changed the tone of the game and got the Rams' feet firmly on the road to Super Bowl XXXIV.
Super Bowl XXXIV would have been impossible without Frank Gansz's special teams, and not just because of those showy return TDs. Anybody remember that Jeff Wilkins set a record that year for most extra points without a miss? And special teams were critical in the game itself. Wilkins hit all 3 FGs he got his foot on (Mike Horan muffed the hold on a 4th attempt) for all the Rams' first-half scoring. He'd score 11 points in a game the Rams won by 7. Meanwhile, Tennessee hit only 1 of 3 FG attempts. Anybody remember Todd Lyght blocking a field goal in the third quarter of that game? Preserved a shutout at the time.
Then there was the holding penalty Leonard Little drew on the kickoff after Isaac Bruce's historic TD put the Rams ahead 23-16. Instead of having to drive 78 yards for a TD, a difficult-enough task on its own, the Titans had to drive 88. They got 87 of those yards, and besides Mike Jones, Rams Nation might want to thank the Rams' special teams for putting the Titans in a ten-yard hole at the outset of the drive.
Dick Vermeil has said that the Rams wouldn't have won the Super Bowl without Frank Gansz, who he's also called the greatest special teams coach ever. He is certainly right on the first count and may very well be right on the second. A belated final farewell to an outstanding coach and one of the Rams' less-sung heroes.
photo from stltoday.com
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