Devaney: Haslett still in the mix for St. Louis Rams coach
Before he left for Los Angeles and three days of finalist interviews in the Rams’ coaching search, general manager Billy Devaney called a meeting of all employees at Rams Park on Monday morning. The purpose? To give a brief update on the search process.
Devaney didn’t tip his hand, but he did say that Jim Haslett remains a serious candidate for the job.
There’s no doubt that Haslett is the overwhelming choice for the team’s next head coach among Rams Park employees, be they in marketing, sales, community relations, coaching, or wherever.
Unfortunately for Haslett, those people don’t get a vote.
But one thing Haslett did during his 12 weeks as head coach is unify the building _ something that hasn’t been the case for years around here. Easier said than done considering the infighting and office politics that frequently have plagued Rams Park.
Some might call that “campaigning.” Some might call it leadership.
Mr. Thomas,
I appreciate the fact that Coach Haslett demonstrated such leadership during his stint as the interim coach. I am severely disappointed in Mr. Shaw and Mr. Zygmunt for not understanding such a basic tenant of managing an organization. The fact that it took an interim head coach to identify that the organization was in such an haphazard condition seems unbelievable.
While the team only won two games under Coach Haslett, the team certainly showed signs of respectability under him. He definitely requires commendation for that, though they still had winnable games that were lost to unimpressive opponents in the last seconds. Despite the supposed effort that the team displayed at the end, there seemed to be sorely little spirit or confidence shown by the players.
Mr. Thomas, I appreciate your attempt to make the possible re-hiring of Coach Haslett more acceptable to the fans; but I’m afraid that ultimately the team needs to turn the page on this dismal chapter in Rams history. Mr. Devaney has put together a qualified, impressive group of finalists for the position. It would seem that any of these candidates are acceptable candidates, and the others would come with the added benefit of not previously being associated with the team’s descent to the cellar.