Ram Digest

Sean McVay Downplays the Hype of His Coaching Tree, Talks the Importance of a Diverse Staff

Rams coach Sean McVay speaks about the importance of having a coaching staff with diversity and what it’s been like conducting a search when he losses assistants nearly every offseason.

Nicholas Cothrel

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Sean McVay now has five seasons in the NFL as head coach of the Rams and during that time, his assistant coaches have notoriously been poached as other teams seek replacements on their staff.

Brandon Staley of the Chargers, Matt LaFleur of the Packers and Zack Taylor of the Bengals all fall under the McVay coaching tree who are consuming the role as a head coach elsewhere. His tree of assistants is anticipated to grow at least once more, as Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell is expected to be named head coach of the Vikings following the completion of this season.

McVay is widely viewed as one of the best coaches in football and teams have gone to his understudies to find success of their own. 

But McVay thinks the narrative of his coaching tree being so successful is being a bit overblown. McVay shifts the credit toward his assistants in the job they've done, saying he learns from his coaches more than they take in from his own coaching points.

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“Number one, I almost think it’s a little ridiculous when you talk about the tree because these guys are co-workers where we positively pour into one another," McVay said on a video conference call with reporters. "I just happen to be in the role that I’m in, but whether it’s Kevin, Brandon Staley, Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur, I learned more from them than those guys have from me."

McVay also stated that it does create a yearly shuffle, having to fill the roles of departing coaches. But he described it in a good manner. One that allows him to learn from a wide variety of football minds to create new ideas with a larger range of coaches coming aboard.

"It does create some good, positive stress," McVay said. "But it also opens up opportunities to get exposure to new, special coaches. Two years ago, I didn’t know Kevin O’Connell and Brandon Staley. Matt LaFleur and I go way back, but when I first got here, I didn’t know Zac Taylor. And then you’re talking about the Eric Hendersons of the world, the Thomas Browns. Getting a chance to re-connect with Raheem Morris. Ejiro Evero is going to get a chance to move onto a bigger role. These are special things and these are special men.”

The Rams' coaching staff is a diverse one and McVay spoke at great length regarding the importance of having a variation of different backgrounds.

“I think it is important to be intentional about identifying the greatest coaches that you can, to be able to have a positive environment where we’re pushing each other in the right way," Mcvay said. "But you want to be around ambitious people. I think it is important to be able to continue to identify great coaches from all different types of backgrounds. We’ve got a lot of them on this staff. I’ve been around a lot of these guys and I think it’s something the NFL wants to be intentional about, continuing to diversify these staffs, especially in some of those leadership roles with the opportunities that are too few right now. I know I’ve been around a lot of great coaches of a lot of different backgrounds. We have them on this coaching staff and feel really grateful. And that’s why people have gotten opportunities because it’s about the people that make this place so special.”

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Nick Cothrel is the publisher of Ram Digest. Follow Nick and Ram Digest on Twitter @NickCothrel & @RamDigestSI for more Rams coverage.

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Nicholas Cothrel
NICHOLAS COTHREL

Nick Cothrel covers the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated.

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