Steve Spagnuolo
Encyclopedia
Steven Christopher Spagnuolo (born December 21, 1959) is the current head coach
of the St. Louis Rams
. He was previously the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants
from January 2007 to January 2009, and also served for eight years under defensive coordinator Jim Johnson
of the Philadelphia Eagles
.
, Spagnuolo played wide receiver
at Springfield College. He assisted the University of Massachusetts football team while pursuing his graduate degree.
organization in 1999, serving as linebackers and defensive backs coach. He remained there for eight years, learning Jim Johnson
's defensive philosophy. It was under Johnson that Spagnuolo cultivated his trademark look, Goatee and buzz cut.
In January 2007, he was hired as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants
, under Head Coach Tom Coughlin
.
He spent two years in New York, and was the architect of the aggressive defensive strategy against the New England Patriots
(the highest scoring offensive team in NFL history) in Super Bowl XLII
, which was instrumental in the close victory by the Giants. Following the Super Bowl win and a great deal of praise, Spagnoulo's name was widely circulated for open head coach positions around the NFL.
On February 7, 2008, he took his name out of consideration for the head coaching position of the Washington Redskins
, citing the fact that he did not feel ready to be a head coach. People speculated that he did not like the fact that the coordinators were already installed, but he stated he had no problems with them. The same day, the New York Giants made Spagnuolo one of the highest-paid defensive coordinators in the NFL with a new three-year contract, worth roughly $2 million a year.
, New York Jets
, and Detroit Lions
, but Spagnuolo decided to join with the St. Louis Rams
, taking over their head coaching vacancy with a 4-year, $11.5 million contract.Spagnuolo has had very little success with the Rams with a 10 wins 33 loss record. Spagnuolo has hired Josh McDaniels
and Ken Flajole
to be the Rams' offensive and defensive coordinators respectively.
coach Jim Johnson
, and shares the same aggressive, blitz-heavy approach as his mentor. Spagnuolo uses a 4–3 base defense with a heavy emphasis on multiple blitz packages, including corner and safety blitzes. While defensive coordinator of the New York Giants
, he often used a smaller defensive line, with three or even four defensive ends to further pressure the quarterback.
This philosophy proved successful, with the Giants leading the NFL in sacks in 2007. During Super Bowl XLII
, Spagnuolo's defense sacked Tom Brady
five times, the most times he had been sacked in any game that season.
Assistant coaches under Steve Spagnuolo who became NFL head coaches:
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
of the St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
. He was previously the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
from January 2007 to January 2009, and also served for eight years under defensive coordinator Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson (football coach)
Jim Johnson was an American football coach, formerly serving as defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles...
of the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
Early years
Born in the Whitinsville section of Northbridge, MA, Spagnuolo moved to Grafton as a youth. After graduating from Grafton (MA) High SchoolGrafton High School (Massachusetts)
Grafton High School is a high school in Grafton, Massachusetts USA. It has a population of 700 students in grades 9-12 with an average class size of 150....
, Spagnuolo played wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
at Springfield College. He assisted the University of Massachusetts football team while pursuing his graduate degree.
Coaching career
Spagnuolo began his NFL coaching career in the Philadelphia EaglesPhiladelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
organization in 1999, serving as linebackers and defensive backs coach. He remained there for eight years, learning Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson (football coach)
Jim Johnson was an American football coach, formerly serving as defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles...
's defensive philosophy. It was under Johnson that Spagnuolo cultivated his trademark look, Goatee and buzz cut.
In January 2007, he was hired as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, under Head Coach Tom Coughlin
Tom Coughlin
Thomas Richard Coughlin is an American football coach who is currently head coach for the New York Giants of the National Football League . Coughlin has led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII. Coughlin was also the inaugural head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, serving from 1995–2002 and...
.
He spent two years in New York, and was the architect of the aggressive defensive strategy against the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
(the highest scoring offensive team in NFL history) in Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
, which was instrumental in the close victory by the Giants. Following the Super Bowl win and a great deal of praise, Spagnoulo's name was widely circulated for open head coach positions around the NFL.
On February 7, 2008, he took his name out of consideration for the head coaching position of the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
, citing the fact that he did not feel ready to be a head coach. People speculated that he did not like the fact that the coordinators were already installed, but he stated he had no problems with them. The same day, the New York Giants made Spagnuolo one of the highest-paid defensive coordinators in the NFL with a new three-year contract, worth roughly $2 million a year.
St. Louis Rams
Following another successful season in 2008, Spagnuolo's name came up as a replacement for numerous head coaching vacancies once again, including those for the Denver BroncosDenver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, and Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
, but Spagnuolo decided to join with the St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
, taking over their head coaching vacancy with a 4-year, $11.5 million contract.Spagnuolo has had very little success with the Rams with a 10 wins 33 loss record. Spagnuolo has hired Josh McDaniels
Josh McDaniels
Josh McDaniels is the former head coach of the Denver Broncos and currently the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams. He previously served as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots...
and Ken Flajole
Ken Flajole
Ken Flajole is an American football coach. He is the current defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams.He served as linebackers coach for the Carolina Panthers, where he has spent the past six seasons. Flajole replaced Sal Sunseri as defensive assistant in 2003, bringing with him five years of...
to be the Rams' offensive and defensive coordinators respectively.
Coaching philosophy
Spagnuolo learned under PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
coach Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson (football coach)
Jim Johnson was an American football coach, formerly serving as defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles...
, and shares the same aggressive, blitz-heavy approach as his mentor. Spagnuolo uses a 4–3 base defense with a heavy emphasis on multiple blitz packages, including corner and safety blitzes. While defensive coordinator of the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, he often used a smaller defensive line, with three or even four defensive ends to further pressure the quarterback.
This philosophy proved successful, with the Giants leading the NFL in sacks in 2007. During Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
, Spagnuolo's defense sacked Tom Brady
Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick "Tom" Brady, Jr. is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League . After playing college football at Michigan, Brady was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.He has played in four Super Bowls,...
five times, the most times he had been sacked in any game that season.
Head coaching record
| Team | |Regular Season | STL 2009 St. Louis Rams season The 2009 St. Louis Rams season is the 72nd season for the St. Louis Rams, and the 15th in St. Louis. Due to the Rams winning only against the Detroit Lions, they finished with the NFL's worst record at 1–15, earning the first overall selection in the 2010 NFL Draft in Steve Spagnuolo's first season... |
2009 2009 NFL season The 2009 NFL season was the 90th regular season of the National Football League.The preseason started with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on August 9, 2009, and the regular season began September 10. The season ended with Super Bowl XLIV, the league's championship game, on February 7, 2010 at... |
1 | 15 | 0 | .067 | 4th in NFC West | – | – | – | – |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STL 2010 St. Louis Rams season -Schedule:-Week 1: vs. Arizona Cardinals:The St. Louis Rams began their season at home for an NFC West match against the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams trailed in the 2nd quarter with Cardinals kicker Jay Feely nailing a 22-yard field goal, which was replied when Rams kicker Josh Brown made a 46-yard... |
2010 2010 NFL season The 2010 NFL season was the 91st regular season of the National Football League.The regular season began with the NFL Kickoff game on NBC on Thursday, September 9, at the Louisiana Superdome as the New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl XLIV champions, defeated the Minnesota Vikings 14–9.Tom Brady,... |
7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 2nd in NFC West | – | – | – | – | ||
| STL 2011 St. Louis Rams season The 2011 St. Louis Rams season will be the team's 74th season in the National Football League, the 17th overall in St. Louis and the third under head coach Steve Spagnuolo. The Rams are coming off a 2010 season, in which they compiled more victories than in the previous 3 years combined... |
2011 2011 NFL season The 2011 NFL season, the 92nd regular season of the National Football League, began on Thursday, September 8, 2011 with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers defeating the New Orleans Saints 42–34 at Lambeau Field and will end with Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on... |
2 | 9 | 0 | .181 | – | – | – | – | |||
| Total | 10 | 33 | 0 | .232 | – | – | – | |||||
Coaching tree
NFL head coaches under whom Steve Spagnuolo has served:- Andy ReidAndy ReidAndrew Walter "Andy" Reid is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, a post he has held since 1999. Since 2001, he has also been the team's executive vice president of football operations...
, Philadelphia EaglesPhiladelphia EaglesThe Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(1999–2006) - Tom CoughlinTom CoughlinThomas Richard Coughlin is an American football coach who is currently head coach for the New York Giants of the National Football League . Coughlin has led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII. Coughlin was also the inaugural head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, serving from 1995–2002 and...
, New York GiantsNew York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(2007–2008)
Assistant coaches under Steve Spagnuolo who became NFL head coaches:
- Pat ShurmurPat ShurmurPat Shurmur is currently the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.-Playing career:Shurmur was a four-year letterman in football at Michigan State University. He played guard and linebacker his freshman season, and started at center the next three seasons. He earned All-Big 10 Conference honors in...
, Cleveland BrownsCleveland BrownsThe Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
(2011–Still Active)