‘You won too fast’: Sean McVay’s NFL coach on burnout

The Rams’ season is over, but they’re heading into overtime.

What about Sean McVay? Will he continue coaching the team? Will he get a job in TV? How about spending your vacation at the beach in St. He Somewhere?

Whatever decision McVay makes, it might happen one day, but there’s a community of former NFL coaches, some of whom are Hall of Famers, but they’re all out of work. I am familiar with pressure. They understand the concept of burnout, even among those in incredibly well-paid and coveted positions.

“There’s only a few Bill Belichicks and Andy Reed,” Dick Vermeil said, pointing to two of the longest-tenured coaches in the league. There are only a few.I think McVay has proven he’s at that level of talent.He’s a potential Hall of Fame coach.But I don’t think he has that character and he himself. It may not happen if there is no negligence in

Vermeil gets it. He was Philadelphia’s head coach from 1976-82 and led the Eagles to the Super Bowl. But then he took a job in television, doubling his salary to $75,000, and didn’t return to coaching until 1997 when he took over the Rams in St. Louis. Before he ended his coaching career with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2001-2005.

Eagles coach Dick Vermeil frowns as he prepares to answer questions at a 1982 press conference.

(Rusty Kennedy/Associated Press)

He said he quit coaching for the first time because the euphoria of winning had evaporated. He was relieved only when his team won and depressed when they lost.

“The defeat was far more emotionally damaging than the victory had a positive effect on you,” said 86-year-old Vermeil, who was enshrined in Canton last summer. I should have been thinking about what I had to do, but I realized I was thinking about what to do to win last week.”

The idea of ​​NFL coaching burning out is unlikely to elicit much sympathy from the public. can be obtained. Nonetheless, coaching burnout does occur, and the topic is particularly relevant to the Rams, who had great success under McVay’s leadership.

Tony Dungey played for legendary Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Knoll and later worked as an assistant to oversee that organization for 23 years. Far from being an old-fashioned office-sleep coach, Knoll was ahead of the curve, helping people in his organization work-life balance. These coaches said he left work early to play golf once a week and had frequent family days at team headquarters.

“When I was a rookie, one of the first things Knoll said to us was ‘don’t play football for the rest of your life’. Dungey, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, said: i was there.

“I worked in another place where I was thinking, ‘I have to make sure everything goes perfectly,’ which isn’t necessarily the case. Because there’s so much to do, you have to be cognizant of it all, and when it all happens to come across your desk, it can be exhausting and exhausting.”

Winning is always top of mind for NFL coaches. It’s nothing new. But with the league’s popularity, round-the-clock news coverage, fantasy he football, and everyone feeling like an expert, the spotlight on the coach has never been brighter.

“Today, it is almost unfair to compare animal lifespan with stamina. [the coaches from 30 to 40 years ago] about work today,” said Vermeil. “Because the evaluation process has gotten so intense and expanded. It’s like comparing a 1980 Cadillac to a 2023 Cadillac. They’re all moving forward, but the technology and everything in it is completely different. … I think coaching is harder today.”

Hired in 2017 at age 30, McVay is the youngest head coach in NFL history and the youngest of 32 still employed. He appeared in the Super Bowl in his second season, and in February his team won it all, lifting Lombardi his trophy at the SoFi Stadium. He inherited his 4-12 team that ranked him 32nd in scoring, turning it upside down in the first season when the Rams were his No. 1 in the division.

“I only met McVay once,” Vermeil said. “All I remember saying to him was, ‘You won too fast. Every team I took over was losing, especially the Eagles and Rams. Whatever you did—made the first down and they applauded you.

“But when you start early like McVay does, it gets harder year after year. Even after winning all last year. No more. What are you going to do to prove you’re still capable of doing it? Stiff.”

This season, the Rams took a dramatic plunge from last season’s dizzying highs, finishing 5-12.

“It’s not a load,” said Rick Neuheisel, former college head coach and offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. “You wake up in the morning, you go to work, and you never look at the clock. Ever. You’re just doing what you love.”

“The problem is the pressure to win and the weight of when you fail. For Sean McVay, after the euphoria of the previous year, going through the year he went through feels like burnout.” I’ve never been down a road that was so frustrating.”

Even before and after the Super Bowl win, speculation was rife that McVay might leave for TV work. With an injury list that almost never went away, it included the club’s biggest stars: quarterback Matthew Stafford, receiver Cooper Cup, and defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

“You know all about the Next Man Up? Steve Mariucci, former coach of San Francisco and Detroit, said about losing star players in general. “It’s kind of bravado at times. The next guy isn’t as good as the guy he follows, right? That’s the reality. If you have a lot of next men-ups, you’ll get your ass kicked. Let’s face it. Let’s get real here.”

And no matter how persuasive a coach is when speaking to his players, at some point those messages lose their potency.

Mariucci said: [team president] Carmen Policy said, “Coach, you won’t be here forever. [Walsh] i haven’t been here in a long time.George [Seifert] i haven’t been here in a long time. Every coach has an expiration date. That’s how it works in this league. Enjoy while you can. It will be the vehicle of your life.

“He was very outspoken because he knew full well that in his heart the message would get a little boring and corny and that it needed to come from someone new every now and then. I’ve lived six years, and it’s not all Bill Belichick, Mike Tomlin, Pete Carroll, it’s the exception to the rule.”

McVay hasn’t reached out. He wants time to reflect on his future, and the Rams want to give him that. We want him back when he’s ready to go back. They don’t want to coach him.

And there is no denying the appeal of television to him. He just needs to look at former New Orleans coach Sean Payton, who has worked as a studio analyst for Fox this season and whose coaching inventory has exploded.

Commenting on his interest in networking, McVay said: These will always be what you expect and expect them to appear, because I am not running away from that fact.

Tony Dungy says NFL television is a fun job, but it doesn’t compare to the satisfaction of running a football team.

(Associated Press)

After retiring from coaching at age 53, Dungy took a job as an NBC studio analyst. he was ready to go He loves working in television, but this job is not like coaching.

“It’s not the same thing,” he said. “You are in the game. All in all, it’s the same thrill as having everyone headed in the same direction, chasing that one goal, and knowing that at the end of the year, only one of us will make it, and there are 31 others trying to do it. No. It’s a bit short, but try again next year.

“The satisfaction you get from building a team, leading them to the playoffs, and winning a playoff game.

Ultimately, the allure of coaching proved too strong for Vermeil. he had to go back.

“You miss being king,” he said. “You miss being the boss. You miss making decisions. The only thing you can’t miss is pressure.”