ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) — St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has made the franchise’s first resolutions of 2012 by firing head coach Steve Spagnuolo and general manager Billy Devaney after a disappointing 2-14 season that finally came to a conclusion on New Years Day. Monday morning, the Rams made an official release that Spagnuolo and Devaney will not be back with the Rams next season.
“I would like to personally thank Steve and Billy for their dedication to the St. Louis Rams organization over the past several seasons,” said Kroenke. “This was a difficult decision for many reasons. We have tremendous respect for Steve and Billy as people and football professionals.
“No one individual is to blame for this disappointing season and we all must hold ourselves accountable. However, we believe it’s in the best interest of the St. Louis Rams to make theses changes as we continue our quest to build a team that consistently competes for playoffs and championships. We wish Steve, Billy and their families the very best in the future and thank them again for their commitment to our organization and the city of St. Louis.”
The likelihood of a change became expected following the Rams seventh straight loss, a 34-27 near rally to the playoff-bound rival San Francisco 49ers. Under Spagnuolo, who was hired by Billy Devaney in January of 2009, the Rams went just 10-38.
Expectations were high entering the 2011 season when the Rams were one win shy of making the playoffs for the time since 2004. Following a 4-0 preseason, the first for the Rams since 1979, hype only grew in St. Louis. Yet, the excitement quickly went away as the 2011-12 team lost their first six games by an average of 19.2 points.
To make things worse, the Rams were dealing with new injuries each week at just about every position, especially in the secondary where ten cornerbacks eventually were put on injured reserve during the past four months. Each week, the coach would need anywhere from a thirty seconds to a few minutes to go through injury updates the day after a game. And each week, coach Spagnuolo
New Year’s afternoon, the coach on the hot seat had his usual optimistic attitude at the post game press conference stating ‘there was tremendous growth’ during the 2-14 season. He was referring more to the character of individuals as he did say it takes the right people when building something. Spagnuolo’s character was certainly never a question, but unfortunately what he was producing was not good enough in a business that demands results.
When asked to comment on what the next step would be, and if he would plan to meet with owner Stan Kroenke, the tried to sidestep the issue by saying, “We’ve got the meetings with the players. The exit physicals and interviews with the coaches. There’ll be time for all the other stuff after, but right now it’s about what happened today and our players.”
Following a few more questions about the Rams loss to the 49ers, Spagnuolo was asked if he ever thought during the game that it was possibly his last game, “No, I don’t go there. I think you know me well enough. In the middle of that game in the fourth quarter as exciting as it was? No.”
Billy Devaney was hired by the Rams in February 2008. He was made vice president of pro personnel and then promoted to general manager later that year in December. The next month, Devaney hired Steve Spagnuolo.
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