Opportunity Knox for Rams : Pro football: Coach who guided the team to five consecutive division titles in the ‘70s gets his old job back and also is given power over personnel decisions.

Fourteen years to the month after happily accepting his resignation, the Rams Wednesday placed the franchise’s future in the hands of Chuck Knox, the coach they believe is the best and perhaps only man to lead them back from desolation.

Knox, 59, introduced by club owner Georgia Frontiere at a news conference in Beverly Hills, quickly moved to assure everyone that he was in control of the team’s direction and brushed away the bitter parting after the 1977 season as an irrelevant relic.

He said that, although he had heard from other teams looking for a coach, the Rams were his only choice, so he signed a four-year deal worth about $2.9 million.

The Rams were the first team to give him a head coaching job, in 1973, and after stints in Buffalo and Seattle, he said he has every intention of ending his career where it started, in Southern California.

“When I started out 19 years ago, I stood here, before you, and everyone was asking Chuck Who?” Knox said Wednesday.

“Nineteen years later, as I’m talking to you, I have still the burning desire in my gut to want to win, to want to be competitive, to want to get the job done. I just feel that it’s the right thing for me, the right organization, the right people. . . . We’ll get it done.”

Knox, who resigned last month after nine seasons with the Seahawks, was given the extra title of team vice president by the Rams and said that he is “accountable” for the draft, Plan B and other personnel decisions.

Knox said he probably will bring in a personnel director, but he will retain final authority and responsibility. Knox and the Rams emphasized that he has full power to fire or retain holdover assistant coaches from former coach John Robinson’s staff and to bring in members of his former staff in Seattle.

This situation is in direct contrast to the unwritten understanding between the Rams and Robinson, who did not have an executive title, did not have a regular line of communication to Frontiere and privately complained that he did not have enough power within the organization.

Once Robinson resigned, the Rams quickly decided that Knox, the son of a millworker from Sewickley, Pa., and the sixth-winningest active coach in the NFL, was their only choice.

Knox is known as a players’ coach who gives and tolerates no nonsense from his team, a trait the Rams felt was necessary to coach a team that has skipped out of control.

“He has such integrity and such honesty and is so direct,” Frontiere said. “You never have to wonder if there’s any underlying meaning. You always know exactly where he stands. It’s a good feeling. It’s a good, honest feeling.

“There was never any doubt. I wouldn’t let myself even think about anybody else. I just concentrated all my thoughts on getting him. I don’t know what we would have done if he had turned us down.”

The Rams first interviewed Knox on Dec. 28, the day after his resignation from the Seahawks, and interviewed only one other candidate, offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren of the San Francisco 49ers, before offering Knox the job last Saturday. He accepted Monday, then signed Wednesday.

Knox, who has made dramatic personnel moves almost every time he has taken over a team, said he will have to evaluate a Ram squad that finished the season with 10 consecutive losses.

His first priority, which he said should be finished by late this week, is to put together his staff.

“It’s pretty new to me, and I’m not one just to go out here and start cutting here, cutting there and doing things without reason, without logic in them,” Knox said.

“I like to take a look and see where we’re at right now, what move we can make to go where we want to go to. At least see if we can step in that direction and proceed in a logical manner from there.

“I’m not interested in stirring things up. I want to take a look and do things for good reason. . . . I don’t think we’ve ever had a problem motivating our football players. Our teams played hard, they’ve competed hard. I don’t think that came about because we stirred things up.”

After taking the Rams to five consecutive division titles from 1973 through ‘77, all the while hearing complaints about his inability to get to the Super Bowl and his conservative offensive style, Knox left the Rams for the Buffalo Bills.

Although winning division titles perhaps was not enough in the 1970s, Knox suggested that duplicating the feat “would be a good place to start” with the current Rams, who have compiled an 8-24 record the past two seasons, including 1991’s dismal 3-13. Knox is the only coach to have taken three different teams to the playoffs.

His 1977 departure was triggered by difficulties with owner Carroll Rosenbloom, Frontiere’s late husband, who urged Knox to play more exciting football.

“It wasn’t a bitter situation at all,” Knox said of his relationship with Rosenbloom. “It was just a meeting of minds. . . . I do remember one thing Carroll Rosenbloom said to me: ‘You might be coming back here some day.’ ”

Knox had a 54-15-1 record with the Rams, and he was 3-5 in the postseason. Overall, he has a regular-season record of 171-114-1.

This time, the team made sure that there would be no confusion over where the buck stops.

“I think it’s clearly defined,” said Executive Vice President John Shaw, who headed the coaching search. “I’m sorry it wasn’t so clearly defined with John (Robinson), because he was obviously a very good coach.”

Knox, while not conceding that his run-the-ball-and-play-defense style in his first tenure with the Rams was a mistake, said he has opened up offensively to the point where, he kidded Wednesday, his nickname changed from “Ground Chuck” to “Air Knox.”

“Like everybody else, I like to think I’ve grown as a football person,” Knox said. “I like to think I’ve profited by the mistakes that I’ve made. As you know, football is not an exact science. Coaching is not an exact science--mistakes are made. You always hope you can learn from those mistakes.”

Through the years, Knox has been criticized as a coach who can take a team to the playoffs but not to the big game.

“Certainly it bothers me,” Knox said. “I’d like to be in that game (the Super Bowl), play in it, win it. I’m not concerned about the critics, I’m just concerned about me, personally.”

COACHES: Offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese is retained but the future of defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher is less certain. C10

REACTION: Former Rams call the selection of Chuck Knox a good choice. C10

THE NFL: Bill Parcells is out of the running for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coaching job--again. C10

Rams Go With Old Hat

Chuck Knox, 59, returned as coach of the Rams Wednesday after spending 14 years at Buffalo and Seattle. After leading the Rams to five consecutive National Football Conference Western Division championships (1973-77), Knox resigned in a dispute with the club’s owner, the late Carroll Rosenbloom.

Career Coaching Record

Year Team W L T Pct. Finish 1973 Rams 12 2 0 .857 NFC West Champions 1974 Rams 10 4 0 .714 NFC West Champions 1975 Rams 12 2 0 .857 NFC West Champions 1976 Rams 10 3 1 .714 NFC West Champions 1977 Rams 10 4 0 .714 NFC West Champions 1978 Buffalo 5 11 0 .313 Tied 4th AFC West 1979 Buffalo 7 9 0 .438 4th AFC East 1980 Buffalo 11 5 0 .688 AFC East Champions 1981 Buffalo 10 6 0 .625 AFC wild card 1982 Buffalo 4 5 0 .444 4th AFC East 1983 Seattle 9 7 0 .563 AFC wild card 1984 Seattle 12 4 0 .750 AFC wild card 1985 Seattle 8 8 0 .500 3rd AFC West 1986 Seattle 10 6 0 .625 Tied 2nd AFC West 1987 Seattle 9 6 0 .600 AFC wild card 1988 Seattle 9 7 0 .563 AFC West Champions 1989 Seattle 7 9 0 .438 4th AFC West 1990 Seattle 9 7 0 .563 3rd AFC West 1991 Seattle 7 9 0 .438 4th AFC West 19 Years 171 114 1 .598 7 Divisional Titles

Chuck Knox Highlights

1973--Rookie head coach Knox inherits a 6-7-1 team, turns it into a 12-2 division champion and is named NFL Coach of the Year.

1975--Ram defense allows second fewest points in NFL history in a 14-game season (135) and their 34-8 record over previous three seasons is best in NFL.

1977--The Rams go 10-4 and win their fifth consecutive NFC West title. Only Knox and Paul Brown have won titles in each of their first five seasons, but after Rams lose in the first round of playoffs, Knox resigns to take job at Buffalo.

1980--The Bills, who had just five wins in two seasons before Knox took over, post an 11-5 record, win their first AFC East championship in 14 years and Knox is selected NFL Coach of the Year again.

1981--Buffalo’s 10-4 record is good enough for a wild card spot and the Bills win their first postseason game since 1965.

1983--Knox becomes head coach at Seattle and the Seahawks make their first appearance in the playoffs, advancing to the AFC championship game before losing to the Raiders. Knox becomes three-time NFL Coach of the Year.

1984--Knox’s fourth Coach of the Year award comes after Seattle posts the best record in franchise history (12-4) and advances to the playoffs again.

1988--Seahawks hold onto first place for all 16 weeks, clinching the first divisional title in club history with a victory over the Raiders in the regular-season finale.