RAMS : Knox Proves He’s Essence of an NFL Traditionalist at Meetings
PHOENIX — He says these NFL meetings bore him, but Chuck Knox doesn’t seem bored out here, chewing over old times, recalling faster times and plotting his fourth NFL reclamation project with his peers.
He says all he does is sit around and wait while the powers that be debate the greater or smaller issues of our times, but the Rams’ coach clearly is in his element, cavorting loudly with Jerry Glanville, deep in quiet talks with Art Shell or getting gently mocked by Al Davis.
Being mocked by Davis is about as high an honor as the NFL can provide.
“There are five ways to improve a football club,” Davis shouts while strolling down the hall with Knox, his voice about as close to Knox’s staccato growl as Davis can muster, his words the exact same ones everyone has heard Knox repeat through the years. “They are the draft, Plan B, the waiver wire . . . “
All Knox does is shake his head and laugh out loud, accepting both the compliment and the general understanding that his cliches are, like him, time-tested.
The Rams wanted an experienced touch, they wanted a man steeped in NFL tradition, they wanted a coach who moves through league circles effortlessly, and at these annual owners meetings, Knox, a 20-year NFL veteran, has been all of that.
John Robinson, for all his strengths and weaknesses, was never a league man, and he did not have many lasting friends among NFL traditionalists. Robinson was always a college coach looking in. Knox is the essence of an NFL traditionalist, and it shows.
When there is a media breakfast with all attending head coaches, he is constantly asked to compare football now vs. football back then, back to a time only he and Don Shula can remember. A voice of both present and past.
When the coaches mill around waiting to take the annual coaches picture, Knox draws big laughs when he pretends to try to get into the AFC West picture, and Dan Reeves jokes that Knox is demanding to be paid for the shot.
Marty Schottenheimer, who has the same NFL establishment sensibility as Knox, says he feels strongly that the Rams have once and for all given themselves a coach to lead them out of troubled times.
In Knox, younger coaches see a model of consistency and probably most of all, a man who has continued working, continued getting paid, in a profession that can swallow the hottest coaches whole.
“I think first of all they’re getting a guy who’s going to bring a teaching environment to what they’re doing in Los Angeles,” Schottenheimer said.
“The one thing I always felt about Chuck Knox is they’re never going to beat themselves. You’re going to have to beat them. If you’ve got better personnel than they have, then you have a chance to win. If the personnel is even, then you’re going to have your hands full. You’re going to have to find a way to beat them because that football team’s going to be well-prepared.
“I think if you can find a guy who can be a good teacher and a guy who can communicate with players and who will be demanding and make sure that players understand us and have accountability in this business to everyone, I think you’ve got a chance to be successful, and I see that’s the thing Chuck always has done.
“The really amazing thing about it is he’s gone full circle, which has got to be a great feeling for him.”
In a few months under Knox, the Rams have almost totally remade their coaching staff, changed their conditioning coach, changed public relations directors, changed just about everything they could change.
And Knox still feels a little frustrated. He wants more changes, but he just can’t pull it off.
In each of his previous three jobs, Knox kick-started his struggling team by immediately making a major trade. In his first stint with the Rams it was trading John Hadl; in Buffalo it was O.J. Simpson and in Seattle it was trading for the draft pick to get Curt Warner.
That string, he says with a sigh, will end here. Neither Jim Everett nor any other major Ram will be traded, and the team will not be doing crazy things with its No. 1 pick, No. 3 overall in April’s draft.
“I don’t think you can make those kinds of big trades anymore,” Knox said. “We traded (John) Hadl to Green Bay, getting two 1s, two 2s and a 3. . . . Dan Devine had the sole authority to make trades, (and that’s) not the case anymore at most places. There are other people involved.”
Then, with George Seifert listening intently across the table and shrugging slightly at what he obviously thought was a reference to the 49ers’ reluctance to trade one of their very marketable players, Knox went on.
“Second thing is, before you can make trades, you can’t be afraid to fail,” Knox said. “Today, with the media scrutiny the way it is, a lot of people are reluctant to trade because they’re afraid they’re going to get criticized because of one guy.
“So consequently, they want it stacked 90% in their favor. You can’t make a deal.”
Ram Notes
Though the Rams were heavily represented at recent workout of UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox, Chuck Knox wasn’t there. With so many other pressing needs, he makes it clear he doesn’t want to spend a high pick for any young quarterback. “I don’t know whether that’s a priority,” Knox said. “Jim Everett is certainly not an older quarterback.” . . . Unprotected defensive back Jerry Gray has received interest from the Houston Oilers, but it’s unlikely the Oilers can come close to the $900,000 Gray is expected to make in 1992. The Rams have no plans to use Gray as a starter at either corner or safety, and say they hope he signs elsewhere. . . . Rookies are scheduled to report to Rams’ training camp July 15 and the veterans are due July 22, though the team hasn’t finalized a site. The Rams originally discussed moving out of UC Irvine, where they have trained the past two seasons, but now are considering going back. . . . The Rams will hold cheerleader tryouts at Rams Park in Anaheim at 9 a.m. Saturday.
