WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Uninterrupted vacation time will once again be hard to come by for Rams head coach Sean McVay after yet another member of his staff was hired to a promotion externally.
Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur on Sunday was hired as the Cardinals' next head coach, creating a vacancy at the position.
"It never fails, every time me and my wife go on vacation, somebody's usually getting a head job and then I'm spending too much time on my phone," McVay said with a smile Monday morning.
McVay said it's an "awesome opportunity" for LaFleur, "and shoot, we'll get to see him twice a year now."
McVay also said it was something he thought could happen, adding they have "great candidates in house," but will still conduct an "extensive search" that follows the proper league protocols "to really just dive into what's going to be the best way to bring in new people that help us continue to build and grow towards where we want to be able to go."
"We have a lot of great coaches in house, but our job is to continuously build," McVay said. "It's like putting together a team, your coaching staff. We've had a lot of reps at it for a lot of the right reasons. I am excited about diving in."
Asked how LaFleur's responsibilities evolved over the last three years and how it changes what he will look for in a replacement coordinator, McVay in describing that role said he would like something similar to LaFleur.
"You have an overall approach, but then you have to be specific with the actual pieces and people and try to be able to maximize their potential and their best chance to be able to affect us in a positive way," McVay said. "Very similar to Kevin O'Connell and Liam (Coen), Mike comes in and he did a lot of our installs where he's teaching the plays where he and I will know what we're talking about in terms of all the different situational things and then, 'Hey, here's the vision we have.' You give guys an opportunity to present that in front of the group where I don't always have to be up in front. There are things like scripting where you lay out, here are the plays that we want to be able to do, get this, and then let's select defensive looks or let's have (senior defensive assistant) Jimmy Lake, or whoever we coordinate in that specific role. He's done a lot. He's coordinated the offense. It's very similar to previous guys, but I think it's more along the lines of letting him be able to collaborate with the other coaches and not feel like you have to be immersed in every part of it even though your responsibility is that oversight.
"Mike did a great job. I'm really appreciative of him. I think I was able to be a better head coach because of the contributions that he and our offensive staff have made over the last couple years. We're looking to continue that. Mike was a tremendous contributor to us. We've got some really good coaches in house that we're going to continue to develop. I think it is thorough and it's the right and the reasonable approach to be able to really have a wide ranging search while full well knowing that I've got more than capable guys that could step up and do a phenomenal job. You do have to do that just based on the rules in general. I'm looking forward to seeing what that looks like and exactly how that person that ends up becoming the OC, what their roles and responsibilities are. That's earned on a daily basis. I would like something similar to Mike, if that's what you're asking."
Beyond that, McVay confirmed the hiring of special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone and assistant special teams coach Kyle Hoke on Monday.
