Call him a whiz kid. A wunderkind. A prodigy.
Sporting News 2017 Coach of the Year can now be added to that list, as well. Sean McVay was voted such by his peers after the Rams’ meteoric rise under the guidance of the youngest head coach in modern league history.
Hired last January at the age of 30, McVay transformed a franchise that hadn’t reached the playoffs since 2004 — the year when he was a freshman wide receiver at Miami (Ohio) University — into NFC West champions at 11-5.
McVay wasted no time bringing to Southern California some of the success he experienced the previous three seasons as Washington’s offensive coordinator. No player in the NFL improved more in his second season than quarterback Jared Goff. The top overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft rebounded from a rough (and winless) rookie season to throw for 3,804 yards with 28 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions.
MORE SN AWARDS:
Coordinator of the Year | All-Pro Team
McVay’s magic didn’t end there. He helped Todd Gurley get back on track after a disappointing 2016 sophomore campaign. Gurley led the NFL in yards from scrimmage (2,093) and touchdowns (19) while becoming a strong candidate for league MVP honors.
McVay showed his touch in personnel decisions by working with general manager Les Snead to upgrade at wide receiver (Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins and Cooper Kupp) and along the offensive line (left tackle Andrew Whitworth and center John Sullivan). McVay wisely recruited Super Bowl-winning coordinator Wade Phillips to run the defense and kept renowned special teams coach John Fassel from the previous staff. That helped McVay in making the transition into becoming an overseer rather than just focusing on one aspect of the team.
And what may be McVay’s biggest accomplishment of all: quickly changing a losing environment into a winning one.
"The whole culture changed as soon as McVay got in here," Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson told Sporting News following a Week 6 win over Jacksonville. “Go back to OTAs, training camp … Everything is different.”
So was the hiring of someone as young as McVay by Rams top football executive Kevin Demoff. The hope now is that 2017 was just a sign of things to come.
“While we have a lot of confidence in the players that we’ll have and guys that we can continue to build around, we know that it's going to take a lot of hard work,” McVay said at his season-ending news conference following a first-round playoff loss to Atlanta. “I know that guys will be excited to come back to work when that offseason program starts up."
As well they should be with McVay at the helm.
Coach of the Year voting results
1. Sean McVay, Rams
2. Doug Pederson, Eagles
3. Doug Marrone, Jaguars
4. Mike Zimmer, Vikings
5. Bill Belichick, Patriots
