Haley, who has a home in the Sarasota area, was the Kansas City Chiefs head coach from 2009-2011, briefly the Browns offensive coordinator and worked for the Bears, Cowboys and Steelers
The Riverview Rams wasted little time finding a replacement for Jared Clark.
And they got a former NFL head coach to do it.
Todd Haley, who served as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from 2009 through 2011, will take over as the Rams offensive coordinator, a position held by Clark before he was hired recently as head coach at Cardinal Mooney High.
The 52-year-old Haley last served as the offensive coordinator in 2018 for the Cleveland Browns. But he was fired after a Week 8 loss to his former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Haley, who has a home in the area and whose daughter attends Out-of-Door Academy, was introduced to Rams head coach Josh Smithers through former Ram TJ Nutter.
“We were talking and he brought him up and I asked him, ‘You think he’d watch some film?’ ” Smithers said. “So he came over to Riverview late in the season and we watched some film.
“At that point we do what we do. We’re not going to change anything.”
After the season, when Clark’s name became linked to the Mooney job, Smithers reached out to Nutter to gauge Haley’s interest in becoming the Rams offensive coordinator.
“I said, ‘Hey, what do you think?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, give it a shot.’ Once I knew Jared had the job I just reached out to him, ‘Would you like to coach still?’ ”
Haley took some time to discuss the offer with his family before telling Smithers he’d take the job.
“We’re obviously excited that he wanted to join the staff and hoping we can learn a lot of football from him,” Smithers said.
Haley’s father, Dick Haley, was an NFL cornerback for six years and later served as director of player personnel for the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers.
As a youth, Haley was a ball boy for the Steelers and attended Steeler training camps with his dad. He went on to attend the University of Florida and University of Miami and graduated from the University of North Florida in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in communication.
His first job in coaching was in 1995 as an assistant with the Jets in their scouting department. He then became the Jets wide receivers coach, a job Haley later held with the Bears and Cowboys before becoming offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals in 2007.
Haley has never coached at the high school level. Smithers said he discussed this with him.
“We talked about the high school game being different than the pro game,” he said. “And he was all fired up, just to get out there and coach football again. He understands these are high school kids who go to school all day and you get them for a couple of hours versus people who do it for a job.
“He told me he’s excited just to teach quarterbacks how to read coverages and receivers how to run better routes.
“And I think that’s where he’s going to be able to excel. His ability to understand defensive coverages and have an answer for everything.”
Smithers also pointed out that Haley, who was unavailable for comment, will be part of a program that has a winning culture already established.
“I told him what we’ve done here at Riverview the last five years, it works and we’ve had success with it,” he said. “I said obviously if there are certain route concepts or things that you just have to have in your arsenal, then you have the freedom but we’re not going to all of a sudden create a new offense.
“We’re going to be spread and up tempo. If he can make us go even faster, than will be even better.
“He’s all in.”
But Smithers realizes any coach, even one with NFL pedigree, can only do so much.
“At the end of the day, our kids will be on the field competing and it doesn’t really matter who’s calling it. If we don’t execute, it’s not going to matter.” [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
I agree it wasn’t all Haley’s fault, Pioli deserves the scourge too. But, Haley’s inability to get along with his players. His hard headed my way or the highway approach to players when he had never won anything was a huge mistake, his alone mistake.
It’s just my opinion that Haley sucked as an NFL coach. His time as the Chiefs head coach was a disaster. We as fans suffered under his rein.
Derrick Johnson was a chronic underachiever until Haley benched him and challenged his manhood.
Dwayne Bowe was shit before and after Haley.
Haley screamed Matt Cassel to 27 TD throws and 7 INTs, which actually resembles an NFL QB on paper...
Haley won the division in 2010 and had the team in contention to win in 2011 when he was fired. It was a "disaster" because of Pioli. The 2012 season, the season after Haley left, is the worst season in Chiefs history.
Looking at it in context, one understands that Haley actually made chicken salad out of total chickenshit, and it looks as if his heavy handed "my way or the highway" was what was needed at the time. Romeo "Play Good Football" Crennell won exactly 3 games with the same team after he took over. [Reply]
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
Derrick Johnson was a chronic underachiever until Haley benched him and challenged his manhood.
Dwayne Bowe was shit before and after Haley.
Haley screamed Matt Cassel to 27 TD throws and 7 INTs, which actually resembles an NFL QB on paper...
Haley won the division in 2010 and had the team in contention to win in 2011 when he was fired. It was a "disaster" because of Pioli. The 2012 season, the season after Haley left, is the worst season in Chiefs history.
Looking at it in context, one understands that Haley actually made chicken salad out of total chickenshit, and it looks as if his heavy handed "my way or the highway" was what was needed at the time. Romeo "Play Good Football" Crennell won exactly 3 games with the same team after he took over.
He did a few good things like you mentioned. But overall he was a coordinator who got promoted beyond his capabilities.
Would he have done better with a better GM and more talent? Most likely. But he’s still not that great a head coach. There’s a reason he never got hired as a head coach again. He’s mediocre. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Deberg_1990:
He did a few good things like you mentioned. But overall he was a coordinator who got promoted beyond his capabilities.
Would he have done better with a better GM and more talent? Most likely. But he’s still not that great a head coach. There’s a reason he never got hired as a head coach again. He’s mediocre.
Of course he would've been better with a real GM an more talent. He inherited a 2-14 dumpster fire and improved the team immediately. No one's saying he was going to the HOF. But the 2 1/2 years under Haley are far from the "disaster" that others try to make it.
The real disaster was Pioli, and that was proven after Haley left. [Reply]
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
Derrick Johnson was a chronic underachiever until Haley benched him and challenged his manhood.
Dwayne Bowe was shit before and after Haley.
Haley screamed Matt Cassel to 27 TD throws and 7 INTs, which actually resembles an NFL QB on paper...
Haley won the division in 2010 and had the team in contention to win in 2011 when he was fired. It was a "disaster" because of Pioli. The 2012 season, the season after Haley left, is the worst season in Chiefs history.
Looking at it in context, one understands that Haley actually made chicken salad out of total chickenshit, and it looks as if his heavy handed "my way or the highway" was what was needed at the time. Romeo "Play Good Football" Crennell won exactly 3 games with the same team after he took over.
Haley went 4-12. Pioli gave him some real coordinators in 2010 (instead of just letting Todd do all the work himself) and then when Weis left, the Chiefs were losers again.
Haley did some good things. It's hard NOT to do some good things when you're a head coach in this league-- you have too much power. But compared to the average NFL coach, Haley was dogshit. Let's please not pretend he was some genius held back by the likes of Pioli. Haley is a petulant douchetard. He deserves no praise, no excuses, and no what ifs.
This is an appropriate fate for him. It's where he belongs. Hell. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
Haley went 4-12. Pioli gave him some real coordinators in 2010 (instead of just letting Todd do all the work himself) and then when Weis left, the Chiefs were losers again.
Haley did some good things. It's hard NOT to do some good things when you're a head coach in this league-- you have too much power. But compared to the average NFL coach, Haley was dogshit. Let's please not pretend he was some genius held back by the likes of Pioli. Haley is a petulant douchetard. He deserves no praise, no excuses, and no what ifs.
This is an appropriate fate for him. It's where he belongs. Hell.
No one is pretending.anything. I just remember how the entire team went to shit after Haley left. It was what it was. [Reply]
I think it’s awesome, given the rumors about Haley’s sexual kinks, that a guy named TJ Nutter is referenced in the story. That’s a 1980s porn star name if I’ve ever heard one. [Reply]
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
No one is pretending.anything. I just remember how the entire team went to shit after Haley left. It was what it was.
It wasn't like Haley had the team humming along, got fired, and then there was chaos. Haley had chaos built in to the Chiefs. Romeo just finished them off.
No, Haley didn't choose Cassel. But he sure as shit chose Tyler Palko. He didn't choose Tyson Jackson, but he sure as shit chose that one miserable vet asshole WR to start the Baltimore playoff game.
The list goes on and on. Reid apparently had a falling out with Dorsey, but we didn't hear shit about it until after Dorsey was fired. That's because Reid is a responsible leader. Haley is a fucking child. [Reply]
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
Derrick Johnson was a chronic underachiever until Haley benched him and challenged his manhood.
Dwayne Bowe was shit before and after Haley.
Haley screamed Matt Cassel to 27 TD throws and 7 INTs, which actually resembles an NFL QB on paper...
Haley won the division in 2010 and had the team in contention to win in 2011 when he was fired. It was a "disaster" because of Pioli. The 2012 season, the season after Haley left, is the worst season in Chiefs history.
Looking at it in context, one understands that Haley actually made chicken salad out of total chickenshit, and it looks as if his heavy handed "my way or the highway" was what was needed at the time. Romeo "Play Good Football" Crennell won exactly 3 games with the same team after he took over.
Haley was a bad head coach. Theres wasn't a lot of talent and he had a terrible gm but it doesnt change the previous fact.
Also, hes a pretty good offensive coordinator.
But in both roles he seems to get upset when people dont do exactly what hes told them to do. He always seemed to lose it on big ben of he changed the play at the line or did something that wasn't drawn up. I cant imagine that going real well at a high school [Reply]
Originally Posted by tyecopeland: Haley was a bad head coach. Theres wasn't a lot of talent and he had a terrible gm but it doesnt change the previous fact.
Haley is a bad coach ant a total douchetard. I wouldn't piss on him to put him out if he was on fire.
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
Haley went 4-12. Pioli gave him some real coordinators in 2010 (instead of just letting Todd do all the work himself) and then when Weis left, the Chiefs were losers again.
Haley did some good things. It's hard NOT to do some good things when you're a head coach in this league-- you have too much power. But compared to the average NFL coach, Haley was dogshit. Let's please not pretend he was some genius held back by the likes of Pioli. Haley is a petulant douchetard. He deserves no praise, no excuses, and no what ifs.
This is an appropriate fate for him. It's where he belongs. Hell.
Haley was not as bad as his critics want him to be. He clearly can't mentally handle even a shred of toxicity. But he's been in multiple situations where he got alone well with everyone. He was not a great coach, but he wasn't bad either. I don't blame him for palko. Keep in mind he jumped up and down for Hasselbeck, Dalton, and Kaepernick. That is 100% on Pioli for being so stupid not to bring in a backup who would dare challenge cassel for the starting job. And we fought our ass off. I still remember a game we lost I think against Pittsburgh where our team played so tough that we almost beat then behind Tyler palko. We saw that romeos short lived success was totally about riding the coattails of the tough team haley built.
It's a shame he has maturity issues because he is actually an outstanding coach. Not a great playcaller. But what he's done everywhere... He can coach one hell of a good run blocking OL. He is a hell of a WRs coach. And as much as people rip on his relationship with big Ben, haley did a really great job accomplishing something that wasn't easy. Forcing big Ben to stop freelancing. And everywhere he's gone players play really tough for him (then unsurprisingly look soft as dough when he leaves).
I wouldn't have minded seeing him with a less toxic front office. But yeah, his immaturity dealing with toxic shit makes him a complete liability which is why he will likely never coach in the NFL again. [Reply]
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
...Haley won the division in 2010 and had the team in contention to win in 2011 when he was fired. It was a "disaster" because of Pioli. The 2012 season, the season after Haley left, is the worst season in Chiefs history.
Looking at it in context, one understands that Haley actually made chicken salad out of total chickenshit, and it looks as if his heavy handed "my way or the highway" was what was needed at the time. Romeo "Play Good Football" Crennell won exactly 3 games with the same team after he took over.
Its funny how we remember the same thing completely differently. Haley was 5-8 when he was fired. Considering 8-8 was the best Haley could have done, I wouldnt exactly call that 'in contention'...as I recall, it seemed to me he lost the team and started tanking on purpose just to get fired and then all the nonsense about bugged phones, etc.
He wanted out...I get that, but why not just leave/resign instead of ****ing with the team.
But hey...remember him fondly if you want.
edit...forgot to comment on the OP....
Being demoted from NFL to high school football says maybe the guy doesnt play well with others... [Reply]
Originally Posted by KCTitus:
Its funny how we remember the same thing completely differently. Haley was 5-8 when he was fired. Considering 8-8 was the best Haley could have done, I wouldnt exactly call that 'in contention'...as I recall, it seemed to me he lost the team and started tanking on purpose just to get fired and then all the nonsense about bugged phones, etc.
He wanted out...I get that, but why not just leave/resign instead of ****ing with the team.
But hey...remember him fondly if you want.
Because the Broncos won the division that year with an 8-8 record, and we beat them in week 17, if we had beaten the Raiders in week 16 we would've had the tiebreaker and would've won the division.
So, I consider that we were in contention because MATH. [Reply]