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 rabblerouser:
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.
In The Lexicon...a Genious terms a prolific success as a 9-7 season with Gunther and I guess I could add the above, now. Fantastic.
When I read 'contention' I was reading contention to actually win something, like a playoff game...my bad. I didnt realize your aspirations for Haley was a second AFCW title and nothing more. Too bad he lost the team. [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.
edit...forgot to comment on the OP....
Being demoted from NFL to high school football says maybe the guy doesnt play well with others...
I don't buy that he tanked on purpose except for the Jets game where he looked like he had finally given up. Haley gets blamed for throwing palko out there. But keep in mind that the reason palko was #2 is because Pioli refused to put a backup qb on the roster who would dare threaten cassels starting job. Haley did ask for different backups and was denied.
And I don't think 8-8 is the best he could have done. He led a 9-7 team behind shitty Matt Cassel, a qb he didn't want. Our defense and running game during those years were good enough that we could have been decent with a simple qb change.
But yeah, he's earned his way out of the NFL. And he's probably at best an average coach. But I really buy into the idea that our problems were a hell of a lot more about Pioli than they were haley. [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
I don't buy that he tanked on purpose except for the Jets game where he looked like he had finally given up. Haley gets blamed for throwing palko out there. But keep in mind that the reason palko was #2 is because Pioli refused to put a backup qb on the roster who would dare threaten cassels starting job. Haley did ask for different backups and was denied.
And I don't think 8-8 is the best he could have done. He led a 9-7 team behind shitty Matt Cassel, a qb he didn't want. Our defense and running game during those years were good enough that we could have been decent with a simple qb change.
But yeah, he's earned his way out of the NFL. And he's probably at best an average coach. But I really buy into the idea that our problems were a hell of a lot more about Pioli than they were haley.
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
HOW DO YOU FIGURE?? :-) :-)
Haley had 10-6 in 2010 and was still mathematically in contention for the division in 2011.
In 2012, after Haley left, 2-14 murder suicide dumpster fire with AIDS.
Looks like Haley actually helped keep the whole thing almost respectable. After he left, the wheels flew off.
Since you finally admitted to being wrong about Andy Reid, how about you ho ahead and admit to being wrong about haley. And just because the dumbass gm hired someone even worse right after him doesnt make him a good coach. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tyecopeland:
Since you finally admitted to being wrong about Andy Reid, how about you ho ahead and admit to being wrong about haley. And just because the dumbass gm hired someone even worse right after him doesnt make him a good coach.
Because I'm just dealing with facts. That dummy tried to claim that Haley "made a bad situation worse", when all signs point to him being the one holding the whole thing together.
Whoever said that Haley has proven to coach up people to be tough and scrappy, only to see them get soft after he leaves is correct. We've seen it in Dallas, Arizona, KC, and Pittsburgh.
And really, Cleveland kind of fell off the cliff this year, too... [Reply]
