List of Los Angeles Rams head coaches

The Los Angeles Rams are a professional football team based in Inglewood, California. They are members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).^[1] The Rams played their first season in 1936 in Cleveland, Ohio. During World War II, the Rams did not play during the 1943 season because of wartime restrictions and shortages.^[2] The team became known as the Los Angeles Rams after it moved to Los Angeles, California in 1946. After the 1979 season, the Rams moved south to the suburbs in nearby Orange County, playing their home games at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim for fifteen seasons (1980–1994) but kept their Los Angeles name. The club moved east to St. Louis, Missouri before the 1995 season, and moved back to Los Angeles before the 2016 season.

The NFL considers the franchise to be a second incarnation of the previous Cleveland Rams team that was a charter member of the second American Football League. Although the NFL granted membership to the same owner, the NFL considers it a separate entity because only four of the players (William "Bud" Cooper, Harry "The Horse" Mattos, Stan Pincura, and Mike Sebastian) and none of the team's management joined the new NFL team.^[3][4]

There have been 26 head coaches for the Rams franchise. Damon Wetzel became the first head coach of the Rams in 1936, when it was called the Cleveland Rams. He served for one season before he was replaced by Hugo Bezdek. Sid Gillman and George Allen were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as coaches. Dick Vermeil is the only coach to win a Super Bowl championship for the St. Louis Rams.

Rich Brooks was the first coach for the team in St. Louis. After struggling to win, Brooks was fired and replaced by former Philadelphia Eagles head coach, Dick Vermeil. Vermeil went on to win the Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999. His offensive coordinator, Mike Martz, took over after Vermeil retired for the second time. Mike Martz has the best winning percentages in St. Louis Rams history. Since Martz's firing the Rams have had Joe Vitt coach interim, Scott Linehan was his successor and replaced by Jim Haslett once he, himself, was terminated in the early part of the 2008 season. The franchise's current head coach is Jeff Fisher, who has gone 27–36–1 as head coach through four seasons in charge.

Key

#	Number of coaches ^[A]
GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
T	Ties
Win%	Winning percentage
00†	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
00‡	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
00*	Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Rams

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2015 NFL season.

#	Name	Term	Regular Season					Playoffs				Achievements	Reference
			GC	W	L	T	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%
Cleveland Rams
1	Damon Wetzel ^[a]	1936	9	5	2	2	.667	—					[2]
2	Hugo Bezdek*	1937–1938* ^[b]	14	1	13	0	.071	—					[5]
3	Art Lewis*	1938*	8	4	4	0	.500	—					[6]
4	Dutch Clark ‡	1939–1942	44	16	26	2	.386	—					[7]
	^[c]	1943
5	Buff Donelli	1944	10	4	6	0	.400	—					[8]
6	Adam Walsh*	1945–1946*	21	15	5	1	.738	1	1	0	1.000	1945 Pro NFL Coach of the Year[9]	[10]
Los Angeles Rams
7	Bob Snyder*	1947*	12	6	6	0	.500	—					[11]
8	Clark Shaughnessy*	1948–1949*	24	14	7	3	.646	1	0	1	.000		[12]
9	Joe Stydahar ‡	1950–1952 ^[d]	25	17	8	0	.680	3	2	1	.667		[13]
10	Hamp Pool*	1952–1954*	35	23	10	2	.686	1	0	1	.000	1952 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year[14]	[15]
11	Sid Gillman †	1955–1959	60	28	31	1	.475	1	0	1	.000		[16]
12	Bob Waterfield ‡*	1960–1962* ^[e]	34	9	24	1	.279	—					[17]
13	Harland Svare	1962–1965	48	14	31	3	.323	—					[18]
14	George Allen †	1966–1970	70	49	17	4	.729	2	0	2	.000	List 1967 AP NFL Coach of the Year[19] 1967 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year[14] 1967 UPI NFL Coach of the Year[20]	[21]
15	Tommy Prothro	1971–1972	28	14	12	2	.536	—					[22]
16	Chuck Knox	1973–1977	70	54	15	1	.779	8	3	5	.375	List 1973 AP NFL Coach of the Year[19] 1973 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year[14] 1973 Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year[23] 1973 UPI NFC Coach of the Year[24]	[25]
17	Ray Malavasi	1978–1982	73	40	33	0	.548	6	3	3	.500		[26]
18	John Robinson*	1983–1991*	143	75	68	0	.524	10	4	6	.400		[27]
—	Chuck Knox ^[f]	1992–1994	48	15	33	0	.313	—					[25]
St. Louis Rams
19	Rich Brooks*	1995–1996*	32	13	19	0	.406	—					[28]
20	Dick Vermeil	1997–1999	48	22	26	0	.458	3	3	0	1.000	List 1999 AP NFL Coach of the Year[19] 1999 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year[14] 1999 Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year[23] 1999 Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year[29]	[30]
21	Mike Martz*	2000–2005* ^[g]	85	53	32	0	.624	7	3	4	.429		[31]
22	Joe Vitt	2005	11	4	7	0	.364	—					[32]
23	Scott Linehan*	2006–2008*	36	11	25	0	.306	—					[33]
24	Jim Haslett	2008	12	2	10	0	.167	—					[34]
25	Steve Spagnuolo*	2009–2011*	48	10	38	0	.208	—					[35][36]
26	Jeff Fisher	2012–2015	64	27	36	1	.430	—					[37][38]
Los Angeles Rams
—	Jeff Fisher	2016–present	0	0	0	0	–	—					[39]

Notes

• ^A A running total of the number of Rams head coaches. Thus, any head coach who has two or more separate terms is only counted once.
• ^a Damon Wetzel was a player-coach for the Rams in 1936.
• ^b Hugo Bezdek was released after three games in 1938.
• ^c The Rams suspended operation during the 1943 season because of wartime restrictions and shortages.
• ^d Joe Stydahar resigned after one game in 1952.
• ^e Bob Waterfield resigned after eight games in 1962.^[40]
• ^f Knox's full coaching record with the Rams is 118 regular season games coached with a record of 69–48–1 and a W–L percentage of .589
• ^g Mike Martz took medical leave after five games in 2005.

References

1. "St. Louis Rams". NFL.com. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
2. "St. Louis Rams History: Chronology". Official Website of the St. Louis Rams. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
3. Braunwart, Bob. "All Those A.F.L.'S: N.F.L Competitors, 1935-41". Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2006-11-13. In 1937 the N.F.L. admitted the Cleveland Rams. Four of the players (according to Treat) were the same.
4. "An interactive history of The Rams". Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
5. "Hugo Bezdek". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
6. "Art Lewis". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
7. "Dutch Clark". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
8. "Aldo Donelli". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
9. "Player Bio: Adam Walsh". University of Notre Dame. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
10. "Adam Walsh". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
11. "Bob Snyder". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
12. "Clark Shaughnessy". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
13. "Joe Stydahar". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
14. "NFL Coach of the Year". Sporting News. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
15. "Hampton Pool". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
16. "Sid Gillman". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
17. "Bob Waterfield". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
18. "Harland Svare". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
19. "AP NFL Coach of the Year Winners". The Washington Post. 2005-01-08. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
20. "George Allen". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
21. "George Allen". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
22. "Tommy Prothro". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
23. Sohn, Matt (2008-01-15). "In wake of ‘Spygate,’ Belichick steamrolled the competition". Pro Football Weekly. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
24. "Knox Voted Top Coach Wins UPI Award for Second Straight Year". Philadelphia Inquirer. 1987-12-26.
25. "Chuck Knox". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
26. "Ray Malavasi". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
27. "John Robinson". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
28. "Rich Brooks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
29. "Maxwell Football Club - Professional Coach of the Year". Maxwell Football Club. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
30. "Dick Vermeil". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
31. "Mike Martz". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
32. "Joe Vitt Records, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
33. "Scott Linehan". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
34. "Jim Haslett". Chicago Tribune. 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
35. "Steve Spagnuolo Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
36. "Coach Spagnuolo, GM Devaney fired by Rams". NFL.com (NFL Enterprises LLC). January 2, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
37. "Fisher chooses to coach Rams over Dolphins". NFL.com (National Football League). January 13, 2012. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
38. "St. Louis Rams will introduce Jeff Fisher as coach Tuesday". ESPN. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
39. "Jeff Fisher Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
40. Arkush, Dan (2008-09-19). "New owner may be losing patience". Pro Football Weekly. Retrieved 2008-10-21.