St Louis Post-Dispatch: Ex-Rams coach Fisher loved St Louis

Didn't know until just now that there is an article about Jeff Fisher in today's St Louis Post-Dispatch.


Media Views: Ex-Rams coach Fisher 'loved' St. Louis, where front office's 'attention was elsewhere' at end

By Dan Caesar St. Louis Post-Dispatch


It’s been nearly two years since Jeff Fisher has been involved in an NFL game, but the former Rams and Titans coach is about to return. He’s set to serve as the analyst on Fox’s telecast Sunday of the Jets-Jaguars contest, and hopes it could be a springboard to a return to coaching.

“I’m not there yet,” he said when asked in a conversation this week if he wants to transition into sportscasting. “I want to get back on the sideline, I’ll be blunt. I’m not ready to do the broadcasting thing full time.”

Fisher has been out of the game since the Rams fired him late in 2016, less than a year after he was at the helm as the team moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles — his hometown. Their record was 4-9 at the time, en route to a 10th consecutive losing season.

Relocation not only is hard on the fans left behind, but on a coaching staff trying to keep the team focused through the turmoil. That Fisher had been through the process before, when the Oilers moved from Houston to Tennessee to become the Titans, impressed Rams owner Stan Kroenke. Fisher acknowledges that topic came up when he interviewed for the St. Louis job, and he thought then that Kroenke could have been planning to follow suit.

“I was asked about the move, ‘How was the move from Houston to Nashville?” he said. “I went into detail. You kind of had a sense at that point. But I didn’t take the St. Louis job because it was an opportunity to get back home to L.A. Nor did I not take it because they were going to move.

“I was really excited about that opportunity. There were three reasons for taking that job. I loved the city of St. Louis, I spent so much time in Nashville — it’s not too far away. Then the Rams had what I thought was a top 10, top five quarterback (Sam Bradford). And I had a lot of respect for Stan at the time.”

Fisher said in a radio interview last year that he decided to take the job “knowing that there was going to be a pending move.” But he backed off that a bit this week.

“There was no discussion other than I shared my experience briefly with respect to that,” he said. “You can read between the lines with respect to the lease early on, but we didn’t know. The last year there, in ’15, as you got up to the season there was more and more talk. But from a coaching perspective you can’t get tied up in that because it’s out of your control. Then you come to find out that there was a lot of work that had been done (that negatively affected us trying) to win. People’s attention was elsewhere, not necessarily on the team. My job was to do it despite that.”

After the move, Rams COO Kevin Demoff indicated the front office was so focused on relocation in 2015 that it could have created difficulty had the Rams made the playoffs that year.

“Either thankfully or not thankfully we went on a four-game losing streak in the middle of November,” he told a group in Los Angeles a few months after the move was approved. “So we went from being in the playoff hunt and having a seed to being woefully out the playoff hunt, which allowed us a little more time to ... put things together” with the bid to move.

Fisher said despite the tumult, he has fond memories of his time in Missouri.

“I loved my experience in St. Louis,” he said. “I felt it was a great challenge to turn that team around. I liked the personalities at the time, from Sam to James (Laurinaitis) to Chris (Long). They had some tough years before I got there (in 2012), I don’t think anybody lost more games in a five-year span than the Rams did before I got there. I knew it was going to take some work, and we turned it around.”

Some might scoff at that last remark, given that the Rams never broke .500 under Fisher. But in his four years in St. Louis, the Rams won 27 games. In the previous five combined, they won 15.

“Then as you get closer and closer to the reality of the move — I’ve been through it twice and it’s not easy,” he said. “It’s difficult to endure. But I can look back and feel like I gave it my best shot. I couldn’t control the injuries to Sam, nor could he. Who knows what would have happened had that not happened? But that’s part of football.

“We worked hard, and I’m proud of everything we did there,” he said. “Obviously disappointed over the whole relocation aspect, but that was out of my hands. I love St. Louis. I’m a Cardinal fan, I was close with the Shannon family, (broadcaster) Mike — and I played at (Southern California) with Tim (Shannon’s son). Then I got to know (recently fired Cardinals manager) Mike Matheny. I feel bad for Mike, but we chose to get into this business. I loved everything about St. Louis. The charity things we did — Guns ’N Hoses, the softball game” that benefited several organizations, including Backstoppers.

FALL FLING

Fisher has been enjoying a much slower-paced life, but now he is eager to return to the field. He is eighth on the list of NFL games coached (339), 12th in victories (173), and is tied with Dan Reeves for most losses (165).

“There were some feelers last year when clubs were making changes,” he said, adding that he is “looking for the right place, right time. I feel great. I’m in great shape and enjoying my time.”

Fisher, 60, is splitting his time between a cabin in Montana that he has had for many years, not far from Yellowstone National Park, and a home in Nashville. He added he’s been to Alaska twice.

“I’m a grandpa, I don’t feel old but I certainly enjoy my grandson, enjoying those things that you can’t ordinarily do” as a football coach. “For example I’ve never been at my cabin — with the exception of two days over a bye weekend — in the fall to be able to just enjoy the change of season. Fall is upon us, the aspens are turning colors, the elk are bugling, the fish are spawning. It’s a really cool time of year.

BACK IN BUSINESS

Fisher said he is enjoying the feeling again of preparing for a game, albeit in a different role.

“It’s fun watching games (to prepare), looking at it from a different perspective,” he said. “I have a much greater appreciation for the difficulty of doing the games. ... I’ve always respected what the broadcasters have done and (as a coach) tried to help them in production meetings. But to put their shoes on, there is a lot going on. I have an appreciation for those guys who are really good. It’s an art.”

The contest he calls, with play-by-play man Dan Hellie, is not scheduled to be shown in St. Louis as Fox sends it to just 10 percent of the nation. The network’s lead announcers, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, are not doing games on most Sundays when Fox shows just one game in each market because they are calling Thursday night contests this season. That’s the case this weekend, and the move creates an opportunity for an extra crew occasionally.Fisher doesn’t have another game scheduled, but this could be an audition for more work.

Now he’s eager to get his chance, even if it is on a small stage.

“I kind of circled this Sunday on the calendar. I’m going to be myself. I’m going to be excited about it and try to give a different perspective, a coaching perspective, and have fun with the game.”

[www.stltoday.com]

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