{"id":725050,"date":"2026-02-03T01:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/725050\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T01:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:17:19","slug":"sean-mcvay-coaching-tree-gets-bigger-with-mike-lafleur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/725050\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean McVay coaching tree gets bigger with Mike LaFleur"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a new contract extension in hand, Rams head coach Sean McVay now turns his attention to getting his club back to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

As expected, he will do so while filling a significant hole on his coaching staff. His offensive coordinator, Mike LaFleur, is moving on to Arizona to become the next head coach<\/a> of the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something McVay has grown accustomed to. The more success he and the Rams have, the more teams across the NFL come calling on his assistant coaches.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay reacts on the sideline during the first half of the NFC Championship. AP<\/p>\n

That is to be expected for a coach who has led the Rams to a 92-57 record<\/a> during the regular season, a victory in Super Bowl LVI, two Super Bowl appearances, and four NFC West division titles.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s made for a multi-branched coaching tree that seems to grow every single year. Since arriving in Los Angeles in 2017, McVay has helped groom seven assistants to become head coaches, including LaFleur.<\/p>\n

McVay understands it\u2019s just the price of success.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys are getting better opportunities that we can\u2019t offer here, and that\u2019s a great thing for them,\u201d McVay said last week.<\/p>\n

LaFleur joins his brother, Matt, the head coach of the Packers, Bengals coach Zac Taylor, Jaguars coach Liam Coen and Vikings coach Kevin O\u2019Connell as former McVay assistants who are now head coaches.<\/p>\n

Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur is pictured during warmups before a game against the Seattle Seahawks. AP<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell, Coen, and both LaFleurs were Rams offensive coordinators under McVay. All four of his OC\u2019s have become head coaches<\/p>\n

Coen, Matt LaFluer, Taylor, and O\u2019Connell have each led their teams to the playoffs and are considered among the top young coaches in the NFL<\/p>\n

In addition, Rams defensive coordinators Raheem Morris and Brandon Staley also became head coaches.<\/p>\n

Morris and Staley were both eventually fired by the Falcons and Chargers, respectively. Morris was hired as the 49ers\u2019 defensive coordinator<\/a> on Sunday. Staley is in his second season as the Saints defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Mike LaFleur will not be the last Rams assistant to leave to become a head coach. The club\u2019s current defensive coordinator, Chris Shula, interviewed with multiple teams for their head coaching vacancies in this cycle and is considered a head coach in waiting.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

In addition, passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase interviewed with the Raiders, Browns and Ravens for their head coaching jobs. Scheelhaase is considered a strong candidate to replace LaFleur.<\/p>\n

Either way, McVay now begins the process of replacing LaFleur, although other openings might need to be filled should LaFleur bring some Rams assistants with him to Arizona.<\/p>\n

McVay has some specific qualities in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the first question is, what\u2019s the fit?\u201d he said when asked what he looks for in an assistant coach. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve gotten a lot of reps at this too now. It starts with character. You better be a high character individual, and I don\u2019t really care what kind of coach you are, but I don\u2019t think you\u2019re a good coach if you don\u2019t have high character. And then you better have capacity for the game. You better be a great communicator where you can connect with your coaches and with your teammates and with your players most importantly. Because our job is to elevate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a new contract extension in hand, Rams head coach Sean McVay now turns his attention to getting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[1443,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,3307,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-725050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams","16":"tag-sean-mcvay","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116004064117764905","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}