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Earle "Greasy" Neale Award
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Dick Vermeil, St. Louis Rams
"I thought that was my last hurrah right there," he said. But two years later, the St. Louis Rams offered Vermeil, then 60, the dual role of head coach and director of football operations. He jumped at the chance and, just as he did with the Eagles a generation earlier, he transformed a stumbling franchise into a champion. This season, Vermeil guided the Rams to the best record in the NFC, 13-3, and their first Western Division championship since 1985. He was voted the Maxwell Football Club's Professional Coach of the Year and will be presented with the 11th Earle "Greasy" Neale Award, named after the Eagles' Hall of Fame Coach. Vermeil left the coaching ranks in 1982 after seven seasons with the Eagles, citing physical and emotional burnout. He spent the next 14 years as a football broadcaster and spokesman for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. When he accepted the job in St. Louis, there were questions about whether he had been away too long and if his methods, which worked so well in Philadelphia, would still work with today's players. Vermeil said he never had a doubt and his success this season proves he was right. He traded for running back Marshall Faulk, who set a league record for combined rushing and receiving yardage, and he found a star quarterback in Kurt Warner, who took over for the injured Trent Green and led the NFL with 41 touchdown passes. "I thought that with the right kind of people around me, I could do it again," Vermeil said. "I don't like to use the word "I'. But I thought we could do it again. Winning is not complicated. People complicate it. If you surround yourself with the right people, you'll end up winning." "He had a lot of pressure on him, people saying he couldn't get it done, that his way was old school," said Warner, the former Arena League player who blossomed into an All-Pro under Vermeil's coaching. "To know he was able to do it again, I know it was a great satisfaction for him. It meant a lot to him." To rebuild the Rams, Vermeil used the same basic formula he employed with the Eagles 20 years ago: hard work and attention to detail. He turned over the roster (only eight players remain from the 1997 Rams) and instilled a winning attitude in the entire organization. If there was any difference in Vermeil's approach, it was his willingness to listen to the players and sometimes bend to their way of thinking. "He has done a tremendous job of handling us this year," said middle linebacker London Fletcher. "We aren't (practicing) in pads as much and it's showing in games. We're fresh out there and in the fourth quarter, we're still ready to go. He stuck his neck out for us and so we stick our necks ouit for him." "It's not magic or anything," said Vermeil, who led the Eagles to their only Super Bowl appearance in January, 1981. "There is a deep philosophy and a deep belief. It's worked for me before and these players are as fine a group as I've ever had. They're willing to make the committment. "The one thing in coaching you can never allow to creep into your mind is doubt you can do it. This is not putting a space machine on the moon. It's football. |
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When Dick Vermeil
did not sign on for that second tour of duty with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1995, he felt
he had closed the door on his NFL coaching career.