St. Louis Rams OC Search Continues: Van Pelt, Chudzinski Interviews Denied

Since Mike Martz and the Greatest Show on Turf left town, St. Louis has failed to snag an offensive mind capable of putting the Rams’ O back into the spotlight. To some extent, they have no one to blame but themselves, with “Shotty” hirings capping the Rams offense in the middle-of-the-pack, despite having a bevy of young, top-flight offensive talents on the roster. However, with Brian Schottenheimer moving on to “greener” pastures at the University of Georgia, the St. Louis Rams have run into a new issue in the offensive coordinator hunt.

Recently, it was reported that the Rams had two new candidates in mind for their opening at coordinator. The first was Alex Van Pelt, who is Aaron Rodgers’ right-hand man in Green Bay, currently serving as the Packers quarterback coach. The other was Rob Chudzinski, who is currently the “special assistant” in Indianapolis, but has had success in the past managing both the Browns and Panthers erratic offenses.

However, the “powers that be” seem to be working against the St. Louis Rams in their journey for offensive competency…

It was recently announced that both the Packers and Colts have denied the Rams the opportunity to interview their staff. Organizations have the right to block employees that are currently under contract from interviewing for elsewhere. However, most understand that the opportunity for coaching advancement in the NFL can be limited. As a result, denying interviews is somewhat of a rarity in the league, particularly for position/specialty coaches who are slotted to be promoted outside of the conference; as would be the case with both Van Pelt and Chudzinski.

With Kyle Shanahan and Marc Trestman both officially off the market, the pool of “big name” offensive coordinator candidates is quickly drying up. At the moment, the St. Louis Rams likely top candidates are ex-Broncos offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, and the Rams current quarterback coach, Frank Cignetti. However, Gase is the guy for a half-dozen other openings in the NFL, including a few head coaching spots. Even Cignetti is getting some attention, with the Rams giving the Cleveland Browns permission to interview him for their current coordinator opening.

Given their currently situation, it may be time for the St. Louis Rams to step back and re-evaluate their position. There has been a recent trend of success with college coaches moving into the league, and that pool of candidates is certainly much larger than the current ex-NFL coaching market. Tops on that list should be West Virginia head coach, Dan Holgorsen, who could reunite with Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey, and may have a shot at snagging another Mountaineer, Kevin White, a Top 20 prospect in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Sadly, Jeff Fisher and the Rams front office have been methodical and uninspired in the past when it comes to new hires, typically “waiting out” the initial onslaught and settling for a candidate later in the process. Hopefully, that won’t come back to bite them in the end; See: Tim Walton in 2013.