St. Louis Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom introduced Jim Haslett as the team’s interim head coach following Monday’s firing of Scott Linehan. "He took 100-percent of responsibility for the failures of this organization. But we are all comparable; we all share in the responsibilities of losing games. That includes other coaches, that includes the players, that includes the administration, that includes the ownership." Rosenbloom said.
Linehan was 11-25 from 2006 to the first four games of this season, but just 3-17 since the start of last year. Rosenbloom went onto to have nothing but praise for Linehan as a man.
Haslett would rather not come into a situation like this in the middle of the season, but he’s looking for to the many challenges that lie ahead for him.
"The first thing I want to tackle? Well, I want to tackle, there’s a lot things, but I’m going to try to meet with all the players over the next couple days. One, talk about the practice schedule, No. 2, talk to the coaches, try to get what I believe it’s going to take to get his team turned around. I have some ideas on both sides of the ball and special teams, so we’ll address those and then we’ll go from there."
The biggest question I have, is what is he going to do with Trent Green. Will he remain the starting quarterback, a very unpopular decision with the players or will he go back to Marc Bulger who the team is paying over $60 million to. While Haslett didn’t come right out and say it, I have a feeling, he’s going back with Bulger.
"I’ll sit down with the offensive staff and decide what’s best for this team. I think Marc’s a heck of a football player. I think he’s one of the top quarterbacks that’s played. If you look at his numbers over the years he’s in the upper echelon of quarterbacks. But that’s something that I’ll sit down with the offensive staff and then we’ll decide what’s best for this team, for next week and the future."
This will be Haslett’s second stint as an NFL head coach. He spent six years with the Saints, where he compiled 45 wins.
Haslett was interviewed by NFL.com and you can watch that interview.