Today is Rams head coach Sean McVay’s 40th birthday, and although he doesn’t want to talk about that, he did talk about how he has been in his job the second-longest of any NFL head coach.
“It’s wild, huh?” McVay said.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who was hired in 2013, has been in his job the longest of any NFL head coach. McVay, who was hired in 2017, is next, and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who was hired a few weeks after McVay, is a close third. McVay said that shows how little job security there is for most football coaches.
“It is hard,” McVay said. “This league is challenging, but it’s always a blessing and I don’t take it for granted. Being in Year Nine, it’s crazy the turnover that occurs. Me and Kyle that year, and then Big Red in Kansas City, Coach Reid still doing his thing.”
McVay said he doesn’t like hearing that he has “seniority” among NFL coaches, but he does appreciate that he’s been able to stay in one place for nine years in a business where that isn’t often the case.
“Seniority? I’m not a senior yet,” McVay said. “I think what you realize is how hard this league is. How volatile it is. And perspective is everything. Fortunately, I did have a decent perspective growing up in this game, realizing how difficult it is, but you love it, and you know that it doesn’t always come with great things.”
McVay’s grandfather, John McVay, was head coach of the Giants from 1976 to 1978 and was fired a month after his team suffered one of the most embarrassing losses in NFL history, fondly remembered by Eagles fans as the Miracle at the Meadowlands. That was the end of John McVay’s coaching career, but Sean McVay talked about how his grandfather persevered and became a longtime executive in San Francisco.
“My grandfather was the head coach of the Giants, head coach during the Miracle at the Meadowlands, and you look at it as, this is a challenging deal, he leaves that job and ends up being an executive and is part of five world championships with the 49ers,” McVay said.
McVay said he appreciates that the Rams have stuck by him in a business where coaches often don’t last long.
“What a blessing it is to be in these positions,” Mcvay said. “The appreciation I have for when I haven’t been at my best but the support and the unconditional support that I’ve felt. That means a whole lot to me.”
