Linehan brings in Vermeil to kick-start Rams

MEQUON, Wis. – In search of a spark that could take his team from the bottom of the NFC West Division to the top of the NFL heap, Rams coach Scott Linehan called on a familiar face.

For the better part of the past two years, Linehan has attempted to find a way to get former Rams coach Dick Vermeil to come to his team’s training camp. Linehan finally got one of the game’s finest motivators to give in.

“I heard he misses it, so he wanted to come stay in a dorm again,” Linehan joked.

Vermeil, who led the Rams to a Super Bowl win in 2000, arrived at Concordia University on Sunday, watched the team’s practice Monday and talked to the players at an evening meeting.

“The thing I learned, having been through it … is it takes the same things to go there and lose that it took to go there and win,” Vermeil said. “Getting there is so hard. Everybody works hard; you have to find a way to work harder. Everybody works smart; you have to find a way to work a little smarter. Then you have to be lucky.”

After two awful seasons in St. Louis that netted just nine wins, Vermeil led the 1999 Rams to a Super Bowl win with a 13-3 record only a year after going 4-12.

“Everyone has to do it his own way with his own philosophy,” Vermeil said. “I told him so. Last year was a tough year, but you can come out of a tough year better for having the experience.”