The Steve Spagnuolo era in New York with the Giants was a successful one, with the Massachusetts native orchestrating one of the game’s best defenses as defensive coordinator. Things went so well, in fact, that the tenure earned Spagnuolo a head coaching gig with the St. Louis Rams.
It’s all been downhill from there, though. The Rams went 1-15 in his first season, and things didn’t get much better, as Spagnuolo won only 10 games in his three years in St. Louis. Unsurprisingly, that cost him his job.
Spagnuolo’s misery has continued this year, however, after he took over as defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints. The return to his coordinator post didn’t go very well, with Spagnuolo overseeing an historically bad defense in a year filled with turmoil in the wake of the bounty mess.
Now, with the 2012 season in the rearview, Spagnuolo is being challenged by the players he coached. Naturally, one of those players is doing so from underneath the safety of a cloak of anonymity. That player went as far as to say that Spagnuolo should lose his job.
“Players have no say in anything,” the player told NOLA.com. “It was [a] complete opposite from before where it was a simple D that players had lot of control and say. We couldn’t suggest [expletive] … Nothing ever changed. It was his way only.”
The player also said that things were “bad” under Spagnuolo and that players held back in criticizing the system during the season. All bets are off now that the season is over, apparently.
“He does have that good-guy persona, but he is a control freak and treats people like crap,” the player added. “[Spagnuolo has] no patience and zero personality. [He] has a way of pissing players and our defensive coaches off with how he says and does things. [I] think it’s even harder after having Gregg [Williams], who guys enjoyed.”
No team allowed more yards this season than the Saints, and only the Titans allowed more points.
