Linehan switched allegiance
Scott Linehan still counts the photograph among his most treasured possessions.
There he is, a 140-pound high school freshman, standing between Seattle Seahawks stars Jim Zorn and Steve Largent.
That was then, when Linehan was a Seahawks fan growing up in the Yakima Valley, and this is now, when Linehan will be going against the Seahawks as head coach of the St. Louis Rams.
“I don’t really go there much anymore,” the 43-year-old, first-time coach said of his memories as a Seahawks fan. “I’m a Ram now. It certainly piques your interest a little more because of where you’re from. (But) I don’t get too caught up in that. We’ve got a pretty busy schedule on a daily basis around here.”
As the Sunnyside native and former University of Washington assistant prepares to face the Seahawks on Sunday, the small town where he was raised might be divided. He said he has plenty of friends and relatives who are big-time Seahawks fans, but their allegiances might have to take a one-week hiatus.
“They’re not this week,” Linehan said of Sunnyside, a 14,000-person town 35 miles outside of Yakima. “… That’s what they tell me. I hope so.”
The pride of Sunnyside – Linehan lists 1960s UW offensive lineman Jake Kupp as his hometown’s most famous product – is preparing his new team for the one he grew up watching.
Linehan said he dreamed of playing for the Seahawks even before posing for that photograph at the Northwest Football Camp. His days as a player ended after a solid career as the University of Idaho’s quarterback, and he turned to coaching shortly thereafter.
“I really believe that’s what he wanted to do,” said Seahawks assistant Keith Gilbertson, who coached Linehan for three years at Idaho. “He’s a coach’s kid, and he comes from a football family. I really thought he’d be terrific.”
The early reports are pretty good, based on the Rams’ 4-1 start. The former Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins assistant has had an immediate effect in his first year as a head coach at any level.
Running back Steven Jackson referred to Linehan as “a breath of fresh air.”
Wide receiver Dane Looker, who also played under Linehan for two seasons at UW, said the new coach has given the Rams a quiet confidence.
“He’s always been a guy who exudes a lot of confidence,” Looker said. “Being that he was a first-time head coach, on a team with so many veterans, it could have been a little intimidating. But he never seemed intimidated at all.”
That Linehan has never served as a head coach seems to be lost on his current players.
He started coaching under John L. Smith at Idaho in 1989. Linehan moved up to the University of Washington in 1994 and spent five years as an assistant under Rick Neuheisel before moving on to Louisville in 1999.
(Coincidentally, Linehan and his former college coach missed each other by one year in Moscow and Montlake, leading the 58-year-old Gilbertson to quip: “If I keep coaching long enough, maybe I’ll get a chance to coach with his children.”)
Linehan’s big break came in 2002, when Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice offered him a job in the NFL. Linehan spent three years with the Vikings, and another with the Dolphins, before the Rams named him their 22nd head coach – and third in less than a year – last January.