Steve Spagnuolo and St. Louis Rams Part Ways After Failed Season

It took only two years as a defensive coordinator for Steve Spagnuolo to land a head coaching job in the NFL.

It took less than three years for him to lose it. According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, Spags has been fired by the St. Louis Rams.

He finished his tenure with a 10-38 record and with no postseason appearances.

The man responsible for his hiring, General Manager Billy Devaney, was also fired today according to NFL Network's Michael Lombardi:

Spags, the former Giants defensive coordinator, was in trouble from the start when he took over in St. Louis. In his first season, the Rams went 1-15 and through three different starting quarterbacks and saw Steven Jackson tote the rock 375 total times. They had the league's worst offense and second-worst defense. 

Needless to say, they earned the No. 1 overall pick and drafted Sam Bradford out of Oklahoma.

The Rams made strides in 2010, but ultimately were still a 7-9 team with a rookie quarterback and a coach noted for his unique defensive schemes rather than his ability to manage an entire football team.

This season, after a middling draft that didn't land the team a dynamic offensive weapon but did net them a potential-laden pass rusher, the wheels fell off with injury after injury and the Rams were doomed from the start.

Jackson, Bradford, Ronald Bartell, Danny Amendola, Roger Safforld and Mark Clayton are just a few key names that spent time on the injury report this season or were lost for the year. And there were many, many more along the way.

Even so, the injuries don't excuse Spags' inability to field a competitive team on a weekly basis and the organization has no choice to part ways with the coach after earning their second top pick in the last three years.

St. Louis was always going to be a tough run for him. Starting from scratch with a rookie quarterback one year into a head coaching gig is never easy, and Spags didn't inherit much from the Scott Linehan era.

This is the first head coaching job for Spagnuolo and is unlikely to be the last. At 51 years old he still has a lot of football in his blood and he's too good to be kept down for long.

Look for him to land on his feet as defensive coordinator with a team looking to revamp their defense in a short period of time. In fact, whispers already indicate that he could be on his way back to the Eagles as a replacement for Juan Castillo (he was Philadelphia's linebackers coach from 2004-06).

As for the Rams, expect them to search for someone who will get the most out of Sam Bradford and help him help this franchise for years to come.