St. Louis, MO (My Sportsbook) - With their new head coach in place, the
St. Louis Rams have filled both their offensive and defensive coordinator positions by hiring Pat Shurmur and Ken Flajole, respectively.
The Rams announced the appointments Thursday, three days after the team introduced former New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo as head coach.
"Both of these coaches exemplify what we expressed at our news conference earlier this week," said Spagnuolo. "That is the four pillars: faith, character, core values, and team first...Both come from outstanding, successful organizations. We look forward to having them with the Rams as we get under way and go forward."
Shurmur takes over the offensive coordinator position after spending the last seven seasons as quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Shurmur joined the Eagles in 1999 as tight ends/offensive line coach before moving to the quarterback spot. Spagnuolo also joined Philadelphia in 1999 as a defensive assistant before eventually serving as defensive backs (2001-03) and linebackers coach (2004-06) there.
Flajole, meanwhile, has spent his previous six seasons with the Carolina Panthers, serving as their linebackers coach this past campaign. He has also had coaching stints with the Seattle Seahawks (1999-2002) and the Green Bay Packers (1998) and was also a co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach for Nevada at the college level in 1996-97.
Flajole was also an assistant coach at the University of Missouri from 1989-93 and worked with current Eagles head coach Andy Reid, who later hired Spagnuolo in Philadelphia.
Under Shurmur, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb threw for 3,916 yards and 23 touchdowns in helping guide the club to a 9-6-1 record in the regular season. Philadelphia then advanced to the NFC Championship Game as the sixth seed, but lost to the Arizona Cardinals.
Carolina was also a playoff team this past season, winning the NFC South, but as the second seed lost to Arizona in the postseason. The Panthers' defense ranked just 18th in total defense this past season, but Flajole has tutored a host of talented linebackers in Carolina, including Jon Beason, Dan Morgan and Mark Fields.
The Rams went just 2-14 this past season and were ranked 27th on offense and 28th on defense.
