Rams Head Coach Sean McVay on Hiring DC Chris Shula

McVay wanted and trusted his guy, Chris Shula. McVay and Shula go way back, they were college teammates at the University of Miami-Ohio.

Shula also comes from a football family. Shula's dad was a head coach in the NFL and his grandfather is legendary Hall of Fame head coach Don Shula.

Shula joined the Rams in 2017 and has spent time coaching different positions on the defensive side of the ball until he became the defensive coordinator this season.

He has brought success to the Rams and has developed many players since he arrived in Los Angeles. This season was no different and he did an outstanding job getting the young defense ready to play every week and improving every week.

"He’s a great coach, great connector and has a great ability to be able to have emotional intelligence in terms of how do you communicate,?" said Rams head coach Sean McVay. "How do you lead? How do you work alongside the coaching staff? How do you get the buy-in and how do you represent the flexibility and the agility to get the most out of our players? I think all of those things have been on display. He earned it. He's a great leader. He’s a great coach. I think when he ended up getting the job, because of how close we are relationship wise, people just assumed that's why. Those that have been around him and those that understand his body of work, they know that this has been earned."

"He’s coached on all three levels of the defense. You guys know from getting to know him this year, he just has a great way about himself. He's an excellent coach, excellent communicator and a great person. I think that's super important. The best coaches get the most out of guys and they make them inspired to want to try to play for Chris and for the right reasons. I think he’s done an excellent job of bringing that to life.”