By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

MOBILE, Ala. – After five seasons in the NFL with varying degrees of success, Steve Loney stepped away from football’s highest level and rediscovered the joys of the game.

The man who helped engineer one of the most explosive offenses in the league for Minnesota in four seasons with the Vikings had just spent a season in Arizona, coaching the Cardinals offensive line.

When he received a call from tiny Drake University, a NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision school in Des Moines, Iowa, about becoming the interim head coach, Loney pondered the move from the game’s top level back to its roots.

Loney agreed to help out on an interim basis.

“It was a lot of fun,” Loney said. “Those kids are not on scholarship. Those kids played football for all the right reasons. They don’t get one single dime from playing but their attitude was tremendous. They worked very hard. Coaching is coaching, the speed, ability and size all of those things can be different but still coaching is coaching and teaching is teaching. It doesn’t matter if you are a junior high coach or in the NFL, I think being a good teacher is part of being a good football coach.”

After a year reminding himself of the joys of teaching and coaching, Loney has returned to the NFL as the offensive line coach for the Rams. The Rams hired Loney officially on Jan. 18, giving him the job vacated by Paul Boudreau who was dismissed earlier in the offseason. 

Loney comes to the Rams with a solid resume from his time with the Vikings. There, he helped build an offensive line that created holes for the league’s top running attack in 2002.

In 2003, the Vikings led the league in total offense and they went on to set a franchise record for yardage in 2004.

Of course, Loney was a piece of the puzzle for that offense, a unit that was coordinated by none other than Rams coach Scott Linehan.

Linehan and Loney developed a strong relationship in their time in Minnesota before Linehan moved on to the same position in Miami in 2005. Loney replaced Linehan as offensive coordinator in Minnesota, but moved on to Arizona when the Vikings made a coaching change after that season.

Two years later, Loney and Linehan have reunited in St. Louis.

“We have a very, very good relationship and background together,” Linehan said. “We had a lot of success together and I know the excellent things he can bring to the table. I wanted to hire him when I first got here but he had already signed a contract in Arizona. He and I worked together in Minnesota and he was my right hand man there, so to speak.”

Considering all that Linehan and Loney accomplished together in Minnesota, the move seemed like a no brainer when the opportunity finally presented itself for them to re-unite in St. Louis.

But that didn’t mean there weren’t a couple of nerve racking weeks in a whirlwind couple of weeks in St. Louis.

“It has because not knowing for sure what direction Scott was going to go with and having the uncertainty of where you will be coaching next year,” Loney said. “And this is where I want to coach. I wanted to be in St. Louis. With that being said, getting that phone call was exciting and then coming here. I am at home in this situation, too. It’s not like it’s my first rodeo.”

Making the move even easier for Loney was his familiarity with St. Louis, where he has plenty of in-laws to keep the family bond tight.

Although Linehan and Loney have a good relationship, Linehan made it clear upon hiring Loney that he valued Loney’s coaching ability as much as his friendship. And Loney’s track record with Linehan in Minnesota would indicate there are plenty of reasons for that belief.

“We do have a good history together and because of that I know what his expectations are and we had great success together so we hope to get that success going,” Loney said.

It will be the task of re-creating that success the duo had together in Minnesota that will be Loney’s largest task upon his arrival in St. Louis.

The Rams offense sputtered in 2007 largely because of a patchwork and shoddy offensive line. In fairness, the Rams were largely short handed on the line for most of the season, at times missing four starters with the lone remaining starter playing out of position. More often than not, at least two guys who were street free agents entering training camp were on the starting offensive line.

Linehan even leaned on Loney for advice when scouring the waiver wire, signing former Cardinals center Nick Leckey and guard Milford Brown in part because of the recommendation of Loney.

That didn’t help much as the line still surrendered 48 sacks, which placed them 27th in the league. The offense finished 25th in the league in rushing and stumbled to 24th in total yards.

Clearly, Loney and the line will be the key to any kind of offensive turnaround in 2008.

“The health issue will be resolved,” Loney said. “Nobody was injured beyond repair so it’s a matter of keeping people healthy. We will take that, try to put our mark on it a little bit and work together and hopefully as a group be able to help this football team.”

As someone who prides himself on his teaching abilities, Loney says he will focus most of his attention on coaching his players on the fundamentals, things such as knowing your assignment and being in position to block your assigned player. Those are things that seem obvious, but things the Rams didn’t necessarily do well in 2007.

“I think we have to be fundamentally sound,” Loney said. “I am going to work hard on fundamentals. I haven’t looked at one bit of film yet. I’m just saying as I look at things, it is my job to make these guys better and the way they get better is through being fundamentally sound and being in the right place and trying to block the right guy. I think those are my two strengths as a communicator and as a teacher.”

The transition back to the NFL should come fairly easily to Loney because of his previous experience in the NFL and his already established rapport with Linehan.

Loney says he missed the NFL in his time at Drake, but he wouldn’t trade the experience for anything after seeing the joy in football again. This week, he is back in the college ranks, watching the big uglies do their thing at the Senior Bowl and evaluating each player with an eye toward finding re-enforcements for the depleted offensive line.

And for now, there’s no place else he’d rather be.

“I am excited about the opportunity,” Loney said. “I know we have got big challenges ahead. I am excited about this chance. I think if we get the offensive line squared away, the effect of that will be team wide.”