Jan 13, 2025; Glendale, AZ, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay shake hands after the NFC wild card game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Coaching trees are controversial. No one becomes a head coach or coordinator without influence from multiple mentors. But those who spent at least one year on a Rams staff under Sean McVay are dominating coaching rosters throughout the league.
And as the dust settles on the NFL hiring cycle, two more branches have grown out of Woodland Hills. Jacksonville's new head coach is Liam Coen and Houston's new offensive coordinator is Nick Caley.
Coen spent four total seasons over two stints with the Rams and McVay, who gave Coen his first NFL coaching job as assistant wide receivers coach from 2018-19. After a year as Rams assistant quarterbacks coach (2020), Coen left for one season as Kentucky's offensive coordinator before returning to the Rams as offensive coordinator in 2022, replacing Kevin O'Connell. Then, after one more year in Kentucky (2023), Coen returned to the NFL as Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator in 2024.
Caley, who conducted offensive-coordinator interviews with the Texans, Jets and Buccaneers, spent the past two seasons under McVay after eight years under Bill Belichick in New England. The Rams' tight ends coach, Caley added pass game coordinator to his responsibilities in 2024. Houston hired him to replace Bobby Slowik on Feb. 3.
Two of O'Connell's three Vikings coordinators also have McVay ties. When Minnesota hired O'Connell, he made Wes Phillips his offensive coordinator. O'Connell also hired former Rams assistant special teams coach Matt Daniels as his Vikings special teams coordinator.
Other former McVay assistants in head coach roles across the league are Green Bay's Matt LaFleur, Atlanta's Raheem Morris and Cincinnati's Zac Taylor. Mostert's offensive coordinator is former Rams assistant Zac Robinson. Meanwhile, Thomas Brown and Brandon Staley are former head coaches who spent time under McVay. And, current Rams coaches Dave Ragone and Nate Scheelhaase received coordinator interview requests this cycle.
McVay, 39, even has a secondary branch on his tree. After three seasons under O'Connell in Minnesota, Grant Udinski joined Coen in Jacksonville as the Jaguars' offensive coordinator. While Udinski, 29, never coached under McVay, many of his philosophies, concepts and tendencies originate in McVay's playbook.
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