Rams Turn Quarterback Problem Over to Coury
Ram Coach John Robinson may not agree that he needs a new quarterback but apparently he believes that the quarterback needs a coach.
So, he has hired Dick Coury as quarterback coach.
Said Dieter Brock, the quarterback Coury was hired to coach: “I don’t know what his job is gonna be specifically but I think it’s great, a good move.”
Robinson offered this job description for Coury: “His primary role is to make the quarterback play good.”
Several weeks of postseason soul-searching, film study and phone calls led Robinson to hire Coury, whose string of credentials has come full circle.
Coury, 56, comes to the Rams much better known locally than Brock was when he arrived a year ago after 11 seasons in the Canadian Football League. Coury is one of Orange County’s favorite sons.
After coaching Santa Ana Mater Dei High School to a 96-9-3 record and three Southern Section championships from 1958 through ‘66, he directed Cal State Fullerton’s first two football teams to records of 7-4-1 and 6-4 in 1970 and ’71.
Since then he has been an assistant coach with Denver, San Diego, and Philadelphia in the National Football League, and head coach of the Portland Storm in the now-defunct World Football League. For the last three years he was head coach with the nomadic Boston-New Orleans-Portland Breakers of the United States Football League and was voted the USFL’s Coach of the Year in ’83.
Coury also sought the head coaching job with the Houston Oilers, who hired Jerry Glanville. His next move was to seek a position with the Rams.
“I really wanted to get back in California,” Coury said. “Once the Houston thing fell through I told my wife I’m gonna talk to Coach Robinson, because if there’s anyplace we want to go, it’s there.”
Coury, who has brothers, sisters and six of his seven children living in Southern California, phoned Robinson before the Rams’ staff went to Hawaii to coach the NFC team in the Pro Bowl early this month.
“Then about a week after they got back, I talked with him and he had me come down and visit,” Coury said.
That’s about the same time Robinson indicated he would stick with Brock, bucking some severe criticism in the wake of the Rams’ 24-0 loss to the Chicago Bears in the NFC title game.
Even before evaluating Brock, 35, on film or in person, Coury said, “I’m sure he’s gonna be an improved quarterback just because of the experience. When you play in the National Football League for the first time, you’re a rookie because there are some talented defensive people. It’s a real adjustment.”
Coury’s appointment creates a new position as Robinson’s 11th assistant. All of the other aides will be retained.
At Mater Dei, Coury coached John Huarte, who later won a Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame, and at Fullerton his quarterback was Mike Ernst, who later played with Denver and Cincinnati.