Chargers’ Zampese Joins Rams : He Will Serve as the Team’s Offensive Coordinator

Rams Coach John Robinson says he is asked two questions this time of year: “What do coaches do in the off-season?” and “Why don’t you pass more?”

It might be down to just one question next year.

Ernie Zampese, offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, will assume the same post for the Rams beginning Monday, the Rams announced.

Zampese, 50, had worked under the Chargers’ former coach, Don Coryell, for 14 seasons, and he is considered the primary architect of San Diego’s passing attack. The Chargers led the NFL in total offense in six of the eight seasons Zampese was with the club in an offensive capacity. He also spent one season as defensive backfield coach.

“Ernie is the best offensive coach in football, I think,” said Coryell, who resigned during last season. “It’s a great loss for the Chargers and a great gain for the Rams.”

“I’ll take Ernie’s (game plan and play selection) to the bank anytime,” Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts said last season.

That pretty much sums up the way Robinson feels.

“Ernie was the coordinator of one of the most positive passing environments in football,” Robinson said. “His addition gives us the final touch to what I feel is one of the best staffs in the league. He will assume the role as the overall coordinator of the offense and work primarily in the passing game with Dick Coury (quarterbacks coach) and Norval Turner (receivers coach).”

Zampese, whose contract with the Chargers had expired, said he had never even considered leaving San Diego and was close to signing a new deal with the Chargers when the Rams called last Thursday.

“There’s a time when everybody needs a change, and I think this is best for me and my family,” he said. “ I love San Diego and hate to think of leaving, but this is a new challenge and I’m excited about pursuing it.”

Zampese will not take credit for designing the Chargers’ current passing game--he says he just followed the path blazed by Coryell and former offensive coordinator Joe Gibbs--but he is excited about his new task with the Rams.

“The Rams are hoping to balance their offensive productivity,” he said. “They have been a running team, and they hope to throw more effectively. We haven’t really got into the specifics. We’ll discuss that next week. Basically, I will help to develop a passing attack.”

The Rams’ once-lethargic passing game awakened last season with the arrival of rookie quarterback Jim Everett, who started the last six games and passed for 1,018 yards and 8 touchdowns. Robinson thinks Zampese can help develop a system to suit Everett’s talents.

“What we’ve attempted to do in San Diego is build an offense based on the players we had,” Zampese said, “and I’m sure that sort of approach will take place with the Rams. Until I study their personnel more, I can’t say exactly what avenue the passing game will follow. I would think that portions of the passing game will be redesigned.

“The running game won’t be messed with at all. Eric (Dickerson) will get the football. We would want enough passing to keep defenses from jamming the line with eight or nine guys.”

Zampese has been approached about the head coaching positions at Indianapolis and Houston, but he declined to talk with either club.

“It (a head coaching job) is not my style,” he said. “I’m not the up-front type of guy. . . . I am very uncomfortable in that position.”

Robinson, on the other hand, thinks he and his team are in a most comfortable position.

“It is my intention to make our team more balanced,” Robinson said. “We clearly must improve our passing game. Jim Everett has the talent and our staff has the expertise. Now we must do it.”

Zampese joined the Chargers for the first time as a defensive backfield coach in 1976. He spent the next two seasons as a scout with the Jets before he returned to San Diego under Coryell in 1979. He coached the receivers for four years and was named offensive coordinator in 1986.

He began his coaching career as an assistant at Allan Hancock Junior College in Santa Maria, working under John Madden. (It was Madden who introduced Zampese to Robinson in 1962.) Zampese became the head coach at Hancock in 1964. In 1967, he became an assistant at San Diego State, where he coached the secondary for nine years (1967-75), six of them under Coryell.

Zampese was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where he was a running back in high school. He was a starting tailback at USC in 1955-56 and still holds the Trojan record for the longest punt--85 yards.

“I never envisioned leaving here (San Diego),” he said. “The more my wife and I talked, the excitement of doing something different took over.

“We felt this was the time if we were ever going to make a move. If you allow two or three years to go by, you might never get the chance.”

Times staff writer Chris Cobbs also contributed to this story.