For Steve Spagnuolo, it's never too early to look for leaders. His first minicamp as the St Louis Rams head coach is as good a time to start as any.
"We'll try to identify those leaders on our team, and hopefully, they'll step to the forefront in those tough times that you know you're going to have," Spagnuolo said. "I remember vividly going through it in Philadelphia. I remember Brian Dawkins and Donovan McNabb at a certain point in the season deciding that, 'Hey guys, we got to pick it up.' They did little things with the other players. Very unseen things, but it made a big difference.
There certainly is a leadership void to be filled with the 2009 Rams. Veterans Torry Holt, Orlando Pace, Corey Chavous and Trent Green have been released.
"I believe that the underlying leaders surface once there's no leadership in front of them," Spagnuolo said. "Hopefully, there's some undiscovered secret leaders on this roster right now."
Over the course of five minicamp practices which span the next three days at Rams Park, Spagnuolo will be looking for leaders.
"You'll look to see which guys jump in front of the lines, which guys are encouraging other people," Spagnuolo said. "When I'm sitting in the back of the meetings, I'm going to be looking for who's taking notes — actually sitting and writing notes. The best players that I've worked with are great note-takers."
During his decade of coaching in the NFL, Spagnuolo has observed that the players who are meticulous in their preparation are the ones who last the longest in the league.
"Because they've figured it out — that it's as much from the chin to the hairline as it is anything that they do with their body," Spagnuolo said.
In trying to foster an atmosphere of togetherness and teamwork, Spagnuolo said leadership has to come from several sources.
"No matter what, it's never going to be about one person," Spagnuolo said. "It's always going to be about the makeup of the whole team. Sometimes I think we all make mistakes when we focus on one position. We know the glory position and the one that's out in the forefront is the quarterback position, but it takes more than just that."
Spagnuolo cited his most recent NFL team, the New York Giants, as a good example of leadership and teamwork combining to do great things.
"We had a great leader in Tom Coughlin; we had a team of people that were heading in the same direction," Spagnuolo said. "It's not one person that creates the losing; it's not one person that creates the winning. It's a team sport. I know it's a cliché, but it's true. I lived it. I believe in it."
For Spagnuolo, that approach is part of his plan to change the culture at Rams Park, a losing culture that has experienced success only five times in the past 32 games. The early results have been encouraging, with renewed enthusiasm.
"It's easy right now," Spagnuolo said. "It's a honeymoon period. It's new. The test will be really a year from now, depending on how the season goes. Will we still be able to feel that way?"
Spagnuolo says he has a better sense of his roster now than he did 2½ months ago when he was hired. But he still has much to learn about the returning players and the newcomers and realizes he won't get complete answers overnight.
"I don't know that I'll feel like we have it completely evaluated until we get through the preseason games and then into a quarter of the season," he said. "That's a ways down the road."
But the process begins with this first minicamp.
