Sean McVay, a revolutionary for the new age

Sean McVay has a new earliness record in his pocket. At 36 years and 20 days old, the man who has revived the Los Angeles Rams has become the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl, thanks to the Angelenos’ victory against the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood ( 20-23). It was a matter of time before he succeeded. Three years ago he was left with honey on his lips, surpassed by an old fox like Bill Belichick, who won the duel of strategists corresponding to two generations that have nothing to do with each other at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (Georgia) . The New England Patriots then suffocated some Rams that were a powerful offensive machine and won 13-3 in what was Tom Brady’s sixth and last ring with the Massachusetts franchise. The legendary quarterback was 41 years old, eight years older than McVay counted.

Grandson of John McVay, head coach of the New York Giants in the 1970s and then general manager of the San Francisco 49ers at the time Joe Montana made his legend, Sean McVay rubbed shoulders with the NFL aristocracy since his young years. But even though he tried his luck in high school as a quarterback and later played wide receiver at the University of Miami in Oxford, Ohio, he soon realized his future lay in the sideline.

John Gruden gave him his first opportunity as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the first in a series of positions that allowed him to deepen his knowledge of a sport that he now possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of. He burned stages at breakneck speed and in 2017 the Rams saw him ready to make the leap, making him the youngest head coach in NFL history. He was only 30 years old, considerably younger than many of the roster who were made available to him, but McVay quickly silenced those who argued that he was not up to such a challenge.

He took command of a team that in 2016 had recorded the worst offensive data in the NFL. Two years later, he catapulted him into the game with the greatest resonance in the world. He faced it at 33 years and 11 days, which also made him the youngest coach to reach the Super Bowl. Three years later, he avenged that loss to surpass the record held by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin as the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl.

McVay’s school

But beyond those records, McVay has set the standard with his meticulous style and the primacy he gives to attacking play. As his assistants emerged a handful of technicians who today fly free in the NFL. This is the case of Zac Taylor, who was an assistant in the Rams before assuming the helm of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019 and surprisingly led them to Super Bowl LVI, where the student could not surpass the teacher. Also Matt LaFleur, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, and Brandon Staley, chief strategist of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Engaged since 2019 with the Ukrainian model Veronika Khomyn, with whom he plans to marry this summer, after postponing the wedding twice due to the coronavirus pandemic, he has a contract with the Rams until 2023, whose balance is 62 wins and 29 losses to the technician’s side, who exudes passion for the sport of the oval ball but has ambitions to build a family and dedicate enough time to it. Combining both spheres will be the next challenge for a man who has changed paradigms in the NFL at a frantic pace.