Thursday, August 21, 1997

Former ACU champion coaching Rams

IRVING - Wilbert Montgomery never knew how much he wanted to get into coaching until Dick Vermeil called him this past winter with a job offer.

Vermeil, who coached Montgomery in Philadelphia, wanted his former running back to become the new running backs coach for the St. Louis Rams, the team Vermeil was taking over.

That's when Montgomery started to think about the possibilities: Coach a talented but troubled running back to the Pro Bowl; pick up things about the game he never knew as a player; and work with the most experienced coaching staff in the NFL.

But he also knew it would be difficult, and he's been exactly right on that point.

"Coaching in the NFL is a very hard thing to do," Montgomery said. "The biggest thing is blending 53 personalities into one team. There's a lot of pressure in a job like this, but it's been a learning experience."

But Montgomery has the background to be a solid NFL coach.

A native of Greenville, Miss., Montgomery enrolled at what was then known as Abilene Christian College and set the town on its ear.

Montgomery scored a college-record 37 touchdowns as a freshman to help the Wildcats win the NAIA Division I national championship in 1973. He was a four-year starter at running back and set the all-time NAIA record for touchdowns with 76.

He then became Philadelphia's sixth-round draft pick in the 1977 draft, and, in eight seasons, he rushed for a team-record 6,538 yards on a team-record 1,465 rushing attempts. He finished his career with 6,789 yards, 2,502 yards receiving, 57 touchdowns and two Pro Bowl appearances (1978, '79).

It's that experience and background that Montgomery hopes to use to turn St. Louis second-year running back Lawrence Phillips from a troublemaker into a perennial Pro Bowler.

Phillips, the Rams' first-round pick from Nebraska in 1996, has been in trouble with the law since the fall of 1995. Montgomery, though, believes Phillips deserves another chance.

"Lawrence is a young kid who has had some problems," Montgomery said. "What I've told him is that you have to learn from those problems and then move on. He's made his mistakes, and I believe that he's learned from them."

Montgomery is doing some learning of his own, mainly from a Ram coaching staff that includes such NFL coaching luminaries Jerry Rhome (offensive coordinator), Bud Carson (defensive coordinator), Jim Hanifan (offensive line), Frank Gansz (special teams), Dick Coury (wide receivers) and Mike White (assistant head coach/tight ends).

Together with Vermeil, those coaches have earned the nickname, "The Magnificent Seven." Montgomery isn't included in that grouping, but he says just being around those coaches, who have a combined 121 years of NFL coaching experience, has already made him a better coach.

"It's just an outstanding thing to be in a situation where I get to work with guys like that," Montgomery said. "As an ex-player it's great to be able to pick up a lot of different things that those guys can teach.

"They've been around and seen everything there is to see in this game," he said. "They've coached hundreds of guys into the Pro Bowl, as well as several guys who are in the Hall of Fame. When I'm in meetings with those guys I just keep my mouth shut and take a lot of notes, because my goal is put a player in the Pro Bowl."

And, Montgomery said, he would also like to run his own offense someday.

"I don't know about being a head coach, because there's so much pressure in that job," he said. "But maybe an offensive coordinator someday. I try to sit next to Jerry Rhome as much as possible and feed off him. He's one of the best, so that can't do anything but help me. I'm trying to learn as much as I can so if the opportunity does present itself one day I'll be fully prepared."