Sean McVay reveals while at dinner interviewing with the front office and ownership for the Rams’ head coaching job at 30 years old, Wolfgang Puck came up and asked the table when they were going to hire a coach because he didn’t recognize McVay as a candidate
“So, so we go to dinner and things are going great. You know, Marshall and I have a good rapport. You know, I was a huge fan of his, talking and, you know, and you could feel that was a cool connection. I thought, you know, Stan and I had a great rapport, and obviously Kevin and I had already known each other from our days with the Bucs.”
“There was a comfort level and Stan heavily relied on Kevin’s basically saying, ‘Hey, I think this is the guy.’ But Stan’s gonna sign off on it and they’re going to bring Marshall to say, ‘If you’re gonna hire a 30-year-old head coach, better make sure that a player that has total command and can really say, can he, can he, you know, can he do this and command the respect of the players.’”
“So, it’s going well right away off the jump. All right, Wolfgang Puck comes up to the table because he’s a big Rams fan. He and Mr. Kroenke have a relationship, you know, and I look like I am 15 years old, right? So he says, ‘Hey, when are we going to get the new coach?’”
“I mean, I feel like I’m looking dapper, but I look more like the intern than the guy that’s interviewing for the head job. So, you could see, you know, I mean, it was such an awkward moment where he comes up, he’s asking, ‘Hey, where’s the new head coach? When are we going to get the new coach?’ And, you know, Stan’s kind of, hey, you know, and Kevin and we’re all kind of looking at each other like maybe it’s me, maybe it’s not. Surely he’s not thinking it’s me.”
“So, that was a real funny, uncomfortable moment that nobody knew how to really answer. Uh, Spago probably rolled his eyes saying, ‘This idiot is who they actually hired.’ And then the next thing, or Wolfgang Puck ends up probably thinking that.”
“Then the next thing you know, Fergie and Josh Duhamel walk up to the table, you know, and they’re big fans and, you know, they’re probably thinking, who is this little kid that you guys invited to dinner with? You know, the team president, Marshall Faulk, and the owner of the team. But I’m like, man, this is LA. You got to get this job. So, the interview goes great, and I’m thinking to myself, in my mind, the way it goes is, all right, at the end of the dinner, ‘So, hey, Sean, you want to be the new head coach of the Rams?’”