Steve Spagnuolo was introduced as the 25th head coach in the 72-year history of the Rams in January and had little time to get acquainted. In less than a month, Spagnuolo had assembled a staff of 19 assistants and charted a course for an offseason that would move virtually nonstop through free agency, the draft and training camp.

Spagnuolo came to the Rams after a stellar career as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants and was the architect of the defense that shut down the high-octane New England Patriots in the Giants’ stunning 17-14 win in Super Bowl XLII. He was with New York for two seasons, after serving on the defensive staff of the Philadelphia Eagles for eight years. Steve coached in the college ranks for 16 years before joining the Eagles in 1999.

Along the way Spagnuolo adopted his formula for success, built on what he calls the Four Pillars: Faith. Character. Core Values. Team First.

He relied on those attributes early in the 2007 season, Spagnuolo’s first as the Giants’ defensive coordinator. Having given up 80 points in a 0-2 start to the regular season, Spagnuolo met with the defensive players before Week 3.

Michael Strahan, the Giants’ future Hall of Fame defensive end, remembered the moment. “Spags came into the room and said, ‘I want you guys to trust and believe in the system. Believe in the game plan and what I’m telling you to do. I know we haven’t had as much success as we’d like, but the system works. Trust it. I want you to know that I would not trade any player in here for anybody else. I want to do this with you guys.’

“For us,” said Strahan, “that made us feel like, ‘This guy cares for us. This guy will go to battle for us. This guy will stand up for us.’ We turned it around. We trusted him and it worked.”

The Giants recovered to win 15 of their next 18 regular-season and postseason games and capped their improbable run with the dramatic Super Bowl victory over the previously unbeaten Patriots.

The win came against a team that had set a league record with 589 points in the regular season. Spagnuolo’s defense hit the Pats’ Tom Brady a dozen times and sacked him five times in an epic defensive effort, which held the most explosive team in NFL history to 137.3 yards less than its season average. The Patriots rushed for only 45 yards and did not have a single gain over 19 yards. New England, which had averaged almost 37 points per game during the season, had to settle for a mere 14. The Giants held the league’s top three offensive teams, Green Bay (2), Dallas (3), and New England (1) to a total of 51 points during their postseason run.

Strahan retired after the 2007 season and the Giants lost Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora to a knee injury in the 2008 preseason, but Spagnuolo’s defense still managed to increase its effectiveness. The team improved from seventh to fifth in total defense and won the NFC East with a 12-4 record.

In 37 regular-season and postseason games under Spagnuolo, the Giants’ defense allowed opponents 17 points or fewer in 19 games. New York was 19-0 in those games and 17-2 in games where opposing quarterbacks had passer ratings lower than 75.0.

Spagnuolo was the Male Scholar Athlete of the Year at Springfield (Mass.) College in 1982, then took a graduate assistant’s position at the University of Massachusetts. In 1983, Steve’s first pro football experience came as a pro personnel intern with the Washington Redskins.

The Redskins won the NFC title in 1983 and a berth in Super Bowl XVIII. The head coach was future Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs and a scout on the Redskins’ staff was Billy Devaney, now the Rams’ General Manager.

“I did the internship with the Redskins, got a taste for pro football and always had that in the back of my mind,” said Spagnuolo.

The Redskins’ experience behind him, Spagnuolo returned to the collegiate level as defensive line and special teams coach at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., from 1984-86. Steve was at the University of Connecticut as defensive backs coach from 1987-89 before adding defensive coordinator duties from 1990-91.

In 1992, Spagnuolo made a second foray into professional football, coaching the defensive line and special teams for the Barcelona Dragons of the World League of American Football. After the spring in Europe, Spagnuolo briefly was a scout for the San Diego Chargers in 1993. Spagnuolo then moved to the University of Maine, serving first as defensive backs coach in 1993 before becoming the defensive coordinator/linebackers coach in 1994.

Positions as defensive backs coach at Rutgers (1994-95) and at Bowling Green (1996-97) were next. In 1998, Spagnuolo coached another season of pro football with the Frankfurt Galaxy of the renamed NFL Europe League. Spagnuolo served as the Galaxy’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach and under his tutelage four of the Galaxy’s six linebackers and nine of the 11 defensive starters went on to play in the NFL. The Galaxy defense ranked second in the league in total defense, helping the team to an 8-2 record and a World Bowl appearance.

Steve joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, as a defensive assistant/quality control coach under respected defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, working specifically with safeties. Spagnuolo was named defensive backs coach in 2001 and linebackers coach in 2004 before joining the New York Giants in 2007.

While with the Eagles, Spagnuolo coached players, including Brian Dawkins, Bobby Taylor, Troy Vincent, Lito Sheppard, Michael Lewis and Jeremiah Trotter, to Pro Bowl berths in six of his eight seasons with the team. From 1999-2005, the Eagles ranked first in the NFL in third-down defense (33 percent), second in points allowed (17.0 per game), second in quarterback sacks (265), and third in red zone defense (43 percent).

From 1999-2005, the Eagles played in four NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. In 2001, the Philadelphia defense did not allow more than 21 points in 16 regular-season games, only the fourth time in NFL history that feat has been accomplished.

In 2007, Spagnuolo’s first season with the Giants, the New York defense rose from 25th in 2006 to seventh in 2007 in the NFL in yards allowed, an improvement of 37 yards per game. The Giants were in the NFL’s top 10 in eight statistical categories and led the league for the first time in 10 seasons with 53 quarterback sacks. Defensive end Osi Umenyiora led the Giants with 13.0 sacks en route to a Pro Bowl selection.

Spagnuolo’s defense followed a strong performance in 2007 by improving from seventh in yards allowed to fifth in 2008. The Giants allowed only 95.8 rushing yards per game, ninth in the NFL, and 196.2 passing yards per game, eighth in the NFL. The Giants allowed 18.4 points per game, fifth in the NFL and the team’s 42 sacks ranked sixth in the NFL. Defensive end Justin Tuck paced the Giants’ defense with 12 sacks, earning the first Pro Bowl berth of his career.

A native of Whitinsville, Mass., Spagnuolo is a member of the Grafton (Mass.) High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Steve earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Springfield College and a Master’s degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts. Steve is married to wife, Maria.