It’s No Longer ‘Who?’ It’s ‘Why?’

Nineteen years later, Chuck Knox is standing in a Beverly Hills hotel again, speaking from behind a podium again, posing for photographers again, coaching the Los Angeles Rams again.

So many things haven’t changed, it seems like only yesterday.

The Rams still haven’t won a Super Bowl.

Knox still hasn’t been to one.

And the Rams, having lost their way, in addition to many football games, have entrusted their immediate future to the square-jawed, square-thinking Irish son of a Sewickley, Pa., mill worker.

There is one difference, however.

“When I started out 19 years ago,” Knox said Wednesday afternoon, “I stood here before you and everybody was asking, ‘Chuck Who? ‘ “

Nineteen years later, the question of the hour has a new flavor.

Chuck. . . why ?

Why would the Rams, seeking a new vision and enormous energy to unearth a program buried beneath successive 11- and 13-loss seasons, turn to a thrice-recycled coach four months removed from his 60th birthday?

And why would Knox, who wrote in his 1988 autobiography that he would never again “let the bean counters decide what you are going to do,” re-enlist with a franchise notorious for hoarding beans and squeezing them into tiny molecules of bean dust?

Clue: It has something to do with a half-empty Anaheim Stadium in early December . . . and bedsheet banners screaming “GEORGIA, PLEASE SELL THE TEAM” . . . and Knox’s five NFC West titles in five seasons with the Rams . . . and the Draft Flores movement in Seattle . . . and a condominium in Palm Springs . . . and a $2.9-million contract for the next four years . . . and, most notably, the two-hatted designation of Ram Head Coach and Vice President.

Like a yellowed photograph of the Fearsome Foursome, Knox is a reminder, to Georgia Frontiere and to her front-office staff, of the good times: When the Rams finished seasons 12-2, not 3-13. When the Rams surrendered 135 points in one season, not in one month. When Ram seasons ended in late December and early January, in the NFC championship game, not before Halloween.

Never mind that Knox went 0-3 in those championship games, two of them everlasting heart-crushers in the snows of Minnesota, or that Knox was derided out of Los Angeles by then-Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom for playing “boring” football.

Time heals, particularly when that time is most recently spent going 5-11 and 3-13. Boring? Chuck Knox? “We should be so boring,” one Ram official said Wednesday. “Give us boring. We’ll take it. We’ll take it right now.”

From Knox’s point of view, rejoining the Rams gives him something to do. He never really wanted out of Seattle, his most recent stop, but another owner did, pressuring the old coach out in favor of Tom Flores and suddenly leaving Knox with some major time to kill.

“I’ve still got that burning in my gut,” he said. “I’m not thinking about any soft chair in the front office. I’m thinking about the hard chair with the chalkboard, with the tape machine, with the players and the practice field and training camp.”

Knox still has bills to pay, so the $2.9 million will come in handy. He has a condo in Palm Springs, so the Rams are convenient.

They are more than a little desperate, too, which made meeting Knox’s demands all the easier. Knox sought the title John Robinson never had--Club Vice President--and the inherent responsibilities that come with it, which Robinson may or may not have had, depending on who was doing the talking and when.

After years of finger-pointing--”Who was the guy who wanted Gaston Green?” “Not me.” “Not me.”--all fingers now lead to Knox. “The buck stops here,” a Ram official said. “Chuck is the buck.”

Which suits both the Rams and their new old coach just fine.

“I’m going to have the ultimate responsibility and I will be held accountable for it,” Knox said. “I have responsibility for the personnel for the Rams’ football team. That includes the draft, trades, the waiver wire, free agents and Plan B . . .

“I’m going to be a collector of information. I’m going to ask the tough questions, I’m going to be the devil’s advocate. And when it comes down to it, the person who’s going to be held responsible is yours truly.”

Money was mentioned. With the Rams, it’s always a pertinent topic. With the Rams, it’s always a penurious topic.

Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson drove Knox nuts--and, eventually, to Seattle--as he ruled the Bills with a tight fist. You know the Rams. He knows the Rams.

Is he stepping into another no-spend, no-win situation?

“I have been assured that I will be able to do whatever it takes to win,” Knox said. “I don’t think spending money necessarily wins football games, but it creates a climate where you feel as if you have a chance to win.

“I have been assured the support of Georgia to do whatever we need to have done.”

With these Rams, that means a lot. With Knox, whenever he puts up a new shingle, a lot usually happens. When he was named Ram coach in 1973, he immediately traded the club’s most popular player, Roman Gabriel, for Harold Jackson. When he was named the Bills’ coach in 1978, he immediately traded O.J. Simpson for five draft choices. When he was named Seahawk coach in 1983, he immediately traded a package of draft choices for the right to pick Curt Warner high in the first round.

What this means to Jim Everett is anybody’s guess.

Nineteen years later, Knox is not the same as the old boss, not quite. The hairline launched a retreat long ago. The lines around the eyes are deeper, the skin around the neck looser.

Quips, too, come easier now.

When asked to name the first thing he planned to do to revitalize a team that has lost 10 straight games and counting, Knox replied, “The first thing I’m going to do is not talk about that.” When asked for the adjective that best describes him now--”irascible” already betrothed to Buddy Ryan--Knox grinned when someone jokingly mentioned “lovable.” “I like that term,” Knox shot back.

One thing hasn’t changed for Knox: Nineteen years, no Super Bowls. And, yes, he doesn’t need reminding.

‘Certainly it bothers me,” he said. “Not that I’m concerned about the critics; I’m just talking about me personally. The Super Bowl, that’s the ultimate goal. I’d like to be in it, play in it, win it.”

Nineteen years later, Knox and the Rams are back where they started, trying to make it happen for each other once again.

KNOX REDUX: In his return as Ram coach, Chuck Knox will also make all personnel decisions. A1