Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Tom Coughlin Details Building the Jaguars From Day 1

Transcript

Tom Coughlin Details Building the Jaguars From Day 1 · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome to a conversation with coach Tom Coughlin, the newest
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: inductee into the Pride of the Jaguars. Here's your host,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Ryan Sexton.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: I try to describe to people what this place was
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: like when you first started coach. You were the captain,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: You were the navigator, you were the helmsman. You were
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: also the north star. I mean, you knew you had
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: a vision for where this thing was going. As you
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: look back at that, did you know it was going
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: to be as big a job when you first walked
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: into Jacksonville in February of nineteen ninety four, did you understand?
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think you kind of did, but was
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: it bigger at some moments?
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: No, I you know I did.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: I took a Division three job at a school that
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: had club football. When I first when I got my master's.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Degree Rochester Institute Technology, I was twenty two.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: I think I was twenty two, and you know I
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: did everything. I did everything. I mean I I coached
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: the team, I recruited the players, I made the schedule,
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: I made the transportation trip, I ordered the food. I
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: took care of preseason. You know, we stayed in the
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: fraternity house in preseason used their chefs and all. That's
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: a I lined the fields, you know, you name it,
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: We did it, and I often wondered, okay, so this
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: has been a great experience. But what and lo and behold.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: You know, the.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Organizational part was exactly the same, the idea that I
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: would take the job in February of ninety four and
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: not play till ninety five, which may have been a
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: detriment to you know, at one point there were a
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: lot of people interested in this job. But the way
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: that I set it up, the way we hired, of course,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: you needed personnel because you had to get going on
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: that right away.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: So that was there.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: I brought five coaches with me, as you know, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: we conducted ourselves as if we were playing in ninety four.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: We even did in the fall. You remember, we did
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: game plans. We had a schedule, We made up a schedule,
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: and we had game plans. So organizationally, I knew what
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: we had to do, when we had to do it,
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: and how we would point toward that first. But I
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: mean the ability to communicate, and I thought about this
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: a lot when we were going to get together. The
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: ability to communicate to the people that came with us
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: as to what was in front of them was very
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: very important because I often think for a minute this way,
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: you know, I lost my quarterback, so I don't have
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: herd The one that really should be honored is Judy.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: So she's married to a football coach who he's over
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: here for two years over here, for two years over here.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: But in those times, you you you moved and you
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: went to work because that you had your team or
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: your formula leading your team or whatever. But but you
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: were doing that, well, you've got to multiply that by
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: a little bit, maybe by as many as three in
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: terms of the amount of time that I had to
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: devote to the job. Yeah, you know, and you know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: God bless her. You know, we had to We rented
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: a place while the the marsh Landing House was being built,
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: and uh, Brian and Katie were of course, and Kate
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: were the were the two kids.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Still at home.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: So I mean she navigated it, you know, incredibly well,
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: because she's just she was. She's a great person. She's
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: a great friend to everybody to name it. But but
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: the point I'm making is people who came here had
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: to know what was coming, Yeah, because I mean you
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: start from scratch, and every once in a while, I
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: do have to slap myself. This is the this is
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: the greatest expansion franchise in the history of the NFL
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: in terms of success and uh. And there's probably two
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: hundred people who directly can take credit for that. And
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: when I'm receiving the award, it will be recognized that
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: that name might be up there, but it represents two
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: hundred people.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: You're one of them.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: So it's funny you say that because and there's a
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: couple of us who are still here involved in the franchise,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: and as we four of us, as we walk the halls,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: we still feel your presence you because because the way
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: that you had to go about it, you were so
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: intently focused. I always marveled at your ability to be
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: wor where your feet were at, because clearly, with everything
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: else you had to do, you could have been in
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: seventeen different places. That sense of purpose, Coach, is the thing.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: I think the residual that you left here when you
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: left in two thousand and two.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Well hopefully, I think one of the good things that
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: I heard and refers to what you're talking about, is
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: when I came back in seventeen Yeah, and Logoman said,
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: there's a little peppin people's step now that this guy's
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: back around. Oh yeah, which was really an interesting comment
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: because I've been gone a long time.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: But because people need really I believe this in all
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: walks of life. And you're also a leadership expert because
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: you have done this your whole life. People need someone
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: to set the course, which you did from the very
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: early days here. And you know football's complicated, right you
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: were here, you started this, You left in O two,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: you came back in seventeen, you left a couple years later.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: This place clearly means so much to you. And by
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: the way, your high school fields named after you, You're in
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: the Giants Ring of Honor, You've got Super Bowl rings.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Someday the Hall of Fame will put you in. And
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: yet this place seems to be just as much a
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: part of you as New York Am I right on that.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: The reason is and it's and I've always conducted myself
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: this way, Brian. To a fault, okay, to a fault,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: and that is that I really believed in my heart
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: and soul that this was my team. Yeah, I really did.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: When mister Weaver gave me the responsibility that he did.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: And you remember the story. It's a great story. I'm
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: sitting with David Selden and Way Weaver in Providence and
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: we've been talking for probably two hours, and mister Weaver goes, uh,
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: by the way, we'd like to fashion ourselves the way
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: they're doing it in Dallas. You want personnel too, don't you.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: I thought, who, Well, you're a poorcels guy, right, Well
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: he didn't have it in New York. Yeah, nobody, or
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: nobody has it in or because mister Merrow was a
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: personnel guy, right.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: The the pride of the Jaguars are the most significant people.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of other people. So but let me
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: let me let me ask you to give me a
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: thought on on the people you're joining up on the wall,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: and we'll start with Wayne Delors Weaver and and your
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: your thought on them and what they mean to this
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: city into this franchise.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: Well, if you remember what Wayne said, and not directly
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: to me that I can remember, but he'd liked to
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: be in the super Bowl in five years. Yeah, yeah,
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: that's what he said. That's what the man said. And
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: he went about it, you know, and he was upfront.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: Wayne was an upfront guy with me. Everything was you know,
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: like you and I are talking right right now. There
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: were some other circumstances that weren't quite that way, but
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: Wayne was that way. So you knew when you were
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: talking to Wayne and he was asking questions and you know,
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: wanted to know about direction. And you know this our drafts.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: You know, all of a sudden, everybody's interested in durt
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: and drafts. So uh but you know, the upmust respect
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: for a guy that you know didn't exactly come from
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: great tidings and made himself, you know, as is mister Connor.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: You know, incredible story, incredible stories if you really stop
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: and think about it. Only in America, Only in America, America.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: But yeah, so that relationship and Dolores was she was
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: great to work with. You talk about somebody that was
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: to the point, you know.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, she was the female version of you.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: She was unreal, you get in.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Her way when she had her mindset on something.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: And I really really enjoyed the little times when she
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: would you know, get friendly, like for example, her her charity.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: Remember she had a charity golf, yes she did, and
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: and and she would have some fun then, you know,
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: and that was great.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: I enjoyed that a lot.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: So let's go backwards with the players, because we'll end
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: with your first ever draft, pick Uh. I love the
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: story about how Jimmy Smith arrived in Jacksonville. Pete Carmichael
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: met him at the plane, I guess. And there was
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: the book that his mom made, the brag book because
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Jimmy's confidence wasn't high. Tell me how you found him
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: and when you knew that he was going to be a.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: Special Ron Hill was coming off of that one. You know,
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: Ron was pro personnel and Frank Foley, but the two
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: of them, and so you watched the wire. You know
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: how that works. And first Dallas, then Philly just and
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Philly was real quick, a couple, a couple of workouts.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: We haven't got time for this guy. But I will
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: say this, okay. And I used to gosh, I used
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: to have not always fun, but Pete, Pete and I
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: would go back and forth.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: But it was Pete.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Carmichael, Pete Carmichael when Jimmy would have those days like.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: Wait a minute, you know, is he going to get it?
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: Is he?
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: You know, you're right, he was, he has his personality
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: had been beat up. You know, and he didn't know
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: how good he could be, all right, But when you
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: started it coming, it was like Holy smokes, the talent
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: that the guy had. Remember, But we had to you
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: had to get Jimmy up to where you know, he
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: wasn't wagging his tail, and he was he believed in
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: himself as a competitor. Pete saw it. Pete saw it.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: Probably Round Hill did, although I don't remember talking around
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: about it, But you know, we had so many personnelity
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: discussions when I was when I was here, I have
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: a lot of fun talking about the first ten. You know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: there were street guys we were having. We're gonna have
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: a parade for those guys. Page of the newspaper.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and a couple of guys are still kind of
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: hanging around there.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: He's there all the time. But Jimmy, Jimmy was a
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: great story. And then once Jimmy started rolling, there was
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: nobody better than Jimmy.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: The three touchdowns three different ways in Denver at the
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: end of ninety five, right the blocked punt, the kickoff return,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: the touchdown reception, he was.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: Like, okay.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: And then Andre Leaves Andre Rising Leaves in ninety six
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: and Jimmy just exploded and at that point became one
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: of the best receivers in the game.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: So in walks Andre, Okay, yeah, and Andre said to me,
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: and what he did, he did it without speaking, and
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Andre had his problem. Yeah, he made those guys believe
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: a little bit in themselves, you know that before they
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: were and they can get that way the receivers can
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: get they get pounded and they disappear and all that.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: I thought.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: He made them realize that they were pretty special. Now
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: he unfortunately, you know, we had to part ways, but
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: he did it. Jimmy, Jimmy, if you can imagine what
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: Jimmy was doing as the third receiver. And then of
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: course the year, what was it when he caught one
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: hundred and twelve and caught ninety eight or ninety.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Six, unstoppable was totally unstopped.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: We prayed, okay, come on, press him, just get up
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: on him, because if you got on him, there's no way.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: He just take you and throw you aside.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Which leads me to the quarterback. The first time I
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: met you, I walked into your office in the trailers
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: and there were three tapes on your desk, and it
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: took you a little while.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: There were some Peter King.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: You guys are all the same little memory, see what.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: You're looking at?
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: And I wasn't. I wasn't even with the organization yet.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I was still at the radio station and I saw
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: the name Mark Brunell, and I didn't know much about
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Mark Brunell, and the Internet wasn't there, so I couldn't
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: google him, and all of a sudden, see highlights. So
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I remembered the name. And then you made the trade
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: for him the night before the draft. Tell me about
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: what you saw on Mark Brunell and what you thought
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: you would have in him.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Feet, yeah, feet, athleticism. You're gonna have a expansion team
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: offensive line. Your quarterback has got to be able to move.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: If he can't move to defend himself, a real problem protection. Well, no,
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: we'll likely have some issues.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: So when I went to visit Green Bay, and Andy
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: Reid tells his story, he was the quarterback coach. He
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: sees me watching practice and he tells me now and
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: he didn't tell me then, but he said that that
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: takes care of Brunell. But but Ron Wolfe, remember Ron,
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: Ron had the deal in Philadelphia, and something came up,
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: and I picked up on it the night before the draft.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: You shouldn't have it to clar you didn't have it
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: done until I.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: Pick up the phone. I called Ron. I said, Ron, look,
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: I know there's a problem with Philadelphia and you, and
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: it has to do is you know time you you
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: want to get it done. They want to answer, I'll
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: tell you right now. Okay, you and I can get
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: this done now, right now.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: And it was for a third at that time.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: So Ron says to me after we were wheeling and deis,
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: can you make me look a little better, you know,
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: can you give me a fifth or something? I said, okay,
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: I'll give you a fifth, third and the fifth for Brunell.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: All right, now, listen to this in today's game. Okay,
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: and what you see Burline expansion draft right, Mark Brunell trade.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: The night before the draft. The next day, looking forward
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: into the fourth round, I got a call from Minnesota.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: They would have given us the rest of the draft
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: for Rob Rob Johnson, Rob Johnson. When we when we
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: when we took Rob, I said, no, we'll take we
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: take Robin the top of the fourth. Right, we got
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: three guys. We can go play, Yeah, I mean we
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: can go play.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: You had a real quarterback room for an expansion team, which.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Was was right off the bat.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: You know, I want to I want to talk about
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Rob as to the next guy, but I have to
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: of all the pieces that you brought, Jimmy, and we're
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: gonna talk about Tony Mark. Brunell really opened the door
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: for you to become the most successful franchise expansion franchise
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: in the history of the league, didn't he because of
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: his combination. He led the League of passing in year
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: two in nineteen ninety six because you put pieces around him,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: and now he's a quarterbacks coach himself up in Detroit.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Just can you just give us a sense of that
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: of how you got him to that level, because you're
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: a quarterback guru. Tell us how he got that together.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Just time and study and you know, spending time together
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: and him buying in completely marked to what he had
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: and what his opportunity was. And you know, I didn't
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: wait too long before Berlin started the very first game,
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: recall in the history of the franchise. Wasn't too long
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: And I made the change for the reason I just
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: told you, right, But you had athleticism, you had, you know,
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: a guy who could pull it down and run. He
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: was fast, he was athletic, he had a very strong arm.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: He could make all the throws. I mean, you name it,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: he can make all the throws. And he was a
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: very good human being, which you know, does it matters
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: matter to those around you?
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Because the quarterbacks the leader. You didn't have to be
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: a row round guy.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: They're not, right, mart I watched Phil Simms.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: They're not.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: They have too much on their plate. They're gonna The
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: way they lead is by doing their job to the
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: best of their ability and hoping, hopefully the rest of
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: them figure that out. And that's how they make a
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: name for themselves. This stuff doesn't do it, okay, And
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: if you're not there when you're needed, it doesn't happen
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: for you either. So you can blame all the people
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: in the world as as an individual, as a player,
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: but it's right in front of you and you got
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: to go do it.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to pin down my favorite Mark Renow moment.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: There were some really big ones. The twenty nine yard
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: run in Denver on third down.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Jumped over, yeah, jumped over where he made.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Bill Romanowski spin around and then Romanowski was the biggest
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: badest guy on that defense Foix. Can the Jaguars make
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: something happen.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: Brunell under center sends Keenan in motion from the near
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: to the far side. He'll take the snap and drop
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: back to throw pressure coming. He's jumping out to the
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: near side, pump backs, it cuts across the fifty, breaks
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: it tackle at the forty five.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: He's at the forty.
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: Mark Brunell running to the far side like turch the
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: corner thirty five, thirty down to the twenty five and
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: inside move leaping for the twenty one.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Mark Brunell with a masterful.
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: Run of twenty nine yards and the clock continues to run.
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: On the Monday night game in ninety seven, right, you
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: didn't know whether he was gonna play because of the
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: preseason knee injury. And I'll never forget the roar of
• 17:36
  Speaker 6: the crowd when they introduced him.
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: I hope you can appreciate that through the sound of
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: your car radio, your scario at home, wherever you may be.
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: The sevening along our network. Mark Brunell, number eight is
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: on the field. The Jaguars are on Monday Night football,
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: and the energy is unbelievable here at all tells stadium.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: You guys had something special in that offensive room. They
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: knew when Mark Brunell was on the field with Jimmy
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: and Keenan, that was pre Fred, that that there was
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: there was the possibility of something special.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, without a doubt.
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: And and it came to fruition because I mean you
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: just named four three or four really good people. Yeah,
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: you know, And I mean it took a bunch of years,
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: but Fred the story about me and Indianapolis, you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: And Fred said, coach, I get it.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I get it now, Yeah, I get it. That's
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: what you do. By the way I hear, you're not
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: just I mean, you're judged on what wins and losses,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: but you always took it to the kind of people.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: You wanted to see more from these guys. You wanted
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: them to leave here, not just great football players, but
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: great men.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: And I didn't hear that from a lot of coaches
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: in my thirty years. I haven't heard them elaborating.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: You want because if there's, if there is, and even
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: Kevin Gilbright has I've heard him say, it's a little
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: different here. You know, it's a little different. It's not
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: all it's not just exce and O's right, because where
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: I come from, I'm a teacher. That's my degrees are there,
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: all right. So I'm always interested in, you know, the
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: whole individual and what he can contribute, not only as
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: a football player, but as a guy in his team,
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: a guy working in his franchise. What example does he set?
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: Then in his community, then his family, all those things
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: that's important to me.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: You set a standard and asked people to live to
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: the standard. And I think we could go off on
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: a long tangent about how society could use more of
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: a standard. But I want to talk about Fred. You
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: mentioned Rob Johnson, who the first pick of Day two
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: of the draft, because back then it was a Saturday Sunday.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: I remember walking out that night and asking you, what
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: are you gonna do with the first pick of the
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: fourth round? You're gonna trade it? And you just smiled
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: and looked at me like I know what I'm gonna do,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: and I'm not gonna tell you. And it became Rob Johnson,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: who became Fred Taylor. Because Rob started one game opening
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Day in Baltimore nineteen ninety seven, had the high ankle spring,
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: we didn't see him again.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: All he would do he would somehow get to the sideline. Yeah,
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: that's it. You're not going in again. And I would
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: turn to the field and we'd be He'd be in
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: my ear.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Rob was Rob. He wanted to go back.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Out and play. He went out and it was.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Just amazing game for him too, by the way, incredible, incredible.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: Do we win?
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we win the game opening day, August thirtieth, nineteen
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: ninety seven. Never forget that game for a lot of reasons.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: But it became Fred. And we were sitting in what
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: was the radio studio, and I was getting ready to
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: do a show, and you walked by. You had just
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: been in Gainesville, and I said, how is Fred? And
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: you stopped and you went four two and you kept
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: on walking. And I'll never forget you just went four
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: two Because he ran a four two forty that day.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Tell me what you six.
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: On the practice field, not the game field. The game
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: field is the fastest field I've ever been on. Okay,
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: if I was gonna run, I'm not running until we
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: go on that field.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Right, this is Steve Spurriers. Maybe we'll cut the grass, maybe.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: We won't practice field, right, and we all know they
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: get beat up. He runs a forty. We argue about
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: what he ran, but he always corrects me, you know.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: But six thirty six and run and the minute James
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Stewart goes down. In Week two against the Baltimore Ravens,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: here Fred runs out and I remember saying, here's the
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: rookie from Florida. And he took a handoff and went
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: fifty two yards for touchdown. Brunell surveys the four to
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: three defense of the Ravens, takes the snap toss sweep left.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: There goes Fred Taylor. He's across the fifty, coming back
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: breaking tackles forty five. There go Taylor forty. He's free
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: at the thirty. He's at the twenty. Fret Taylor ten
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: five touchdown.
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: Jacksonville fifty two yards and Fret Taylor makes a statement
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: in his first.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Major run and that led to a season as good
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: as Randy Moss, who was the Rookie of the year.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Seventeen touchdowns, some of the most dramatic, some of the
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: most memorable plays in Jaguars history.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Incredible.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: You saw that in him early on.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: I did, and I you know the way this thing works, right.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Fred's coming of age, if you will, at Florida was
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: in like the last four games of his senior year
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: right all the time, what a four or five games
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: they were, And that's where the attraction to me was.
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: And you know, I have to get him over here.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: And he was sitting in my office. I'm trying to
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: figure out what kind of what kind of guy he is,
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: and so on and so forth, And in truth, he
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: wasn't quite ready for this, for this thing when he came.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: He was so the motorcycle and the gold teeth and.
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: We have.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: We're going to work against.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: I think it's New Orleans was the very first drill
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: is nine on seven. And of course they're all cranked.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: And no matter how you how you how you do it,
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: how you stage it, there's always one more guy that's
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: not black. You know, that's defensive people. Well, we go
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: to build blue, so they got the safety down there too,
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: and it is hot, I mean it's they're bay and
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: then there and Fred is like, WHOA, what is this
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: all about? And then that great story about when we're
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: when when I see him in the elevator and he
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: tells me he loves me. I never I never heard
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: him say that.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: That was at the combine and Andy a couple of
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: years ago was.
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: How I'm supposed to react to this. And he gets
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: and he said, Coach, I gotta go, I gotta speak
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: to a running back group, and I gotta get ready
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: and get my stuff up.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Say yes, brother with them.
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: They jump in the elevator and he said, and I
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: do love you, but you were trying to kill me.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, a lot of those guys thought that at
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: the time, but now now they appreciate the standard and
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: and and we will talk about that, but we got
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: to talk about Tony because the stories that you tell
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: about Tony are the ones that you have the second
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: pick in nineteen ninety five and you're gonna make the
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: first pick in franchise history. That was a talented group.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: There were some really good players at the top of
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: that drafts. There were what did you see in Tony?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: And it was more than just football with Tony, wasn't it?
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: Well it was, but I'm telling you right now. You
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: know he did things on tape that were unreal. If
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: you remember, he used to he'd get a guy and
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: he'd take him like ten yards downfield and then he
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: would plan them he'd drop him and he was doing that.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'd see that maybe once a game on
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: this guy. But his feet were amazing. He had great size,
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: big long arms, you know, the whole, the whole deal.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: Went out to work him out, you know that story.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: There's four or five offensive line coaches there. Mike masers
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: with me, and he brings out this kid's playing guard
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: next to him. So there's two of them to work out,
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: which was fine. We were okay with that, and but
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: we get there and he go he is six seven
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: three twenty seven. We go on the field and it's
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: like watching a dancing bear, you know. And Jim Hannafan
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: looks at me after he said, coach, what do you
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: think you're gonna do with your second pick?
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Probably receiver?
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: He goes, yeah, you're gonna take a receiver, all right,
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: But it was the workout was great, and then of
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: course we had dinner that night with Angie.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: And that did it.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: That's what I tell That's what I tell Tony. I said, well,
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: we decided we'd take you because you know, we had
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: dinner with Angie.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: How satisfying is it to you that you make your
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: first pick in nineteen ninety five and in twenty twenty
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: two that pick Tony Boselli becomes the franchise's first hall.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: About that, Listen, I burst with pride. I can only
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: imagine what it was like for you to learn that
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: he was going in the hall of that.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: It was so special because you know, and listen, we
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: go through life and we don't have it, you know,
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: ups and downs and you know how it works. And
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: the poor guy, I'm the one because we're in big
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: cat problems. I got to walk down the street, knock
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: on Tony's door and sit out there on the stoop
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: with him and tell him that, you know, I've got
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: a trade you. I've got to try to you know,
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: here's the guy with the first pick in the in
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: the franchise history.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: And it was the heartbeat of the franchise.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and we had we had to do it. I had.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: I had to do it with Keenan.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: You couldn't fielded a team the way that the cap
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: worked back then.
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: Well, we wouldn't have had fifty three. We'd have played
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: with about forty seven.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Right now, How interesting is it then, ironic? If that's
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: the way life works, that you had to walk down
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: and knock on his door and then he came and
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: knocked on your door to tell you were going into
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: the crime of the Jaguars. That's I thought about that
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: as I left your home the other day, and I thought, wow,
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: what what a turn of events, the way that God
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: plans things. Yeah, and Bisselli tells anyone who will listen
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: that you're next to go into the Hall of Fame.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: He was the one who complained about you.
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: He tells a story about about Angie and about how
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: Angie said, don't you dare complain about that man? Right,
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: He's the nicest man I know. And he's like that
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: almost started a divorce and we've just been married a year.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: He loves to tell that story. The bond I mean
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: as men, as friends, which is what you've become. But
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: just to have that that sort of a relationship, not
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: not everyone gets that, not every coach, not every player
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: gets that.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: Coach, No, no, they don't.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: And uh, you know, I mean you talk about pride.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: I'm so extremely proud of this guy. You know what
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: he's done his family, you know what he's done in
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: the community, and the fact that, I guess one of
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: the biggest things for me, and just reiterated by Mark Brunell.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: I was up there watching Detroit work against the Giants,
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: and I said, Mark, you're still living in We'll never
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: We'll never leave Jacksonville. The fact that these guys make
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: this their home says a lot about this community too.
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: And Tony who was in Houston, and Tom took him
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: because he wanted Tony to help him build a football team,
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: build the coach, build the winning culture in Houston. And
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: but when when Tony's playing days were over, where is
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: he right back here?
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Tell me and they're gonna come listen. Talking is never
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: our problem. Stopping will be. Tell me what it will
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: mean to you because you're this franchise is still so
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: important to you. When this franchise finally turns this thing
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: into a championship, when they finally have a Lombardi Trophy here,
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: what will that mean to you? Is the founder of
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: this franchise?
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: Well that that that to me is what every fan
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: and you know, I want to say something about the fans.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: Jaguar fans are tough. They're tough, they're resilient, you know,
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: and you gotta be that way. You got it. You
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: got to be that way. And you can never lose hope.
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: You never lose hope. But the goal is obviously to
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: get that Lombardi Trophy. That's what every franchise when when
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: the gun goes off, thirty two of them are in
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: that race to get that trophy. And when it does happen,
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: and it will happen, okay, then we'll all take great pride.
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: And I don't know if I can be any more
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: proud of it because because again we started this thing
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: with Look, nobody cares who gets the credit. Let's get
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: it right. Let's just get it right. But let's have
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: the standards so high that we're not willing to accept
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: those that you know you miss on players.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Sure it just happens, right.
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: Ron Wolf told me one time, if you're bat two fifty,
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: you're doing okay. But if you can, you know, if
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: you can believe, and if you can, you know, go
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: and get that trophy. That trophy really would stand up
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: for all the years and all the battles and all
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: we had to sacrifice to get there.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Just the final thought, you're going to stand out on
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: that field and wear a teal coat and see your
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: name and hear the roar of the crowd. Will it
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: feel full circle to you at that point? Will it feel?
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: Will it? I'm not because it's not close the book.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: The book will always be open. But to feel like
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: what you started and it's in a good place, coach.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, you got a brand new stadium, the Miller
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Electric Centers. There's mister cons got it in a pretty
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: good place where this franchise feels secure, which you didn't
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: always feel, you know, there were times where it didn't
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: feel that way. Will it feel to you like you've.
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: I hope I've helped to create that feeling, Oh that
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: this is home. This is what we're all about, you know.
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: But but remember Brian that my name might be up there,
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: but that represents all the people who rolled up their
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: sleeves and you remember me. We're playing volleyball over at
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: the YMCA, you know, as a team building thing, you know.
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: And I used to look at Selden like what we're
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: gonna what you want to do? What? And but you
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: know what, we were a tight group. We were a
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: tight group and when we won, everybody won. Yes, that
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: was the thrill. The thrill was to look at the
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: young people that we had around with a big smile
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: on their face. After Denver, after Buffalo, what is that
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: all about?
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: And so yeah, yeah, what it will mean is that
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: I don't know what full circle means, but I do
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: know that everybody that had a part in that beginning
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: can be very proud because we're up there just like
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: we were in the very beginning. But we're making a statement, okay,
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: in addition to that, that we believe and we want
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: this franchise to succeed.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: I've always said that, Yeah, you're a big fan of
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: the franchise, You always will be.
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: Always want the best for this franchise, and I want
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: them to succeed.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: And I speak on behalf of them, all of the
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: people who work here. Then, a lot of my colleagues
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: that were in the broadcast department that knew that I
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: was going to sit down with you, They a lot
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: of the former players. When you wear that jacket and
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: when you stand out there on that field, we're so
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: proud of you and the places that you took us
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: and the journey that we went on with you will
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: forever be written into our lives and the lives of
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: all the people that witnessed it with you.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: So thank you, Thank you, Brian