Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 98: Tom Coughlin's Legacy as the Jaguars' First Coach

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Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 98: Tom Coughlin's Legacy as the Jaguars' First Coach · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:17
Speaker 1: Welcome into dag Dam this morning. I'm Taen. Nannie Stevens,
0:19
Speaker 1: Brian Sexton, and John Ogier are with me as the
0:22
Speaker 1: Jaguars get ready for Week five they're gonna face off
0:24
Speaker 1: against the Colts here in Jacksonville. Let's start out with
0:26
Speaker 1: our big things today. Big thing number one is next question.
0:30
Speaker 1: A lot of national media reporting that there's issues within
0:33
Speaker 1: the locker room here in Jacksonville, that some of the
0:35
Speaker 1: players have lost their faith and head coach Doug Peterson.
0:38
Speaker 1: Of course, Doug Peterson weigh in saying he didn't feel
0:40
Speaker 1: that was the case, but of course that's what you
0:42
Speaker 1: expect your coach to say. Of course, hearing from your
0:44
Speaker 1: leader of the team, Trevor Lawrence is very definitive.
0:49
Speaker 2: I mean, I.
0:49
Speaker 3: Shouldn't even have to You got to do your job
0:50
Speaker 3: for you gotta ask it, but I shouldn't.
0:52
Speaker 4: Even have to answer it.
0:53
Speaker 3: I mean not at all. I don't know where that's
0:56
Speaker 3: coming from. So I don't even want to really spend
0:58
Speaker 3: on something that's just not true.
0:59
Speaker 1: So Brian, Trevor Lawrence is pretty much said next question
1:03
Speaker 1: when they asked him about Doug losing the locker room.
1:07
Speaker 1: You've been around a lot of different teams here. Trevor
1:10
Speaker 1: didn't even take much heed to it at all.
1:12
Speaker 4: No, he didn't, which was a great leadership indicator. You know.
1:15
Speaker 4: Look in today's social media world, anyone anywhere can say
1:18
Speaker 4: anything and there's no accountability. It just is. And the
1:22
Speaker 4: business isn't the same as the one that I grew
1:24
Speaker 4: up in, but you're going to get it. The players
1:26
Speaker 4: know what, the coaches know it. It's why neither of
1:28
Speaker 4: those gentlemen overreacted to the question. I went into the
1:31
Speaker 4: locker room yesterday and I heard other reporters now asking
1:35
Speaker 4: the questions. So something that really wasn't a story became
1:38
Speaker 4: a story. I didn't hear any frustration. I didn't hear
1:42
Speaker 4: any discussed. I've been around long enough that I know
1:45
Speaker 4: what I'm listening to, and I can look into player's eyes.
1:48
Speaker 4: This locker room is one hundred percent Still, I probably
1:51
Speaker 4: shouldn't say one hundred. There's probably a player or two
1:54
Speaker 4: that is disgusted with their role or what hasn't gone
1:56
Speaker 4: their way. It's never perfect, but it is strongly behind Doug.
2:00
Speaker 4: There is no indication of this whatsoever.
2:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, when you're oh and four and you're not in
2:06
Speaker 5: your first year as a head coach. There's going to
2:10
Speaker 5: be stories about this sort of thing. There's going to
2:13
Speaker 5: be people calling and texting people in the locker room
2:17
Speaker 5: trying to get at this sort of thing. There is
2:20
Speaker 5: probably one in three teams in the NFL where there
2:23
Speaker 5: are worse situations, but nobody's calling those because they don't
2:26
Speaker 5: have the worst record in the NFL. So I think
2:28
Speaker 5: a lot of that is circumstantial. Look at oh to
2:31
Speaker 5: four eventually losing the locker room. There is a place
2:35
Speaker 5: Ohen somewhere where that's a concern. But I'm with Brian.
2:39
Speaker 5: It's always a concern when you're losing.
2:42
Speaker 6: But I'm with.
2:43
Speaker 5: Brian talking to Christian Kirk, talking to people yesterday. I
2:47
Speaker 5: don't think this is the storyline of this organization right now.
2:52
Speaker 4: Well, you know, John, because you're here. In ninety six,
2:55
Speaker 4: Tom Coughlin was on the verge. If you hadn't lost
2:57
Speaker 4: the locker room at four and seven, it was bad. However,
3:01
Speaker 4: he got it back because they started winning. So even
3:05
Speaker 4: if Doug had some guys who were disgruntled, go win
3:08
Speaker 4: on Sunday. Go put a couple of wins together in London,
3:11
Speaker 4: and the locker room is all back. Human nature says.
3:14
Speaker 4: When it gets tough, I'm not as happy. Okay, that
3:18
Speaker 4: is common. There are some players in there who probably
3:20
Speaker 4: aren't happy. But it has nothing to do again, I
3:24
Speaker 4: assume it has nothing to do with Doug losing the
3:26
Speaker 4: locker room.
3:27
Speaker 6: I hadn't been happy in about twenty years.
3:29
Speaker 1: John, We're our best, Okay, we're trying.
3:32
Speaker 4: I get.
3:34
Speaker 1: Winning will fix a lot of things we do. It
3:36
Speaker 1: is important to remember we are not. We still got
3:38
Speaker 1: three quarters of the season to go. Our next big
3:41
Speaker 1: thing today is gonna be old school. A lot to
3:43
Speaker 1: talk about Tom Coughlin this week, as he will be
3:45
Speaker 1: honored on Sunday. Doug Peterson was asked a little bit
3:48
Speaker 1: about how Tom Coughlin's coaching style was back in the
3:51
Speaker 1: day and what Doug Peterson's thoughts were about that today.
3:55
Speaker 2: I don't think they're necessarily, not all of them. I
3:58
Speaker 2: don't think they all respond to that, you know. I
4:03
Speaker 2: think just coming to him as a man and just
4:05
Speaker 2: having a conversation, you know, and and and sometimes too,
4:10
Speaker 2: you know, maybe not call on a guy out in
4:14
Speaker 2: a meeting, you know, in front of their teammates, in
4:16
Speaker 2: front of their peers, you know, just go to them
4:18
Speaker 2: one on one and have those conversations. And I think
4:21
Speaker 2: that's more and more what's happening, you know, with I
4:26
Speaker 2: think teams overall, you know, But there's still part of
4:32
Speaker 2: me that wants to wants to old school it every
4:35
Speaker 2: now and then, you know, and uh and sometimes it
4:39
Speaker 2: comes out, you know, but uh, I just I just
4:43
Speaker 2: don't think everybody responds the same way.
4:47
Speaker 1: John, you like to take get old school from time
4:48
Speaker 1: to time. Doug Peterson said he was kind of raised
4:52
Speaker 1: in that mentality. Obviously it's not quite the same this way.
4:56
Speaker 1: What have you seen the progression how we've gotten to
4:58
Speaker 1: this point in the NFL.
4:59
Speaker 5: Well, but I think you still have to have the
5:02
Speaker 5: same basic tenants as a head coach. You have to lead,
5:06
Speaker 5: you have to have players believing in you. And I
5:08
Speaker 5: do believe that players, like anybody, they still want discipline,
5:13
Speaker 5: they want to know that the direction is in the
5:17
Speaker 5: right way, and they don't mind tough love, so to speak.
5:21
Speaker 5: I think you just sort of I think I think
5:23
Speaker 5: it's a degree thing. I think if Tom were coaching today,
5:26
Speaker 5: if he had come up in this environment, I think
5:28
Speaker 5: he would still be tough. Brian, I think he would
5:31
Speaker 5: still have the same tenants, but I think he would
5:34
Speaker 5: have probably come up and maybe learn to hug a
5:36
Speaker 5: little bit every now and then. It's hard to be
5:38
Speaker 5: for you to Madge. Maybe he's hugged you, not me.
5:41
Speaker 5: But you know, I still think the old school followed
5:46
Speaker 5: my direction. I still think it's necessary in the NFL
5:48
Speaker 5: because you're dealing with seventy eighty personalities. But I think
5:51
Speaker 5: maybe coaches enunciated a touch softer than maybe Tom did.
5:57
Speaker 4: I'm trying to think, are there any time about the hug?
6:01
Speaker 4: I know, firm handshake, but I've never hugged him. I'm
6:06
Speaker 4: trying to think if there's a coach in the league
6:07
Speaker 4: today that fits that old school. Tom Coughlin, Bill Belichick,
6:12
Speaker 4: he was the most recent you know style, and there
6:15
Speaker 4: just aren't any which tells you that players don't communicate
6:20
Speaker 4: the same way, at least owners don't believe that they do.
6:23
Speaker 4: And you know, when Tom was coaching in New York,
6:25
Speaker 4: he famously and his coaching staff studied millennials so that
6:28
Speaker 4: they could communicate with them more on their plane to
6:31
Speaker 4: figure out the best way to coach them. So he
6:33
Speaker 4: even understood that. I always loved dealing with Tom because
6:37
Speaker 4: I knew exactly what I was going to get. I
6:39
Speaker 4: knew when I knew loss, I knew exactly what he thought.
6:43
Speaker 4: I don't want to say I could answer it questions
6:45
Speaker 4: for him, but I kind of knew where he was
6:47
Speaker 4: headed when the questions were asked, whether it was on
6:49
Speaker 4: a radio show or whether it was in a news conference.
6:52
Speaker 4: I just cam Robinson yesterday, who's the last player in
6:56
Speaker 4: that locker room? Who was here when Tom was here
6:59
Speaker 4: seventeen eighteen and nine nineteen, said it never bothered him.
7:02
Speaker 4: It was easier for him because he knew what to expect.
7:05
Speaker 4: And that's what I think is missing. I think in
7:08
Speaker 4: a world where again you've got players who are young
7:11
Speaker 4: and on social media, you don't have to guess. You
7:15
Speaker 4: know exactly what is set out for them. You know
7:18
Speaker 4: a guy who doesn't come across and you know him
7:20
Speaker 4: much better than I do as a Tom coffin Bill
7:23
Speaker 4: Belichick style, yet seems to be the perfect coach to
7:26
Speaker 4: what you're talking about. Is Tony Dungee. I mean Tony,
7:29
Speaker 4: everyone knew what to expect. He didn't yell and scream.
7:32
Speaker 4: He was old school, and essentially he came up from
7:34
Speaker 4: Chuck Nole.
7:34
Speaker 5: It's still consistency. Players still want to know where they stand.
7:39
Speaker 5: I think they just want it with a little maybe
7:42
Speaker 5: syrup on top. Yeah, but it's still consistency, and Dan
7:49
Speaker 5: Campbell makes the work a little bit.
7:50
Speaker 6: I think you have to let him know you love him.
7:53
Speaker 5: And that's probably the key these days.
7:56
Speaker 6: You can't just be all hard school all the time.
8:00
Speaker 1: Final big thing is vintage. We are finally getting these
8:03
Speaker 1: Prowler throwback uniforms. They're going to be done for the
8:06
Speaker 1: first time this year on Sunday against the Colts. Trevor
8:09
Speaker 1: Lawrence excited about that, but more excited about getting the win.
8:13
Speaker 4: The throwbacks.
8:13
Speaker 3: Obviously, the uniforms are sweet and just to distribute for
8:17
Speaker 3: you know, the history of this team and you know
8:20
Speaker 3: it's been what thirty thirty years or so, So it's
8:23
Speaker 3: cool to be able to wear those uniforms and put
8:25
Speaker 3: them back on and represent this city the right way
8:27
Speaker 3: on Sunday. And you know, but we got to worry
8:28
Speaker 3: about this final way to win the Game's that'll be
8:30
Speaker 3: the best way to represent the city is go win
8:32
Speaker 3: the game, right.
8:34
Speaker 1: And these the uniforms everybody wanted. We're all excited about that,
8:37
Speaker 1: but it's a monumental day for the franchise as well,
8:39
Speaker 1: so important to go out and have a good performance.
8:41
Speaker 6: Yeah.
8:41
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, let's make what is a day to celebrate,
8:45
Speaker 4: right Tom Kaughlin going into the Pride of the Jaguars
8:48
Speaker 4: the Legends weekend, so there'd be a lot of former
8:50
Speaker 4: players here. You know, let's let's see something that makes
8:53
Speaker 4: it more than just memorable, right, get a win, something
8:57
Speaker 4: meaningful that goes along with this. And I you know,
9:00
Speaker 4: I wasn't all on the vintage, the throwback train. Maybe
9:04
Speaker 4: it's my age maybe so that I grew up with
9:05
Speaker 4: these uniforms and it's something that's still important to me.
9:08
Speaker 4: But this week, as we've gotten closer and yesterday I
9:10
Speaker 4: saw John the logo on helmets, the old logo on
9:13
Speaker 4: helmets in the locker room. Got a touch in nostalgia.
9:16
Speaker 4: I'll never forget the first time I saw the uniforms
9:18
Speaker 4: on the field for the very first time in Canton,
9:20
Speaker 4: Ohio against Carolina back in the summer of nineteen ninety five.
9:26
Speaker 4: But I felt that because all the months and all
9:28
Speaker 4: the anticipation. So I'm excited to see him on Sunday.
9:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, they're sharp uniforms. Yeah, and get a win in him.
9:36
Speaker 5: You know, I wouldn't mind if these were always the uniforms.
9:39
Speaker 5: I'm not a uniform guy, but I look at him
9:41
Speaker 5: and people love them.
9:45
Speaker 6: So I'm looking forward to seeing him on the field.
9:48
Speaker 1: We got John on board. We're going to switching back
9:49
Speaker 1: to the Prowler uniforms permanently. I think that's a good idea.
9:52
Speaker 1: Stay with this here on jag ZAM, we're going to
9:54
Speaker 1: talk more about Tom Coughlin and his influence on the franchise.
10:04
Speaker 1: Jag XAM is brought to him part by Fields Auto Group,
10:06
Speaker 1: Jacksonville's premiere luxury auto group. You can had to Fields
10:09
Speaker 1: Auto dot com.
10:13
Speaker 4: There's a snap that slow the placement. The kick is blocked.
10:16
Speaker 6: It's block.
10:17
Speaker 1: The Jaguars have won it.
10:18
Speaker 7: The Jaguars have picked the ball up, raced it down
10:20
Speaker 7: the sideline. There he goes, They're gonna score touchdown Jacksonville.
10:27
Speaker 7: Chris Hutson picks up the block and races downfield and
10:31
Speaker 7: the Jaguars have picked the Steelers.
10:34
Speaker 1: Lots of memorable moments with Tom Coughlin as the head
10:37
Speaker 1: coach here and as Jim as well.
10:39
Speaker 6: But let's talk a little Tom.
10:41
Speaker 1: So why not he's gonna have his dance Sunday.
10:43
Speaker 4: That was the first Monday night game in franchise history,
10:45
Speaker 4: and Mark Brunell returned that night. I never forget he
10:48
Speaker 4: had injured his knee in the Monday night and not
10:50
Speaker 4: the money in the preseason. Jesse Armstead for the Giants
10:53
Speaker 4: put his helmet into his knee, and no one knew
10:55
Speaker 4: he was gonna return. No one, uh. And when the
10:57
Speaker 4: crowd introduced him, the roar or still canher it in
11:01
Speaker 4: my ears, it's as loud as that stadium has ever been.
11:03
Speaker 4: And of course the Jaguars went on to win when
11:05
Speaker 4: Clyde Simmons blocked Norm Johnson's game winning field goal attempt
11:08
Speaker 4: and Chris Hudson took it back like Bill Kyerd trying
11:11
Speaker 4: to stop.
11:11
Speaker 5: It, and it was fresh and when it was still
11:15
Speaker 5: all new. They had gotten good the previous year, Brian,
11:19
Speaker 5: Remember they got good so late the previous year, and
11:23
Speaker 5: they started off I think they were two and oh
11:25
Speaker 5: coming into this game, so that you were still sort
11:28
Speaker 5: of getting used to the idea that this was a
11:31
Speaker 5: long term good team and to be the Steelers on
11:36
Speaker 5: Monday Night, there was a spine to that team, meaning
11:40
Speaker 5: big games it played well. Looking back, I don't know
11:47
Speaker 5: that I completely grasped what a great job Tom did
11:51
Speaker 5: and the team did in establishing something very consistent, and
11:56
Speaker 5: how hard that was to do and to build it
11:59
Speaker 5: from scratch.
12:00
Speaker 4: Now, Michael's told Tom on the field in pregame that
12:03
Speaker 4: night will be back, right. He could sense before the
12:07
Speaker 4: game started that this was a place that loved football.
12:09
Speaker 4: And of course they were back the very next year
12:11
Speaker 4: with the Monday night game early in the season early
12:13
Speaker 4: October against the Dolphins with a rookie Fred Taylor who
12:17
Speaker 4: went seventy seven yards on the game's first play. So
12:20
Speaker 4: there was something about those early years in Jacksonville that
12:23
Speaker 4: people around the league believed in, not just those of
12:25
Speaker 4: us who were here.
12:26
Speaker 1: I think what's impressive for me to come in and
12:29
Speaker 1: learn about the franchise as i've been here, is, you know,
12:32
Speaker 1: being a franchise, a new franchise, and being able to
12:36
Speaker 1: kind of garner that success fairly quickly considering your brand new.
12:41
Speaker 1: Is impressive to me that Tom, obviously the architect of
12:44
Speaker 1: all of this, can put that together and see success
12:46
Speaker 1: so quickly.
12:47
Speaker 4: He was told by Wayne Weaver when Wayne hired him,
12:51
Speaker 4: I want to go to the super Bowl in my
12:53
Speaker 4: first five years. Tom got them to the AFC Title
12:56
Speaker 4: Game in the year two and back again in year five.
12:59
Speaker 4: They didn't know they didn't beat the Patriots of the
13:01
Speaker 4: Titans those two years, but Tom took nothing because there
13:05
Speaker 4: was nothing here when he stepped out of his car
13:07
Speaker 4: in February of nineteen ninety four. It was a muddy
13:10
Speaker 4: bog and he put them in a position where in
13:13
Speaker 4: year two they were on the verge of the super Bowl.
13:17
Speaker 4: It was amazing.
13:18
Speaker 6: Yeah, And.
13:20
Speaker 5: Again being around at the time, I covered it for
13:24
Speaker 5: the Florida Times Union, naive little sports writer thought they
13:30
Speaker 5: always talked about the five year plan ninety six, ninety seven,
13:34
Speaker 5: ninety eight, nine eighty. You feel like they were getting
13:36
Speaker 5: closer and closer and closer. And it's one of those stories,
13:39
Speaker 5: guys that it played out exactly as they thought, closer
13:45
Speaker 5: and closer and closer and closer.
13:47
Speaker 6: I mean, it just didn't, you know, I mean, you
13:48
Speaker 6: know it.
13:50
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's such a almost shows you, no matter how
13:54
Speaker 5: well you plan, no matter how good you that was
13:56
Speaker 5: a good team that year in ninety nine, shows you
13:58
Speaker 5: how hard it is in the NFL. Well, but beyond that, usually,
14:04
Speaker 5: like most coaches back then when they took over teams,
14:09
Speaker 5: I'd say nine out of ten coaches talked about five
14:11
Speaker 5: year plan. Sure, not that many pulled it off to
14:17
Speaker 5: the degree that this franchise did building it. Think about
14:20
Speaker 5: the Carolina Panthers, for example, they kind of came up
14:22
Speaker 5: and then they were sort of gone. They seemed to
14:24
Speaker 5: do the same thing eventually. But what a run and
14:29
Speaker 5: what a brian When I think of Tom during that time.
14:34
Speaker 5: The story that I tell is when I came back
14:38
Speaker 5: in twenty eleven, Tom had been gone for eight years.
14:41
Speaker 5: At that point, I still the first couple of months
14:47
Speaker 5: back would peak around the corner.
14:49
Speaker 6: I wonder if he was coming.
14:50
Speaker 4: I mean, presidence has always been in this building. He
14:51
Speaker 4: had that big of an impact.
14:52
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's how much.
14:54
Speaker 5: There have been people who say, well, why is he
14:57
Speaker 5: end the Pride, didn't win a Super Bowl, didn't do
14:58
Speaker 5: ex did into it. Well, but I think what people
15:02
Speaker 5: don't grasp and players who you talk to who played
15:06
Speaker 5: for him, they don't grasp the presence and the He
15:11
Speaker 5: was the foundation of the house, right and.
15:15
Speaker 6: What a will.
15:17
Speaker 5: It was of his to make the organization what it was.
15:21
Speaker 5: And you mistakes, yes, oh yeah, but big pick.
15:25
Speaker 4: He knows him too.
15:26
Speaker 5: You can't have a pride of the Jaguars to me
15:28
Speaker 5: and not have Tom.
15:29
Speaker 4: Cos there's absolutely one. Tom Coughlin was the heartbeat of
15:34
Speaker 4: this franchise KaiA. When I got here in the summer
15:36
Speaker 4: of nineteen ninety four, there was nothing here but some trailers.
15:40
Speaker 4: Tom came in and didn't just hire coaches and picked players.
15:43
Speaker 4: I mean, he built a franchise from the ground up,
15:46
Speaker 4: and that was not an easy thing to do. He
15:49
Speaker 4: had such a belief in what his standard was, and
15:55
Speaker 4: everybody who worked for the organization, whether it was someone
15:58
Speaker 4: in the football side, or in ticketing or in broadcasting,
16:02
Speaker 4: you had to be able to keep up with that standard.
16:05
Speaker 4: Otherwise you weren't going to be able to work with
16:07
Speaker 4: Tom Pauflin. And people recognize that he pushed forward. He
16:11
Speaker 4: understood it was going to make him less popular than
16:13
Speaker 4: other people in the building. He didn't care because his
16:16
Speaker 4: mission was to win. And now the players, those ones
16:20
Speaker 4: that just they couldn't take playing for him at times
16:23
Speaker 4: now line up to spend time with him at the
16:26
Speaker 4: j Fund every year. Michael Strahan, who famously couldn't deal
16:29
Speaker 4: with Tom in New York early on told him, I
16:32
Speaker 4: love you. These guys understand he is a unique man,
16:37
Speaker 4: a distinctive coach, and the kind of person who cares
16:41
Speaker 4: about other people, but he cares so deeply that sometimes
16:46
Speaker 4: you don't see it until it later.
16:48
Speaker 1: I think his style obviously not for everybody, but having
16:51
Speaker 1: clear expectations for people and being consistent and being yourself
16:55
Speaker 1: is something that I think we lose little sight of
16:58
Speaker 1: in maybe modern day, because I think people are play
17:00
Speaker 1: to different personalities. But if Tom seems like the kind
17:03
Speaker 1: of guy that always had a clear set of expectations,
17:05
Speaker 1: they might have been hard to reach, but you knew
17:07
Speaker 1: what they were going to be, and you knew what
17:09
Speaker 1: the standards were going to be.
17:10
Speaker 4: Jeff Logman, right, I mean, Jeff was the player representative,
17:13
Speaker 4: remember that, And he came down knowing what the rules were,
17:16
Speaker 4: and Tom was always pushing the rules. But the two
17:20
Speaker 4: of them have a great relationship today because they understood
17:23
Speaker 4: what the big picture was was to take this new
17:26
Speaker 4: franchise and lift it up, and we have it here
17:29
Speaker 4: today because they created something. And you know, there's a
17:33
Speaker 4: lot of people and Tom will say this when he
17:35
Speaker 4: talks on Sunday, because he and I spent some time
17:37
Speaker 4: together in the last couple of weeks. He will talk
17:39
Speaker 4: about all the people who came into it, but there
17:42
Speaker 4: could only be one guy out in front of it,
17:44
Speaker 4: and that was a huge job and all the pressure.
17:47
Speaker 4: Everything was good and everything that wasn't so good, and
17:50
Speaker 4: he was just the man to wear.
17:52
Speaker 6: That mantle and the thing that I loved. We had
17:55
Speaker 6: a little.
17:57
Speaker 5: It's Past Friday, a media gathering for Tom or with
18:02
Speaker 5: Tom and he and Tony Bessellly and Fred Taylor spoke
18:07
Speaker 5: for about half an hour and sixteen seventeen minutes in
18:11
Speaker 5: he was talking about it Giants and the Jaguars, and
18:16
Speaker 5: he's been gone from the Jags for five years, gone
18:18
Speaker 5: from the Giants for seven, and he made the comedy
18:21
Speaker 5: said still feels like they both ended to like.
18:25
Speaker 6: Still doesn't believe that.
18:29
Speaker 5: If he had been left to his devices, both couldn't
18:33
Speaker 5: have turned her. It spoke of the single mindedness, the
18:41
Speaker 5: faith and belief, the determination, all that stuff. Tony Besselli
18:46
Speaker 5: and I were talking about it on Sunday because I
18:47
Speaker 5: saw him couple days later, and we both just said,
18:51
Speaker 5: that's what Tom is, That's what made him great. And
18:55
Speaker 5: Tony goes, that's what I.
18:56
Speaker 4: Love about the guy. Do you know? I went to
18:58
Speaker 4: his house to sit and do an interview with him
19:00
Speaker 4: for a story that I think you're gonna run. And
19:03
Speaker 4: the irony was Tom had to go to Tony's house,
19:06
Speaker 4: which was right across the street in marsh Landing back
19:08
Speaker 4: in the day and tell the first player he picked,
19:11
Speaker 4: a player that he was intimately connected to for his
19:13
Speaker 4: whole career, well, we're gonna put you in the expansion
19:16
Speaker 4: pool because the salary cap won't work if we don't.
19:19
Speaker 4: And the Texans took Tony. That was one of those
19:22
Speaker 4: things that he still has some pain about. But then
19:25
Speaker 4: the irony was that Tony went to his house and
19:27
Speaker 4: knocked on the door and said, you're in the Pride
19:28
Speaker 4: of the Jaguars. There's just something full circle about that
19:31
Speaker 4: that I loved. And Tom has a strong belief in
19:36
Speaker 4: this franchise. And I said, listen, your high school fields
19:39
Speaker 4: named after you. You're already in the Giant's Ring of Honor,
19:41
Speaker 4: You've got a couple of Super Bowl rings. Someday you'll
19:43
Speaker 4: go in the Hall of Fame. Where does this fit?
19:45
Speaker 4: And he just got this big broad smile. He said,
19:48
Speaker 4: it's right at the top, and I said why, he said,
19:51
Speaker 4: because that was my team.
19:52
Speaker 6: Well, and.
19:55
Speaker 5: Most expansion franchises Carolina back then had a GM and
20:02
Speaker 5: a coach. Moving forward, if when their expansion franchise, it's
20:09
Speaker 5: very unlikely that you will have a presence like that
20:13
Speaker 5: in essentially.
20:14
Speaker 6: Both roles running it. A czar if you will.
20:18
Speaker 5: And then most expansion expansion franchises, Tom Landry and Dallas
20:21
Speaker 5: comes to mind as somebody who built was identified with that.
20:25
Speaker 5: Tom wind up not having the success of Tom Landry here,
20:28
Speaker 5: but it's more similar to that where you built, you
20:32
Speaker 5: were the soul of the organization for a long time.
20:36
Speaker 5: That's rare and it takes a special personality to do it.
20:39
Speaker 4: Interestingly enough, Tom Landry was one of the people that
20:41
Speaker 4: Tom Coughlin went and spent time with when he knew
20:43
Speaker 4: he was coming here to build the franchise.
20:45
Speaker 1: When you talk about him going into the Pride of
20:47
Speaker 1: the Jaguars at this point in time, and you look
20:51
Speaker 1: at the other names in the Pride of the Jaguars
20:53
Speaker 1: short of the Weavers, he's responsible for most of those
20:56
Speaker 1: people being in Jacksonville. You know, whether it's Tony or
20:59
Speaker 1: Fred or he drafted. You look at Brunell and Jimmy
21:02
Speaker 1: Smith as well, and just he has his hand in
21:05
Speaker 1: a little bit.
21:05
Speaker 6: Of all of that.
21:06
Speaker 5: He has had directly and all of it and traded
21:09
Speaker 5: for Mark, signed Jimmy off the street, chose Tony when
21:15
Speaker 5: not everybody in town was many people in town are like,
21:18
Speaker 5: draft a quarterback, Draft a quarterback. And Tom was like,
21:21
Speaker 5: that's my cornerstone. And then Fred you know, famously, Tom
21:26
Speaker 5: was at the pro day at Fred you know, at
21:30
Speaker 5: Florida when Fred ran a four to two and the
21:32
Speaker 5: scouts went and Tom went, that's the guy.
21:35
Speaker 4: Well, Tom did dropped the quarterback. He drafted Rob Johnson
21:38
Speaker 4: in the fourth round, who became Fred Taylor because they
21:40
Speaker 4: traded him to the Bills for the first pick, the
21:44
Speaker 4: ninth pick of the first round that year. Just a
21:46
Speaker 4: quick Brunell story. The Jaggers had a really good quarterback room, right,
21:49
Speaker 4: I mean, Steve Berlin came in as an established veteran,
21:52
Speaker 4: and I the first time I met Tom, I was
21:54
Speaker 4: in his office and we were talking about his radio
21:56
Speaker 4: show that we were going to start in the fall
21:58
Speaker 4: of nineteen ninety four, and I walked and of course
22:00
Speaker 4: they had beta tapes back then, right, and there are
22:03
Speaker 4: five or six beta tapes that are stacked up on
22:05
Speaker 4: his desk, and they were facing a direction I could see,
22:08
Speaker 4: and Tom caught me trying to read the names on
22:11
Speaker 4: the label quickly turned it around right, But the number
22:13
Speaker 4: one name was Mark Brunell. And so he had done
22:16
Speaker 4: an enormous amount of work on the quarterback who was
22:19
Speaker 4: a backup to Brett Farr in Green Bay and let
22:23
Speaker 4: the process play out and made the trade for Mark
22:26
Speaker 4: the night before the draft. So they introduce him and
22:30
Speaker 4: then they don't know what to do with him the
22:31
Speaker 4: night before the draft, right, they're they're so busy in
22:33
Speaker 4: the draft. Tom hands me a credit card and says,
22:36
Speaker 4: take him to dinner. And so here's the franchise quarterback
22:39
Speaker 4: going to dinner with a radio guy and he's just
22:41
Speaker 4: asking all sorts of questions about Tom, and I said,
22:44
Speaker 4: buckle up. And of course they had an incredible run together.
22:48
Speaker 5: John.
22:48
Speaker 1: When we talk about Jimmy Smith coming to town and
22:50
Speaker 1: kind of what he became when he got here, that
22:54
Speaker 1: was someone Tom went and got as well.
22:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, Jimmy's story. He had been a high level
23:01
Speaker 5: draft pick in Dallas. A lot of talent was sick
23:04
Speaker 5: dealt with some health issues all along, but he was
23:11
Speaker 5: sort of an example Brian of the kind of guy
23:13
Speaker 5: that Tom. I guess, no matter who you were, where
23:20
Speaker 5: you would come from, meaning draft status, how you got
23:25
Speaker 5: to the team.
23:27
Speaker 6: Really didn't matter, you know.
23:28
Speaker 5: And I think Jimmy was probably another one of those
23:31
Speaker 5: guys when he played for Tom. Being young, may not
23:34
Speaker 5: have really understood how much Tom loved Jimmy. But now
23:38
Speaker 5: when you talk to Tom about Jimmy, he'll basically say,
23:41
Speaker 5: you know, if if we had single, we were going
23:43
Speaker 5: to jim and appreciates the special level of talent that
23:50
Speaker 5: Jimmy was. And I think, like most of the guys
23:53
Speaker 5: were talking about, Tom probably never showed these guys how
23:58
Speaker 5: much he loved them when he when they played for him.
24:02
Speaker 5: But their respect he had for Fred's talent, the awe
24:05
Speaker 5: that he had for Keenan McCardell's toughness, all those things.
24:10
Speaker 5: That's why their relationships are strong now.
24:13
Speaker 4: A great example of the man that Tom Coughlin was
24:15
Speaker 4: as a coach. Jimmy Smith kind of came along slowly
24:18
Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety five, but we were in Denver in
24:21
Speaker 4: December of nineteen ninety five, and this may be that game,
24:24
Speaker 4: He's no, that's the ninety seven day. Yeah, that's ninety
24:26
Speaker 4: six playoffs, which was one of his biggest catches. Jimmy
24:29
Speaker 4: had three touchdowns that day, three different ways, one on
24:32
Speaker 4: a throwback kickoff return with Desmond Howard, one on a
24:34
Speaker 4: blocked punt, and one as a wide receiver. And still
24:38
Speaker 4: Tom made him earn it. The next year he went
24:40
Speaker 4: and signed Andre Risen, and Andre brought something out in Jimmy,
24:45
Speaker 4: but Tom knew Jimmy wasn't ready. He wasn't quite there.
24:49
Speaker 4: But the minute that he was, he went into the
24:51
Speaker 4: starting lineup. And of course when you watch this highly
24:53
Speaker 4: the Jaguars, he's the best receiver in franchise history. Obviously
24:57
Speaker 4: they haven't had anyone who even holds a candle to
25:00
Speaker 4: him since he was a prolific talent. And Tom could
25:04
Speaker 4: see it coming, but didn't put it on the stage
25:07
Speaker 4: before it was ready.
25:09
Speaker 1: I think what will make Sunday even more special. A
25:11
Speaker 1: lot of these guys are gonna be here for that
25:12
Speaker 1: ceremony as well, to share that with Tom. And we'll
25:15
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more later in the show about
25:17
Speaker 1: what that ceremony exactly is gonna be. But stay with
25:19
Speaker 1: us here on Jacksam, we'll get back talking football what
25:22
Speaker 1: we expect to see against the Colts on Sunday. Jag
25:32
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Speaker 1: our sponsor for tomorrow's headline today as we do our
25:54
Speaker 1: best at predicting what we think the headlines are gonna be.
25:57
Speaker 1: Actually on Monday morning after this game, I it's the cults, Brian.
26:00
Speaker 1: When you look ahead, what are you hoping to see?
26:02
Speaker 1: What do you think the headlines will be?
26:03
Speaker 4: I think the headline will be seems like old Times,
26:05
Speaker 4: which is a double play on obviously it's Legends weekend.
26:10
Speaker 4: But I think the Jaguars find a way to get
26:12
Speaker 4: a win on Sunday. I was walking through the locker
26:15
Speaker 4: room yesterday looking hard for signs of division or resilience.
26:21
Speaker 4: I wanted to have used that word so much. I
26:22
Speaker 4: wanted to see a resilient group of guys, and I did.
26:25
Speaker 4: I talked to them, I know you did too, John.
26:28
Speaker 4: I just I have the sense that this is the
26:30
Speaker 4: week that they find a way to win a close game.
26:33
Speaker 4: At the end. It helps them that there are some
26:35
Speaker 4: key pieces of that Indianapolis defense and maybe Jonathan Taylor
26:39
Speaker 4: that won't play. But I think that they get a
26:41
Speaker 4: throwback win on a throwback weekend.
26:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, you're you're at home and you ought to win.
26:48
Speaker 5: So my headline is just what they needed. Meaning you're
26:53
Speaker 5: playing a team that you had to have confidence against
26:55
Speaker 5: because you've beaten them here a lot, beat them twice
26:58
Speaker 5: last year. They're at home with the throwback, so maybe
27:02
Speaker 5: all of that is just what they needed to get
27:04
Speaker 5: a win, and boy do they need it. I don't
27:09
Speaker 5: think they're as far away or as awful as many
27:12
Speaker 5: observers are saying. I don't believe there's the vision, but
27:16
Speaker 5: I do believe there's an element right now of.
27:18
Speaker 6: Hey, we at some point we got to do this.
27:21
Speaker 6: Let's do it.
27:22
Speaker 5: And I do think the adrenaline the home crowd, I
27:27
Speaker 5: think there'll be enough.
27:27
Speaker 4: On Sunday, I saw some percentage odds of teams who
27:31
Speaker 4: with losing records to make the playoffs, and the Jaguars
27:33
Speaker 4: were at thirteen point seven percent, and I went, So
27:35
Speaker 4: you're saying there's a chance. So the optimist in me,
27:40
Speaker 4: the sunny eyed optimist in me, says, okay, right, go
27:43
Speaker 4: get this one. Go to London where you've had success
27:45
Speaker 4: and see if you can't build something. And a perfect
27:48
Speaker 4: place to start. The legends are back, the coach is
27:51
Speaker 4: going into the Ring of honor. You're wearing the throwback
27:54
Speaker 4: uniforms to get everybody charged up. Take advantage of this
27:56
Speaker 4: right here and right now. It isn't often in life
27:59
Speaker 4: that you as many second chances as this team may get.
28:02
Speaker 4: Go take advantage of it, all right.
28:03
Speaker 1: I think we're all gonna be optimistic this week. I
28:05
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of reasons to be. I'm going
28:07
Speaker 1: with picture perfect. I think this is finally when the
28:10
Speaker 1: defense gets some turnovers in this game. It's either gonna
28:13
Speaker 1: be Joe Flacco or it's gonna be Anthony Richardson, who
28:15
Speaker 1: may be limited because of his hip injury. Either way,
28:18
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna see a lot of passing. Jonathan
28:19
Speaker 1: Taylor probably not gonna go because of a high ankle sprain.
28:22
Speaker 1: Perfect opportunity. Let's get a couple turnovers, pick off one
28:25
Speaker 1: of those quarterbacks, whoever it might be, give the offense
28:28
Speaker 1: a little bit more of an opportunity to get things going.
28:31
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of injuries on the Colts defense
28:33
Speaker 1: as well, so everything stacking up. I know this is
28:36
Speaker 1: on paper. I know that we have not seen what
28:38
Speaker 1: we expected to see from the team this year, but
28:40
Speaker 1: we did see a lot more from them of what
28:42
Speaker 1: we expect against the Texans. I feel that it's turned
28:45
Speaker 1: the corner a little bit and I'm hoping we see
28:47
Speaker 1: finally the first win of the season. So stay with
28:50
Speaker 1: us on Jagsam. Coming up, we will have a little
28:52
Speaker 1: bit more about what's gonna happen for Tom Kaughlan's ceremony
28:54
Speaker 1: after the break. Jags fans, if you want customize Jaguars
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Speaker 1: fans this weekend. The game brought to you by Baptist Health,
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29:20
Speaker 8: Fright away, I'll get Tom Cofflin memories.
29:33
Speaker 1: We've been talking through their playoff win in Denver, sending
29:35
Speaker 1: them to the FC Championship Game nineteen ninety six. What
29:39
Speaker 1: are we going to experience for Tom Coughlin ceremony on Sunday.
29:41
Speaker 4: Brind Well. First of all, I just want to thank
29:44
Speaker 4: the Jaguars for the opportunity to present him, because a
29:47
Speaker 4: lot of people that probably wanted the opportunity to do that,
29:49
Speaker 4: and I am grateful for it. I'm going to introduce
29:52
Speaker 4: him first of all. We're going to put a teal
29:54
Speaker 4: jacket on him. That's a new tradition that the Pride
29:56
Speaker 4: of the Jaguars are introducing. So Tony Boselli and and
30:00
Speaker 4: Fred Taylor and Jimmy Smith will join us on stage
30:03
Speaker 4: as we introduced Tom. There'll be an amazing video and
30:07
Speaker 4: then Tom will get to speak and I kind of
30:11
Speaker 4: have a preview with some of the things he wants
30:12
Speaker 4: to talk about. It's gonna be awesome. I mean, it's
30:16
Speaker 4: just he's such an important piece of so many people
30:19
Speaker 4: my life obviously as you can tell listening to me,
30:21
Speaker 4: but this franchise, and I am just so grateful for
30:25
Speaker 4: the opportunity to be here thirty years later with the
30:29
Speaker 4: man who was the most tireless, the strongest benefactor, who
30:34
Speaker 4: still is for this team in this town. For him
30:38
Speaker 4: to go in is it's gonna be a emotional moment beautiful.
30:41
Speaker 1: If you're not in house for it, we're gonna carry
30:43
Speaker 1: it live on radio. It'll be on Jaguars dot Com
30:45
Speaker 1: as well, so you can check it out there and
30:47
Speaker 1: hopefully everything capped off with a win as well. Enjoy
30:50
Speaker 1: the game, enjoy the throwbacks. We'll see you back here
30:52
Speaker 1: in jag Vam on Monday morning,