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motife
05-16-2006, 08:15 PM
Jagodzinski, McCarthy share joys of coaching Packers

Jeff Jagodzinski vividly remembers the first time he met Mike McCarthy. It was 1999.

McCarthy was in Green Bay interviewing for the job of quarterbacks coach on first-year Packers’ coach Ray Rhodes’ staff.

Jagodzinski already was on the job as the team’s tight ends coach.

“I had to interview in front of the whole staff,” McCarthy said. “I remember it was a pretty lengthy interview that took the whole morning.”

Jagodzinski asked a couple of questions. He was impressed with McCarthy’s knowledge of quarterback play, but one of the candidate’s qualities stood above the rest.

“He spoke from his heart,” said Jagodzinski, who still has his notes from that interview. “He was very matter-of-fact, very direct, and he’s still preaching the same things he was preaching seven years ago.”

Today, McCarthy is the Packers’ coach, and Jagodzinski is the offensive coordinator. Together, and with the help of the offensive assistants and players, they hope to revive the Packers’ running game and re-energize the offense.

They intend to do it with a zone blocking scheme, a streamlined version of the Paul Hackett-Mike Holmgren West Coast style of offense and a lot of hard work.

They also plan to have fun in the process.

Jagodzinski, a Milwaukee native and lifelong Packers fan, has his dream job. McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native with a similar blue-collar background, has risen to the top of his profession at a young age.

Neither is naïve enough to think there won’t be difficult times. The Packers were 4-12 last season. While GM Ted Thompson appears to have upgraded the roster, the team is a long way from where it needs to be.

Furthermore, Packers fans are anxious for a winner.

McCarthy’s honeymoon period started with his post-NFL draft minicamp, and it will end with the team’s first regular-season loss. That may sound as harsh as a Green Bay winter, but it is true.

Then again, McCarthy and Jagodzinski aren’t too cynical to appreciate the tremendous opportunity they have been given. They aren’t too self-absorbed to be swallowed alive by the overwhelming task ahead.

In February, after Jagodzinski was hired but before his family arrived from Atlanta, he and McCarthy rode together from the hotel to Lambeau Field each day. When they got back to the hotel, they would stay up late into the evening discussing philosophy, ways to implement their scheme and personnel.

It is rare for an NFL coach and his offensive coordinator to have a chance to spend so much time together, uninterrupted and unscripted. It continued almost daily for the better part of a month.

“Those were some of the best meetings we’ve ever had,” Jagodzinski said.

One evening, after an especially long day, they were pulling out of the Lambeau Field parking lot. The lights were on inside the stadium and the atrium was lit up like a Christmas tree. The bronze statues of Lambeau and Lombardi loomed large — not as menacing, almost mythical figures impossible to live up to, but as a reminder of everything that was, and is, great about Titletown, U.S.A.

McCarthy and Jagodzinski looked at each, almost as if reading a script from a play, and said, “How about this place?”

The enormity of their jobs is quite real, but the moment was wonderfully surreal. It is a small thing, and perhaps even corny, but it is the difference between living to work, and working to live. If they can’t embrace the joy, why bother with the pain?

“I tell Mike all the time, ‘You better enjoy this thing.’ I refuse to be miserable. That ain’t gonna happen. Coaching is too hard not to have fun doing it. I’m going to enjoy every day I’m here,” Jagodzinski said. “Why wouldn’t you? Look where you’re at?”

McCarthy and Jagodzinski gained respect for each other during the 1999 season. When it was over, and former GM Ron Wolf fired Rhodes after an 8-8 season, they went their separate ways but stayed in touch.

They’d talk two or three times each season, mostly to exchange information and discuss personnel when playing a team in the other coach’s division.

That changed with a phone call in January.

McCarthy called to say he was interviewing for the Packers’ head-coaching job, and he wanted to know whether Jagodzinski would be his offensive coordinator.

“I told him, ‘Yeah, just go get it,’⠢‚¬Â Jagodzinski said. “As soon as we hung up, I called my wife and said, ‘Lisa, we’re moving back to Green Bay.’ She said, ‘Youââ⠀šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢re probably right.’à¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚

McCarthy summed up his respect for Jagodzinski in his typically straightforward fashion.

“Heââ €šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s the first individual I hired,” he said. “I think that right there says it all.”

McCarthy hired Jagodzinski, then defensive coordinator Bob Sanders, because he wanted their input on the rest of the staff. He wanted them to have a say in the coaches they would be managing.

“I wanted them to be perfectly comfortable with every single assistant,” McCarthy said. “I didn’t want to force anyone on them because these are the men they’re going to have to work with.”

McCarthy also made sure Jagodzinski had free rein during the post- draft minicamp.

“I think it’s important for him to establish himself as the offensive coordinator,” he said. “Iââ⠀šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢m sensitive to it because I’ve been in that position.”

Jagodzinski appreciated the opportunity to have input. He knows there are going to be disagreements among the coaches, but he’s fine with that.

“Itââ €šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s all about communication,” he said. “How about you’re working for a guy for several years and you never knew how he felt? And then you get a review and it’s all negative? I always said if I was ever in that position, I would make sure I told my guys when they did a good job, and when they didn’t, we would discuss it.”

Jagodzinski said McCarthy hasn’t determined specific game-day duties, but he suspects McCarthy will be the play caller, as Holmgren was. He also said he realizes there are going to be times when he and McCarthy disagree, but that’s OK, too.

“We ain’t been in a real deal like that yet,” he said. “I know Mike cares about me and he trusts me. We’ve got mutual respect and the chain of command is the chain of command. That’s how it works. I understand that.”

Jagodzinski also understands his boss, and vice versa. Their similar backgrounds, philosophies and values should serve them well.

Both have come a long way since that initial meeting in 1999. Fate and mutual respect have drawn them together again. Their challenge is tremendous, but so is their will to succeed.

HarveyWallbangers
05-16-2006, 08:30 PM
Good article.

MJZiggy
05-16-2006, 08:37 PM
Nice to see a positive spin and a pair of people that understand what they're doing and what it means.

KYPack
05-17-2006, 07:22 AM
Jagodzinski and Larry Beightol were the only two asst coaches from Ray Rhodes 1999 staff that were retained by Mike Sherman. McCarthy went down to New Orleans.

Jagodzinski was canned by Sherman after the 2002 season. The scuttlebutt from GB was that Jagodzinski was not a "go along guy" and this got him canned from MS's crew. Jagodzinski now returns to GB as a conquering hero that will do his best as OC to burying the dreaded "U71" formation long loved by Shermy and Beightol.

It speaks volumes that Jagodzinski was MM's first hire.

Fritz
05-17-2006, 08:14 AM
"In February, after Jagodzinski was hired but before his family arrived from Atlanta, he and McCarthy rode together from the hotel to Lambeau Field each day. When they got back to the hotel, they would stay up late into the evening discussing philosophy, ways to implement their scheme and personnel."

You hear this kind of stuff about coaches all the time. Don't you wonder if the conversation ever wanders to, say, Pamela Anderson's tits or whether Dick Cheney ordered Lewis Libby to spill the beans on Valerie Plame?

MJZiggy
05-17-2006, 08:26 AM
Somehow I doubt it. If I were just handed my dream job and I'm hanging with someone who just landed his dream job, and there's a new scheme and the draft and all the rest of the stuff coming up, Pamela's tits would be the furthest thing from my mind. But that's just me.

swede
05-17-2006, 08:59 AM
I watched a sort of a documentary on a married couple that both happened to be brain surgeons. They had no more of a clue about current events or popular culture than a crack addict would.

I think football coaches are that way also. When they're not thinking about football they're still probably thinking about football. If Pamela Anderson's tits need thinking about some of the rest of you are going to have to do the heavy lifting.

(And it sounds like Zig would rather think about football than Pamela Anderson's silicon baggie boobies so we're still looking for volunteers.)

jack's smirking revenge
05-17-2006, 09:44 AM
I think they were getting trashed on Pabst in the Lambeau field parking lot and listening to old Tesla albums, probably nerding out on old school Tecmo Bowl at the hotel.

tyler

Deputy Nutz
05-17-2006, 09:59 AM
Reminds me of the times in high school where I would drink a case a beer in the school parking lot before basketball games, and get loaded and get all philosophical about life while listening to Tupac's Life Goes On.

jack's smirking revenge
05-17-2006, 10:03 AM
Reminds me of the times in high school where I would drink a case a beer in the school parking lot before basketball games, and get loaded and get all philosophical about life while listening to Tupac's Life Goes On.

That's the impression that I got when I read the article above! Like they were really talking about football. They were probably tokin' up and seeing how many different words you can make from Lambeau...

tyler

Bretsky
05-17-2006, 06:21 PM
"In February, after Jagodzinski was hired but before his family arrived from Atlanta, he and McCarthy rode together from the hotel to Lambeau Field each day. When they got back to the hotel, they would stay up late into the evening discussing philosophy, ways to implement their scheme and personnel."

You hear this kind of stuff about coaches all the time. Don't you wonder if the conversation ever wanders to, say, Pamela Anderson's tits or whether Dick Cheney ordered Lewis Libby to spill the beans on Valerie Plame?

Doesn't every conversation wander to Pamela Anderson, or is it just mine ??

cosimoto
05-17-2006, 06:23 PM
JacksSmirkingRevenge: They were probably tokin' up and seeing how many different words you can make from Lambeau...

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g183/cosimoto/SamuraiGB7.jpg How many words can you make from Lambeau?

1. lamb
2. beau
3. bam
4. bum
5. lab
6. a
7. ma
8. am
9. me
10. be
11. lame
12. male

RashanGary
05-17-2006, 06:29 PM
meal
balm
beam

HarveyWallbangers
05-17-2006, 06:37 PM
able

MJZiggy
05-17-2006, 06:42 PM
mule

RashanGary
05-17-2006, 06:47 PM
elm

GBRulz
05-17-2006, 08:24 PM
blame

RashanGary
05-17-2006, 08:34 PM
ale

Packgator
05-17-2006, 09:31 PM
blue
bale
amble

cosimoto
05-17-2006, 09:47 PM
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g183/cosimoto/SamuraiGB7.jpg Well it's obvious from the continuing responses on how many words can be made out of Lambeau, that Packer fans are highly intelligent. But I guess that goes without saying. I wonder how may the coaches came up with that night?

Scott Campbell
05-17-2006, 10:51 PM
Somehow I doubt it. If I were just handed my dream job and I'm hanging with someone who just landed his dream job, and there's a new scheme and the draft and all the rest of the stuff coming up, Pamela's tits would be the furthest thing from my mind. But that's just me.


Your a girl!

RashanGary
05-18-2006, 12:35 AM
beal

Noodle
05-18-2006, 10:50 AM
Somehow I doubt it. If I were just handed my dream job and I'm hanging with someone who just landed his dream job, and there's a new scheme and the draft and all the rest of the stuff coming up, Pamela's tits would be the furthest thing from my mind. But that's just me.


Your a girl!

SC is right. This may be shocking, good Ziggy, but the first thought that M3 had when he got the job offer was probably, "I bet this increases my chances of bumpin uglies with Pammy A big time!"

Sad, but true. Though it does tend to keep the species going.

Anti-Polar Bear
05-18-2006, 11:07 AM
"In February, after Jagodzinski was hired but before his family arrived from Atlanta, he and McCarthy rode together from the hotel to Lambeau Field each day. When they got back to the hotel, they would stay up late into the evening discussing philosophy, ways to implement their scheme and personnel."

That is soooooooooo gay. I am confident Ted Thompson is not happy with their relationship. McCarthy is having an affair behind Thompson's back. O boy.

MJZiggy
05-18-2006, 11:15 AM
Somehow I doubt it. If I were just handed my dream job and I'm hanging with someone who just landed his dream job, and there's a new scheme and the draft and all the rest of the stuff coming up, Pamela's tits would be the furthest thing from my mind. But that's just me.


Your a girl!

SC is right. This may be shocking, good Ziggy, but the first thought that M3 had when he got the job offer was probably, "I bet this increases my chances of bumpin uglies with Pammy A big time!"

Sad, but true. Though it does tend to keep the species going.

I was waiting to see how long it would take someone to pick up on that. :wink: Yes, there is a reason I have no interest in Pamela's baggies--I mean boobies.

RashanGary
05-18-2006, 11:27 AM
I'll bet they where more concerned with their jobs. On a side not, I'll bet McCarthy gets it from his ex-wife again. Women love talent and power in a man. I was reading that the first thing you have to do to turn a women on is impress her. Basically, you have to be really good at something and make her think your worthwhile. I think being the HC of a football team is pretty impressive. I'm sure he's getting it again. Yeah, thats a given. If he can fit her into his busy schedule anyway :smile:

MJZiggy
05-18-2006, 11:36 AM
I thought she had remarried and moved to the South??

Noodle
05-18-2006, 11:37 AM
Yeah, but now he can afford to fly her up to GB for a little locker room nookie.

oohhhhhhhhh, locker room nookie . . .

RashanGary
05-18-2006, 11:39 AM
Too bad...Ex-Wife interactino is probably a lot of fun.

If I got divorced I'd want to celebrate with my ex everytime I get a promotion if you know what I mean......

Anti-Polar Bear
05-18-2006, 11:40 AM
Straight coaches, if they need extra football work, sleep in their office. Only gay coaches sleep together in hotel room.

This qoute says it all again:
"In February, after Jagodzinski was hired but before his family arrived from Atlanta, he and McCarthy rode together from the hotel to Lambeau Field each day..."

RashanGary
05-18-2006, 11:45 AM
Tank,

I was reading in some discovery type magazine about the phychology of doing right and wrong or good and bad or whatever.

Anyway, one of the points that was drilled home was how people tend to project what they themselves would do onto what others would do.

If you would lie in a certain situation you have a tendancy to believe most would lie during that situation. The liars are asked what they think the person is going ot do and 80% of liars say the person will lie. The truthfull people are asked what they think the person will do in that situation and 80% of them say the subect will tell the truth...You see where I'm going with this right?

I'll bet if you ask a group of gays what McCarthy and Jags where doing and you'll find 80% of them think there is a gay conspiracy going on. Are you gay tank?

Anti-Polar Bear
05-18-2006, 11:52 AM
Are you gay tank?

No I am not. I'll fuck your wife if she's hot. I don't think anyone in here has a hot wife instead for Harvey Wallbangers. I recalled he posted a wedding picture on that Post a Pic of yourself thread on jsoline. But I what I dont understand is, the caption he wrote next to the pics said that his father in law, who pretty much looks black, is speaking whereas his wife was clearly white.

Anyway, new facts come out to support my theory and I just post it. Read the qoutes. I am not gay, but Ted Thompson is.

RashanGary
05-18-2006, 11:57 AM
If you fuck my wife, I'll fuck your mom.

RashanGary
05-18-2006, 11:57 AM
Does your mom like it in the butt?

MadtownPacker
05-18-2006, 11:58 AM
Good to see M3 is married to his job. He was tohe right guy to hire.

Anti-Polar Bear
05-18-2006, 11:59 AM
If you fuck my wife, I'll fuck your mom.

That'll make you a motherfucker!

MJZiggy
05-18-2006, 12:06 PM
Good to see M3 is married to his job. He was tohe right guy to hire.Agreed. Was just looking back at old articles to make sure I was right about his ex (I was) and it all still makes for good reading.

Perhaps Tank should try going back and checking out the wonderful things that so many of his old neighbors and people who know him have to say about him. Wonder what those who know our little Tankie have to say (except that Tank loves Ted).

Scott Campbell
05-18-2006, 12:07 PM
I was waiting to see how long it would take someone to pick up on that. :wink: Yes, there is a reason I have no interest in Pamela's baggies--I mean boobies.


Now there's no reason to be catty.

Scott Campbell
05-18-2006, 12:11 PM
Are you gay tank?

No I am not.


I don't think Tank is all that concerned with which species he nails, much less which gender.

Iron Mike
05-18-2006, 12:16 PM
Does your mom like it in the butt?

How the heck would he know????? :roll:




wait.........



wait........



wait........



http://www.aspsmiley.com/smiley/smilies/yikes.gif

BlueBrewer
05-18-2006, 01:05 PM
I am positive that this has been said already, but I miss the old Tank that had insightful thoughts on football related topics. Every post didn't reflect on TT's sexuality or him being a Polar Bear. Come back Tank.

jack's smirking revenge
05-18-2006, 01:14 PM
If you fuck my wife, I'll fuck your mom.

That'll make you a motherfucker!

Hey, there's nothing at all wrong with that. I consider myself a very happy and content motherfucker. I don't get why that's considered a derogatory term. Well, apart from the use of the worthless. pointless and overused word "fuck".

tyler

MJZiggy
05-18-2006, 01:17 PM
I think it was intended to refer to one's own mother :oops:

jack's smirking revenge
05-18-2006, 01:59 PM
I think it was intended to refer to one's own mother :oops:

Yeah, I got that, but the word is too ambiguous. You could say "go fuck your own mother" or you could say "motherfucker"--one is specific, the other is general.

tyler

Oscar
05-18-2006, 03:12 PM
It's not my intention to bumb this thread, but to thank Motife for the post. It is a great read.. As far as where it went.. well.. I hope our coaching staff can function as one unit and not a group of individuals. JUst as I hope we can field a team that works in the same way.

jack's smirking revenge
05-18-2006, 03:14 PM
It is pretty comical how many different directions a thread can veer. This thread is a great example...

tyler

Anti-Polar Bear
05-18-2006, 06:31 PM
It is pretty comical how many different directions a thread can veer. This thread is a great example...

tyler

If you truely are a liberal, then you should have no problem with the word fuck. We've gone through this before: fuck is a great word. So great I'll fuck it if i could.

Oscar
05-18-2006, 08:03 PM
This will be my first and last reply to you ol' tankster... I thought your thoughts n regards to Tookie Wiliams were quite noble. That was sometime ago and on another site. To drop the F-bomb is ok with me.... as long as your trying to make a point... so.... whats your point?? We all know you hate T.T. But then what??? See... I'm gonna grab a beer and hang out without a cause..... And you?