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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.â€ÂÂ
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.â€ÂÂ
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?â€ÂÂ
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?â€ÂÂ
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,’†Jagodzinski said. “As soon as we hung up, I called my wife and said, ‘Lisa, we’re moving back to Green Bay.’ She said, ‘You’re probably right.’â€ÂÂ
McCarthy summed up his respect for Jagodzinski in his typically straightforward fashion.
“He’s the first individual I hired,†he said. “I think that right there says it all.â€ÂÂ
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.â€ÂÂ
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. “I’m sensitive to it because I’ve been in that position.â€ÂÂ
Jagodzinski appreciated the opportunity to have input. He knows there are going to be disagreements among the coaches, but he’s fine with that.
“It’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.â€ÂÂ
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.â€ÂÂ
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.
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.â€ÂÂ
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.â€ÂÂ
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?â€ÂÂ
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?â€ÂÂ
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,’†Jagodzinski said. “As soon as we hung up, I called my wife and said, ‘Lisa, we’re moving back to Green Bay.’ She said, ‘You’re probably right.’â€ÂÂ
McCarthy summed up his respect for Jagodzinski in his typically straightforward fashion.
“He’s the first individual I hired,†he said. “I think that right there says it all.â€ÂÂ
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.â€ÂÂ
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. “I’m sensitive to it because I’ve been in that position.â€ÂÂ
Jagodzinski appreciated the opportunity to have input. He knows there are going to be disagreements among the coaches, but he’s fine with that.
“It’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.â€ÂÂ
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.â€ÂÂ
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.
How many words can you make from Lambeau?
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