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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


The Nature of a Quiet Man

Dick Jauron lets his actions speak for himself and his message is heard loud & clear
by: Richard Scott
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Dick Jauron is by nature a quiet man. Not given to yelling, screaming or grand statements. But as head coach of the Chicago Bears, he was able to get his team to achieve grand accomplishments in 2001.

Try worst to first in the NFC Central Division. Try the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, earning a bye and a ticket to a home game in the divisional playoffs. That ticket was torn up by the Philadelphia Eagles, who walked into Soldier Field in mid-January and handed the upstart Bears a 33-19 defeat. The loss was painful for Jauron, who said he was left with an empty feeling, but it can’t take away all that the team accomplished. Among the many things it did was galvanize a city that had hungered for football greatness. The great Bears teams of the mid-and late-1980s had become a distant memory and fans embraced this team with a full-bodied hug. They became the first team in NFL history to capture a division title after four straight last-place finishes.

It was gratifying to Jauron, who came to the Bears prior to the 1999 season after serving as an assistant coach for 14 years in the league. Jauron had seen his team struggle in his first two years as head coach. If things had not turned around during the 2001 season, it seemed quite obvious that General Manager Jerry Angelo would be looking for a new head coach. Angelo had been brought in by team president Ted Phillips to resurrect the franchise and the only reason that he gave Jauron another season to run the team was that it was simply too late to start looking for a new head coach. Nevertheless, Jauron was never worried about his job security as the season got underway.

“I never had any problem with our effort in the past, but we weren’t quite good enough or fast enough,” Jauron said. “This year, I had a strong sense were going to be a much better team when we went to minicamp. There was clear evidence that our players were getting better and that they understood what we were trying to do. It kept on building and building and once we got to the regular season, I knew we were going to be a good team.”

Jauron was named the NFL coach of the year by the Associated Press and by Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers of America and several other media organizations. In the AP vote, Jauron got 24 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media member and he edged out New England’s Bill Belichick, who had 19 1/2 votes. Jauron became the third Bears head coach to win the award, joining George Halas and Mike Ditka in that distinction. Both Halas and Ditka won the award twice.

“It was a season I’ll never forget,” Jauron said. “Did we get it all done? Did we do everything we set out to do? No. But I will never forget this group of guys and this coaching staff. In the NFL, you can never bring back a team intact anymore. That’s just part of the business. But this group has been special. Winning an award like that is special. Any individual award is flattering. I’d accept them for the players and staff first and foremost, as well as the whole organization.”

Jauron said that getting his team to believe in itself was perhaps the single-most important aspect of his job this season. “I looked at the team and I could see the talent on the field every day,” Jauron said. “It was a matter of getting the players to believe in themselves and in each other. Once that happened, I knew we would come together.’

Jauron did that by talking to his players after practice sessions and telling them that he knew they were a good football team and good football players. It sounds simple, but Jauron knew that’s one of the things that his team needed to hear after years of losing.

“Even at this level, players need to hear that their coach believes in them,” said Jauron. “But it won’t work if you just say the words and you don’t mean it. False complements are as transparent as a pane of glass. But when you have a good team – especially if it has a lot of young players – a coach’s confidence will go a long way.”

The other thing Jauron believes is very important in running a professional franchise is delegating authority to assistant coaches. By hiring the right coordinators, the players get the benefit of their knowledge and expertise. In particular, Bears’ defensive coordinator Greg Blache built a physical and emotional unit that was among the NFL’s stingiest in points allowed.

“Greg did a great job with our defense this year,” Jauron said. “When it came to big plays, we made them. When it came to making key stops at the biggest moments in the game, we made them.

“I knew what Greg was trying to accomplish and I believed in him. When a head coach has assistant coaches that he has confidence in, the head coach can concentrate on organization and the big picture. He knows his coordinators will get the job done. That was the case here, both with Greg and (offensive coordinator) John (Shoop).

Jauron got his start in football at an age when most boys are learning to tie their shoes. In fact, Jauron was learning to tie his shoes at the same time he took up the game. His father Bob was a high school and college football coach and is still the biggest influence on Jauron. Among the many things he taught his son was to maintain a calm and reasonable attitude and treat people the way the way that he would want to be treated. “He was the best coach I ever had and I try to use many of his lessons as I coach.

Towards the end of the season, Angelo made an announcement that the Bears had been duly impressed by Jauron’s coaching job and would be extending his contract. However, nearly two months went by before the deal actually got accomplished and that led to speculation that differences between the two would keep the deal from getting done.

There appeared to be a setback days before the deal was finally signed when Angelo conceded there were still financial and philosophical issues to be resolved, but the general manager never doubted a new deal would be struck. But when the deal finally got done, it appeared the two were the best of friends.

“I just want you to know personally that I’m very excited and happy,” Angelo said, “not only that the process is over with because I know it’s been on everybody’s mind, in particular mine, and I’m very happy with the outcome.”

Control over the 53-man roster and authority to hire and fire assistant coaches were believed to be two sticking points in negotiations. But Angelo reiterated that personnel decisions aren’t made by just one individual.

“One of us does have the final say and that’s in the fine print,” Angelo said specifically regarding the 53-man roster. “But today we’re here to talk about the big print. I don’t want to get into specifics.

“Jointly we make decisions. I’m not going to say it’s going to hold true throughout our tenure, but there’s no decision that we’ve made that we haven’t agreed to jointly.”

In January, Angelo made a clear commitment to Jauron by offering three-year extensions to six assistant coaches whose contracts were up. Bob Wylie (offensive line), Earle Mosley (running backs), Vance Bedford (defensive backs), Chuck Bullough (defensive quality control) and Charlie Coiner (offensive quality control) all signed their deals.

Blache signed his three-year extension in mid-February after waiting for the league to finish reviewing a piece of language in the contract. Shoop has not signed an extension as of Feb. 28, but he has been given assurances that the team wants him back.

“Immediately after the season, I went to all our coaches and extended them three-year deals,” Angelo said. “I know Dick wanted that and I wanted it. We mutually agreed to that.

“I’ve done some dumb things in my life. Some of them are documented, some only my wife knows. But saying that, I would have been awfully stupid to extend those deals to those coaches not feeling that this wasn’t going to work in a timely fashion with (Jauron).”

Jauron said that his contract negotiations were not easy, but definitely fruitful.

“I feel like we all won,” Jauron said. “That’s the nature of negotiation, and you hope they turn out this way. You argue all the points; you talk them out.

“I believe that it’s just like anything inside the organization concerning our football team. We have differences of opinion and we talk them out, and then when we leave the room we’re all together on them, and that’s what I felt like happened in this case. I feel very good about the way it went.

“There was nothing in the negotiations that bothered me tremendously or affected me personally. I didn’t take them personally. I don’t think that you can in these situations. As I said before, I feel so strongly about this football team and this staff and the organization that I was very confident it would work out.”

Angelo shared that optimism and vowed to forge a lasting partnership with Jauron that will carry the Bears to the next level.

“Dick and I will work together,” Angelo said. “Our relationship is the catalyst in making this thing go. Is it important that I have a good relationship with Ted (Phillips)? Yes. Is it important than I have a good relationship with Dick’s staff? Yes, and I’ve said that to Dick. But the most important relationship is the relationship I have with Dick.

“I took my time during the season. I didn’t let the wins intoxicate me. I knew Dick was doing a great job, but we had to come to agreements on other things and we did do that. I’m very happy with the direction we’re going and I’m very comfortable with Dick as my partner.”

When Angelo joined the Bears last year, he wanted to hire his own man to lead the team on the field. It turned out that his own man turned out to be Jauron.






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