by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Kirt Wade can’t escape his job.
It wakes him up at night, forcing him to fumble around in the dark to jot something down for the next day. It follows him on vacation to distant points of the globe. Even in the remoteness of a South African safari, thoughts of work creep into his mind — memories of phone calls made, calls that went unreturned, calls that were never made. While a stressful job is hardly a new concept, every mistake Wade makes is felt directly by over 100 of the city’s most recognizable individuals, the players and coaches of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Officially titled Manager of Team Operations, Wade oversees all aspects of the team’s travels and associated logistics.
“People just don’t understand what team travel involves,” said Wade. “They think the plane is there already, the plane knows to be there and the players get off the plane and the bus knows to be there.”
The planes, the buses, the police escorts, the hotel accommodations, the food and equipment trucks are in place because Wade makes it happen. Everything is carefully scripted to the minute, from the time the chartered jet departs Jacksonville to the time the team’s chartered bus arrives on the tarmac in the away city to what time food is served. Wade leaves no detail to chance. To assume is to . . . well, it’s not good. Distances and times are carefully noted. Five minutes from the Atlanta Hilton to the Georgia Dome. Twenty minutes from the Georgia Dome to the airport. Room assignments and rosters are determined and handed out so players and coaches can find each other.
“What if the team lands and the buses are not there?” said Wade. “Our coach [Tom Coughlin], he’s such a perfectionist. He has a schedule that he has to follow. If my schedule is screwed up, his schedule is screwed up. So he’s not going to be a happy camper.”
To keep Coughlin a happy camper, Wade takes scheduling and logistics to the extreme. He pulls out a thick, divided folder to prove his point.
“This is from the Atlanta trip,” he explains as he flips through the sections.
He holds up a color-coded chart showing specific seating assignments on the team’s Delta 757. Another section in the folder has hotel contact information. Another has food service information. Another is for the chartered bus service. On and on it goes.
“In Atlanta, I needed 125 box lunches delivered in the third quarter,” he explained. “You have to be specific. You can’t just say, hey, I need 125 box lunches. You don’t know when they’re coming. The box lunches for the coaches, they had to be delivered before the game. Once they’re in that box, they’re in the box. You don’t want to bother them.”
The last section of his folder has a full page of medical contact information in the Atlanta area. Not that he would need it. But he might.
“Some people think it’s overkill, but you never know,” he defended. “I always try to expect the unexpected. In this case you have to be prepared. You don’t have time.”
Wade raps his knuckles across his veneered particle board desk. Knock on wood for no disasters in the three years he’s been there — only a near disaster. In 2000, the Jaguars had to travel to Indiana to play the Indianapolis Colts.
“We just couldn’t get a hotel anywhere,” said Wade. “We were almost willing to pay double to get rooms. We couldn’t get in anywhere. We ended up staying in Muncie, which was an hour and a half drive back to Indianapolis. It was the first time they ever flew a 757 into Muncie. It was quite an experience. We stayed in the Radisson there and had the whole hotel.”
Despite the inconvenience of distance, Muncie turned out better than expected.
“It was sort of like flying into Mayberry,” he related. “When the team arrived, it was almost like they had the marching band waiting for us. People were gathering and they were bringing their kids out to look.”
To make sure there is no repeat of the Muncie incident, Wade plans in advance, far in advance.
“I try to have everything booked before the schedule comes out in April,” he said. “All the hotels are done. The plane’s done. I have the buses done. The only thing I don’t have done right now are some of the escorts. It’s police escorts and sometimes you work with the highway patrol.”
Each season, the Jaguars play at least 10 games away from home, including preseason. If the team makes the playoffs, it could add as many as four more trips for the Jaguars. Most of the time, if Wade is on top of things, things roll pretty smoothly.
“When we go to Tennessee, we’ve stayed at the same hotel for the last three years,” he said. “Most of the time, it’s a pretty well-stepped operation. They know our routine. If we leave here at 1 p.m., we’re going to be there, most likely 2:30 or 3. After we check in, we’re going to have dinner around 6. Meetings are going to start at 7 and go to 9. We’re going to have mass and chapel after that. Then we’re going to have snacks after that and a bed check at 11. It’s a standard routine.”
The Jaguars will travel to new territory in two weeks when they play the Chicago Bears in Champaign, Ill. Wade will scout ahead to make sure the logistics are set.
“I’ll go to Champaign either Tuesday afternoon or the first thing Wednesday and the game is on Friday,” he said. “I’ll go there and meet with bus companies. I’ll meet with the chief of police. I’ll meet with escorts. I’ll meet with everybody we’ll have to have contact with just to make sure we’re all on the same page. That’s every game.”
The stakes are high for Wade, as they are for the rest of the team. At over $100,000 a trip, the Jaguars organization counts on him to make sure the players need to worry about the game. Or as Wade puts it:
“Players and coaches only need to catch the plane, their food is waiting, their drinks are handed to them, the buses are waiting on the tarmac, they have a police escort to the hotel and they have a room key waiting for them when they get there.”