by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Die hard Jacksonville Jaguars fans should love Jeff Imperial.
For those insatiable football enthusiasts who watch every game from the coin toss to the final handshake and still yearn for more, Imperial is their man. For those who mark their calendars for the annual Roar cheerleaders special in August, for those who spend Monday evenings during football season eating dinner at the coffee table watching “The End Zone,” for those who follow coach Tom Coughlin’s weekly Xs and Os show religiously, send the thank-you cards to Imperial.
Imperial is the Jaguars’ senior videographer and field producer and has a hand in every aspect of the team’s in-house video production.
“I’m a cameraman, editor and producer,” he said. “That can be anything and everything. Everything goes through me before it gets on air. I have my hands on everything.”
Imperial is part of the Jaguars in-house communications department headed by Dan Edwards. While most Jaguars fans know the major television networks are the major component behind televised games, few know the team is in the business of television production.
Imperial has been with the team since day one, “when the stadium was being built and we were in three double-wide trailers.” After nearly a decade of camera work for various news outlets throughout the state, Imperial saw an opportunity to move in a different direction while drawing on his news skills when the Jaguars formed in 1993.
“I was fortunate and blessed to be the guy they were looking for at the time,” he said.
While he admits the team won’t broach touchy subjects on any of its productions, he relishes his opportunity as the insider with a camera. In a sport where virtually every news angle is picked apart by the media, Imperial has an enviable position that affords him a slightly different perspective.
“We miked Tom Coughlin for one day during training camp when the Saints were here,” he said. “It was a day in the life from 5:30 in the morning until 10 o’clock at night when he left. We put a mike on him and followed him around with the camera.”
Coughlin miked and candid? The man whose interaction with the media ranges from bellicose on a bad day to terse on a good day? It wasn’t easy. Sometimes it takes Edwards to grease the wheels of a good idea.
“Tom’s very guarded, as you know,” explained Imperial. “He doesn’t open many doors, even with us. But we’ve been very fortunate that he’s been a little more interested in cooperating with us. Since we’re in-house, we’re all about the behind-the-scenes angles with what the average Jaguars fan would love to see.”
On game day, fans might catch a glimpse of Imperial scurrying around the sidelines trying to catch players for video profiles or at midfield capturing the national anthem. With the help of his interns, he sorts through hours of footage to condense it all down to a variety of shows and segments — 22 minutes for a half-hour show and twice that for an hour piece. The most difficult part of the job?
“Lugging the gear around,” he laughs. “During the football season, it’s just like my old news days where there’s always deadlines. There are deadlines, but I’m not fazed by that because I’ve been doing this so long. I’m more challenged now by how I can do it better.”
Imperial takes pride in his work and it has paid off. In 1997, the Jaguars in-house production staff won two Sun Coast Regional Emmy awards. One award recognized a show that documented a Jaguars road trip. The other captured a day in the life of the coach. It is Imperial’s proudest moment.
“It was the first day of training camp that year,” he said. “He was kind of reluctant. At the time I was very intimidated by him — and I still am — because he’s just that kind of personality. There were times during the day where he would jump because I would aggravate him because I was following him too close. All in all, the show depicts a story. There was no narration. It was just Tom. It showed what he went through during the day, the ups and downs and why he reacted in certain ways. It was pure and genuine. Tom opened up for us and really showed us why he’s the kind of guy he is and shows an angle not many people get to see.”
In addition to the the familiar seasonal shows like “The End Zone” and “The Tom Coughlin Show,” Imperial said there is a new show in the works for this season to air Thursdays on Ch. 4.
“We’re looking for something a little more magazine like,” he said. “We still haven’t mapped it out. There will be a little Xs and Os, but we want it to be different. We want it to be a little bit of everything — kind of an off-the-wall, anything goes type of thing. Who knows, maybe we can do a Cribs thing like MTV does where players will show us their houses.”
Don’t expect to see or hear Imperial on any of the shows he produces, though. He prefers to stay behind the scenes.
“The way I write is with the camera lens and the microphone,” he said. “If I get the right sounds, then I like to do it all natural. I like the challenge of letting the subject telling its own story. I think it’s more genuine that way.”
Die hard fans stay tuned.