Mr. Jaxson De Ville
Jacksonville Jaguars
One Alltel Stadium Place
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Dear Jaxson:
We realize that you may not be high on the decision-making ladder, but you’re the only person over there who seems to be having any fun. So, maybe they’ll listen to you.
Your football team needs to make some changes, Jaxson, and we hope you’ll find a higher-up who isn’t hiding from the media and pass along our thoughts.
The fans need jacking up. Their tires are out of air and they really don’t seem to care much anymore. If you’re going to sell season tickets to anyone — including the people who already have them — you need to make some real (and not hot air) statements.
We have 10 suggestions:
1. Keep Tom Coughlin.
So owner Wayne Weaver dumps him. Who you gonna get? Last year, it would have been easy: Steve Spurrier. But that flame has died and there’s no one else around that would gee-whiz the fans. Jimmy Johnson? Dead as Vince Lombardi. Bill Parcells? Didn’t Coughlin learn everything from him? Keep Tom. He’s a good coach. But keep him with some conditions — namely, an offensive coordinator. A general manager, too.
There’s another reason to keep him around. If you think Augusta National has gotten some bad publicity, wait until the next NFL team fires a coach and hires another white one. You want to get into that mess? Let someone else take the heat.
2. Deflect the pressure from Tom.
This “I take full responsibility” sounds great if you’re George Patton, but it doesn’t play when you’re Alexander Haig. Tom has been clobbered for having lousy placekickers, but shouldn’t some heat go to the special teams coach, who scouts those guys? And what about the Hail Mary at the end of the Cleveland game — how can your defensive coordinator have an end game scheme that puts their 6-foot-5 receiver alone on our 5-foot-10 defensive back? Get Wayne to tell Tom to let the assistant coaches talk to the media.
3. Trade Mark Brunell.
Eek! Trade our hero? Yes, and he truly is a hero, but this is big business and it make sense. If you’re going to gee-whiz the fans, you need to make a blockbuster trade and here’s one: Brunell and our first-round draft choice (probably 11th or so) to Cincinnati for their No. 1 draft choice (which will be No. 1 in the draft.) Then draft the Heisman Trophy winner, Carson Palmer of Southern Cal, who projects as a solid NFL player. That would get fans excited and it would buy the team an extra year or so while Palmer learns the NFL game.
4. Don’t stop there.
The Jags are in good shape regarding the salary cap, so go after at least one more big name. If they can’t find a free agent who fits, make a trade.
5. Bring back Boselli.
He didn’t play this year in Houston because of injuries and may never play again. So, see if Tom can get him back. Call him what they want (assistant coach?) but let him hang around the locker room. He’s a leader and right now we don’t have one.
6. No more freebies.
The Winn-Dixie free ticket deal may not have been good for anyone except the lazy fans who want to stay home and watch games for free on TV. Winn-Dixie found it was more trouble than they expected, Publix had a monstrous hissy fit that probably cost the team its $957,000 sponsorship and the fans really didn’t appreciate the tickets. Please see if you can teach Wayne just one lesson: if you give something away, you have placed a value on it — it’s worth nothing. If we have blackouts, too bad. Suck it up and try harder to sell tickets.
7. Try harder to sell tickets.
The team had a wonderful preseason push when they realized that season ticket sales were lousy. They strong-armed the Chamber, the media and anyone else they could find. They sold the tickets and . . . disappeared. Poof. Where did they go? You loved us in August, but where was the September song?
8. Appreciate the media.
The team acts like we’re the enemy. No, we’re not. We probably have the friendliest media in the league because this is a small market, which means there’s little competition among the boys. And they love the team. Look at the Times-Union: they have 3-4 people at every Jag press conference, just one at every Gator press conference. Look at their coverage: there probably are four Jag stories to every one on the Gators. What does all this coverage get from inside that building? Reaction only when there’s a gripe, that’s what. And other NFL teams allow the media on the sidelines in the last five minutes; the Jags don’t “for security reasons.” So, we’re SECURITY THREATS? Jaxson, that hurts.
9. Get the fans involved.
What better way to generate fan interest than to put them on the field — literally. The Jaguars should host tours of Alltel Stadium, which would take fans through the every corner of the stadium, the luxury suites, the press box, the locker room and the field. Give every visitor some sort of trinket — a refrigerator magnet, key chain, something to make them feel welcome. Limit the tours to about 15 people and scheduled them for every hour. An even bigger bonus for fans —offer the tour for free. That’s just a start. Other NFL teams do things; ask them what works.
10. Smile.
This will be the hardest thing. No one knows how to smile but you, Jaxson. Your coach looks like he’s unhappy even when he’s smiling. Your owners look like they’re too busy to smile. Everyone else in the administration is faceless. If they can’t bring themselves to look a little happier, they need to find someone who is and put him or her on the front line. Can you imagine any product which would only use Tom Coughlin as its spokesman?
We love our Jags. So does just about everyone else. But it’s getting harder and harder to be in love when it isn’t returned.
Jaxson, you’re our only hope. Your team needs to do more than cut a few bucks off ticket prices. They need to listen.
You’re our spokescat. We need you, pal.
Your friends,
Jeff Brooks and Fred Seely