by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Linda Del Rio hasn’t let the major renovations at her new Ortega home or the fact that her four children are out of school for the summer or the start of the Jacksonville Jaguars training camp slow her down.
The wife of Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio says she has big plans for Jagnet, the support group of wives of Jaguars players, coaches and trainers, and she isn’t letting a hectic schedule get in her way.
First on the agenda was reorganizing Jagnet, a group of about 150, that Del Rio said is extremely important to boosting morale among the team’s family members.
“I was a player’s wife for 11 years and we moved 29 times,” said Del Rio. “Just because the players may be making millions, that doesn’t mean that their wives are happy sitting in an apartment alone with a new baby. I really want to start that bond and camaraderie between the wives because the only other people who understand that situation are other team wives.”
She’s also established a Family Room, a place at the stadium where family members will be able to go to during games to deal with their children or to meet with other families or for fundraising events.
“I think winning has a lot to do with everyone coming together and forming a bond,” said Del Rio. “That includes the wives and the players’ and coaches’ families. We need to take care of them too.”
Del Rio is also doing her best to keep Jagnet wives connected to, and aware of, a busy schedule of games, practices and training camps.
“Jack and I were talking about how the wives of players and coaches are women who have all their balls in the air at one time,” she said. “They take care of the kids, they pay the bills, they act as a tour guide and travel agent for visiting friends and family. The guys expend so much energy during practice that the wives have to keep up with everything else.”
Del Rio teamed with Mercury Luggage, a Jacksonville-based company that manufactures luggage and trunks for the NFL, to design planners for the group.
“When Jack was still a player, the NFL would send him these wonderful calenders that started in July and ended in June,” she said. “They had all the game schedules, hotel information, and I thought that that kind of information is exactly what a wife needs.”
Her planners have all of that and more. Tiny football helmets of the opposing team mark game days and locations, a page lists all hotel addresses and phone numbers for away weekends and there is contact information for every person at the stadium.
Del Rio’s latest project is a cookbook that players, coaches and wives are contributing recipes for. The cookbook will feature player profiles, personal photographs and even a tailgating section.
“We’re having 75,000 of them published and they’ll be sold at Winn-Dixie stores and on the Jaguars website,” said Del Rio. “They’ll be out
Nov. 1.”
Proceeds from the sale of the cookbook will benefit Seamark Ranch, a boys and girls home that is being built in Keystone Heights.
Jagnet will also be participating in the annual charities such as the Thanksgiving food drive, Operation Blessing and the Angel Tree.
In the meantime, Jagnet will have regular luncheon meetings with speakers who’ll address everything from fellowship to personal safety.
“We’re taking care of everything,” said Del Rio. “Physical, spiritual and mental.”