Dick Jauron, football coach, stands on the practice field, quietly. He looks no different except for the colors. The Honolulu blue of the Detroit Lions is brighter than the navy blue of the Bears and right now, so is Jauron’s future, which always happens to be the moment.
Jauron feels at home. It’s not because he was a fourth-round draft choice of the Lions and played for them 30 years ago.
“Everything is so different it doesn’t feel like I’ve been here before,” he said.
It’s not because daughter Kacy has come to training camp to visit before returning to college. Kacy and Tyler Mariucci, son of Lions coach Steve Mariucci, had a reunion this week; they hadn’t seen each other since they were 4th-grade classmates in Green Bay when their dads worked under Mike Holmgren.
Jauron feels at home because he is working in the National Football League. Like a career military man, he has been reassigned and is happy to report for duty. The demotion from head coach to defensive coordinator does not change Jauron’s mantra: “I love what I do.”
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People in the business know coordinator jobs can be at least as demanding as head-coaching jobs and sometimes nearly as satisfying. There are seven new head coaches in the league this year and 17 new defensive coordinators, so Jauron didn’t exactly jump off the hot seat.
If he were a more calculating man, Jauron might have pursued one of the other defensive coordinator jobs. He might have joined a team that has won more than 10 games in three years, or he might have eyed a place where the head coach was more vulnerable than Mariucci. He might have opted to sit out the final year of his Bears contract and live off the Bears’ paycheck.
Certainly, had he been thinking entirely of his own well-being, Jauron wouldn’t have chosen to stay in a division with Brett Favre.
“I guess you believe too many times that he might retire,” Jauron said with a laugh.
One of the main reasons Jauron lost his job in Chicago was he couldn’t beat Green Bay and Favre. Jauron was defensive backs coach in Green Bay when Favre arrived, so he should know better. But such scheming doesn’t occur to this soldier. It’s almost as if he is determined to stay on the front line until somehow, some way, he either outlasts or beats his nemesis.
Jauron didn’t schedule his Detroit debut for Sept. 12 at Soldier Field against the Bears, either. That just happens to be one of the wonderful ironies that keeps sports interesting to observers and participants alike.
“I look forward to the game because it’s our first game,” Jauron said. “I love those guys. The players, coaches. I have guys here I really love working with, too, and we’ll do everything we can to beat them and I know they’ll do everything they can to beat us.
“It’s got to be fun. You’re lucky enough to be in the NFL, you’re in one of the old franchises and you get to open up in Chicago in Soldier Field, new or old, it doesn’t make any difference. Detroit against Chicago. If that can’t be special, I don’t know what is. The fact that I’ve worked both places makes it even better.”
Both coaching staffs are more than a month away from specific game-planning, but the helmets from all teams are in the Lions’ offices, with those of this season’s opponents most prominently displayed.
“It’s the Bears’ helmet across from the Lions’ helmet right now,” Mariucci said.
Lions cornerback Dre Bly, who played for new Bears coach Lovie Smith in St. Louis, asks about the Bears’ practice injuries.
“One thing Lovie emphasized was always running full speed to the ball,” Bly said. “Pick up every ball on the ground, strip the football, run to the ball until the whistle is blown.
“From what I understand, he’s had a couple of hamstrings pulled. I guess guys aren’t used to that kind of work. When he came to St. Louis a few guys pulled hamstrings because he was trying to establish himself and make it known that for us to be an elite football team we have to run and play fast all the time.”
Jauron’s approach, Bly said, is more cerebral.
“Coach Jauron is more of a teacher, more of an X-and-O guy. He has done an excellent job trying to implement the defense and let us know what our assignment is. He is a great addition. He has the head-coach mentality, which helps to lead. He puts guys where they need to be. I heard a lot of good things about him. He’s a former Lion and I think he’ll definitely help us win a lot of games.”
Jauron said some people advised him to sit out the year.
“It was so hard to think about that–what do you do during the season?” he asked. “I didn’t get it, so it wasn’t for me. I like the people. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do, that I’d have any competence in doing.
“I really feel lucky and I’d like to keep that luck going, and I don’t think you keep it going by sitting around watching. I don’t know how that helps you develop further.”
Jauron has never applied for a job since the Lions drafted him in 1973.
“When I was a position coach I loved it,” he said. “I’ve always admired Dick LeBeau. I used to call him and say, `This job is open. How come you’re not going after it?’ He’d say, `If they want you, they’ll come and get you. They know about you. If you’re good enough, if you do your job well, they’ll come and get you.’ I believe that. I like that philosophy.
“Life is too short. How miserable would it be if every job you had you were looking for something else? That would be an awful way to live.”
Jauron will turn 54 in October, the same age former Bears personnel director Mark Hatley was when he died last week.
“All the sayings are trite but true: The future is right now,” Jauron said. “You can see it clearly when sad things happen like what happened to Mark. You don’t want to be looking at anything except what you’ve got. I feel so lucky to be here and I want to do this job.
“I’ve always wanted to have the philosophy that I want to do this job the best I’ve ever done it, and then if something comes from it, fine. If something doesn’t, fine. So I like this job. I’m lucky to have this job.
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“What’s that saying? Whenever you make plans, God laughs.”