|
|
February 1, 2004
The Rookie Comes Through
Mike Trgovac was the players' choice to be the Panthers' new defensive coordinator, and he has proven them right
By John Delong | JOURNAL REPORTER
When Mike Trgovac was promoted to defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers last spring, members of the Panthers' defense applauded. After Jack Del Rio was named the head coach in Jacksonville, the Panthers were hoping that Coach John Fox would promote from within so they could continue to run the same system, and they had already grown to respect Trgovac as one of the premier defensive-line coaches in the NFL.
But there were some valid concerns.
Although Trgovac had 26 years of coaching experience, including the previous nine in the NFL, he had always been a position coach - never a coordinator.
And he had some big shoes to fill replacing Del Rio, who took a defense that ranked 31st in the NFL in 2001 and turned it into the No. 2-ranked defense in 2002.
Those concerns no longer exist, of course.
The fact that the Panthers will play the New England Patriots tonight in Super Bowl XXXVIII says all that needs to be said about the job Trgovac has done.
The defense was consistently one of the best in the league through an 11-5 regular season, and it rose to the occasion time after time in three playoff wins.
Moreover, this has all been done under circumstances that would try anyone. The Panthers learned during training camp that linebacker Mark Fields had Hodgkin's disease, then learned shortly thereafter that linebackers coach Sam Mills had cancer.
And then they were plagued with injuries to key players early and often.
"I think he has done a great job," safety Mike Minter said recently. "That was hard stepping into the situation he stepped into and keeping everything the same and keeping everybody focused. But he did it. He came in slow, and then as the year went on, he began to put his stamp on the defense, and you're seeing that now."
Sal Sunseri, who stepped into Trgovac's old job as the defensive-line coach, marvels at how Trgovac handled his first year as a coordinator.
"I think what he did, he came in and did a really great job of keeping the continuity, keeping the system intact, and at the same time adding a few little things he likes to do," Sunseri said. "And, he has done a really excellent job of seeing what our guys do best and then applying it.
"I think his success this year is a tribute to two things. No. 1, Coach Fox had enough faith in him to promote him and give him the opportunity. And No. 2, his work ethic. I mean, Turgs is one of those guys who is not going to let any stone be unturned, and no matter what it takes, we're going to be there until the job is done right."
Trgovac smiles at the mention of a rookie defensive coordinator going all the way to the Super Bowl.
It's not supposed to happen that way in the NFL.
But he is also quick to spread the credit around.
"This is great," he said. "I think it's great not only for myself - obviously as a personal accomplishment it's great - but for the rest of my staff, the guys who busted their butt, and the players.
"To go from where they were to this, it's tremendous. When we got here, we saw we had a talented defense, but it needed a little bit of direction. And these guys have bought into what we have taught them, and they're really playing well now. Hopefully, they'll do it one more time in this game, and then for a long time to come. We're talking about setting the tone for a long time. We want to build a tradition of defense here."
What pressure?
Trgovac insists that he didn't feel any pressure taking over for Del Rio.
He insists that he was confident in his abilities as a coordinator from Day 1.
But still, there was no way to prepare for some of the adversity that he and the rest of the defense would encounter virtually from the start.
Fields, the team's leading tackler in 2002 and one of the best blitzing outside linebackers in the game, learned after the second preseason game that he had Hodgkin's disease and would miss the season.
That forced a major corporate decision. The Panthers didn't have much salary-cap space available, so the only way they could find a replacement anywhere near the caliber of Fields would be to cut or trade a high-priced player at another position.
The decision was made to give Fields' job to Greg Favors, a free agent several years removed from his best years. He had been signed strictly as a backup to Fields and Will Witherspoon on the other side.
Then, 12 days later, Mills - a member of the Panthers' ring of honor as a player and one of the most popular and well-respected people in the organization - was told that he had cancer of the small intestine.
Again, Trgovac found himself in the middle of a crisis.
He had to deal with his emotions. He had to find a way to keep the team focused with the regular season fast approaching. And he had to get Ken Flajole, who moved from quality-control assistant into Mills' job as linebackers coach, up to speed.
The adversity continued to mount even after the regular season began. Defensive end Kavika Pittman tore up his knee and was lost for the rest of the season when he was illegally chop-blocked in a win at Tampa Bay in Week 2. And then middle linebacker Dan Morgan went through a stretch where he was in and out of the lineup with various injuries.
"We had to change on the fly a lot," Trgovac said. "That's probably the biggest thing we had to do, and it took us a little while to do it. I mean, first our leading tackler, our best cover person/blitzer, went down. Then two weeks later, his coach went down. Then we lost Pittman, who was a big part of our plans. Then we lost Dan Morgan for a big part of the year early.
"It was just a series of adjustments that went on, and trading guys around. Did we want to put 'Spoon at this linebacker or that? We had all kinds of decisions like that to make, and there's no question that made things harder. That made for a lot of late nights, I'll tell you."
Trgovac still isn't sure how he - or his staff, or the players - got through the devastating news of Mills' cancer.
Injuries happen in football. Cancer isn't supposed to. Especially to a guy like Mills.
"When we heard about Sam and the degree of his illness, I mean, I don't even know how we called the Pittsburgh (preseason) game," Trgovac said. "I don't know how we worked under those conditions. I don't even remember it. We were so shocked. It hit us the day before, and we had to go out there and play, and we were like, 'How are we going to get these guys to focus?' To be honest, it's still all a blur to me now, that game, just because of the grief I felt for Sam. He's such a great guy."
But Trgovac endured. So did the defense.
Helped by some incredible plays - a last-second touchdown in the opener against Jacksonville, a blocked extra-point kick on the final play of regulation at Tampa Bay among them - the Panthers won their first five games.
That set the tone, and as the season continued, Trgovac was able to shape the defense more and more to his liking.
"We got hammered with some things early that hopefully no one will ever have to go through again," Trgovac said. "But we were still able to make progress in a lot of areas this year. The one thing I tried to tell our guys all along was, everyone's going to compare you with the second-ranked defense. But don't worry about that. Worry about points. Worry about third downs. Worry about getting the job done at the right time.
"We wound up giving two more points this year than last year. But you know what? We had seven (long) returns against us this year. So I feel we made progress."
Taking the initiative
In retrospect, Trgovac's most-impressive coaching move may have come before he actually became defensive coordinator.
Trgovac interviewed for the job shortly after Del Rio left, but Fox also pursued Jim Mora Jr., then the defensive coordinator at San Francisco. Both had things going for them - Trgovac's familiarity with the Panthers system, Mora's experience as a defensive coordinator.
Mora was in the running for the 49ers head-coaching position at the time, too, and asked Fox to hold off making a decision until that job was filled. Fox agreed and held off.
But in the meantime, Trgovac was stepping up and taking charge of various off-season responsibilities as if he were the defensive coordinator. Whether it was meant to be an audition, it worked out perfectly.
Fox liked what he saw and promoted Trgovac before Mora could make up his mind.
"There were about two weeks there where he was talking to Jim Mora," Trgovac said. "I could understand the situation. Jim knew John, and he had been a coordinator. So I said, 'I feel I can do the job, but no matter what you do, I'm going to support you 100 percent.'
"So he said, 'I don't know what's going to happen but for now, run it like you've got it.' We went in there, and we went right to work as a defensive staff. I think he saw the organizational skills I had and the way we all worked together, and I think that gave him a certain comfort level that, hey, my guys here can get the job done."
The players had been in Trgovac's corner from the start.
"I think we all felt if they went outside, and we had to go through another season of change, it would have really put us behind the 8-ball," Witherspoon said. "We all knew him from last year, we knew what kind of guy he was, and we knew he could do the job."
Perfect timing
For Trgovac, this year's success is sweet for another reason.
It has restored his faith in his profession.
Trgovac was going through one of the most frustrating periods of his career shortly before Fox landed the Panthers job and hired him to coach the defensive line in 2002.
He had been fired after the 2001 season by the Washington Redskins, when owner Daniel Snyder cleaned house and hired Steve Spurrier. He had been around the NFL long enough already, with previous stints in Philadelphia and Green Bay, to understand the realities of the business - but still, it was frustrating.
"We went to Washington and turned that defense around from 31st in the league to fourth, and at the end of the year you're fired," he said. "We were all good coaches, too - Ray Rhodes, Foge Fazio, Ron Meeks. And you've got to tell your wife you're moving again, and you've got two kids who have to change schools again. And you're wondering, why? You feel you did great, and you get fired."
Suffice it to say, things have turned out even better than Trgovac could have dreamed.
He's a coordinator, he's in the Super Bowl - and he's working for a guy he's totally in tune with.
"When I was fired at Washington, I had some other job offers," Trgovac said. "But John's the guy I wanted to work for. I'd never worked for him, but I had so much respect for him from watching his defenses and being around him. He's just like me. He coaches football, and he goes home and plays with his kids. That's all I want to do, and play around on a boat a little bit.
"So we're a good fit. The guys I've been around, like Bo Schembechler, Lou Holtz, Earle Bruce, they're all no-nonsense football guys. That's what I want to be around. So we're a good fit. It's all about being in the right situation, and this is the right situation for me."