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Friday, January 19
Gentleman Jim isn't always gentle
By Adrian Wojnarowski
Special to ESPN.com
The football coach's wife has been long cast as the defender of the
madman the world witnesses on the sideline Sundays, the snippy, nasty tyrant
embarrassing family and friends in the Monday afternoon news conference
clips, breathing fire and berating stuttering sportswriters.
|  | | Jim Fassel and the Giants have made a big splash in New York. |
So, it is a strange position Kitty Fassel sometimes finds herself. She is
the coach's wife compelled to defend the well-mannered, polite disposition of
Gentleman Jim. She's stone serious, insisting: I'm married to no Mr. Rogers.
"There have been times our children have had to leave the locker room
because of the intensity of Jim's words," she says. "Who could ever say Jim
is Mr. Rogers? If they do, they don't know anything about the man."
Four years ago, Fassel moved step for step with the shadow of the
square-jawed, cartoon character bluster of Bill Parcells. This is the
inescapable standard for a New York football coach, the image of an ornery
SOB snarling a room into silence by simply marching into it.
Fassel had come to New York the anonymous offensive coordinator with the
accountant's glasses, the perfectly parted hair, the fuzzy cardigan sweaters
and the inclination to mutter a "Geez Louise" or two when angry.
Gentleman Jim Fassel was the neighbor next door in Northern New Jersey,
the good guy sweeping his front stoop, taking the trash to the curb and
tossing your kid's ball back into your yard. In a world of bullies with
headsets, here was an actual real, breathing human, and nobody was too sure
what to make of him.
Make no mistake: This season didn't change Fassel, just
revealed his penchant for grace under pressure in the toughest of times.
Everyone wants to believe the bold guarantee was a product of the
pressure of the New York market, but this is just partly true. As much as it
shaped his public image, it solidified Fassel's standing in the locker room
as a fighter, as a man truly in touch with the rhythm and mood of the team.
"Jim just grabbed them as you would a child you see running into the
freeway," Kitty Fassel said. "He's no longer a rookie head coach. He's been
immersed in the New York market. There probably isn't an issue that hasn't
been covered by now. I believe he's shown in the past four seasons his
tenacity to respond to the hot spots, to the potential problems and be a
trouble shooter. I really regard his sense of when something is brewing, that
he'll deal with it rather than wait until it's too late. He'll grab a hold of
it."
Fassel had to win this year to save his job, but understand, he doesn't work
for Steinbrenner in New York. He's employed by Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch --
traditional, caring owners who treated him like family. They wanted him to
win. They wanted him to stay. Even now, Mara insists Fassel could've missed
the playoffs a third straight season and still stayed on the job.
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He's no longer a rookie head coach. He's been
immersed in the New York market. There probably isn't an issue that hasn't
been covered by now. I believe he's shown in the past four seasons his
tenacity to respond to the hot spots, to the potential problems and be a
trouble shooter. I really regard his sense of when something is brewing, that
he'll deal with it rather than wait until it's too late. He'll grab a hold of
it. ” |
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— Kitty Fassel |
Perhaps partly a product of the pressure of the New York market, it was
mostly the survival instinct that pushed Fassel to his playoff guarantee with
the Giants teetering at 7-4 in late November. It bought him headlines and
backpages, transferred the pressure off his players and onto him.
This was a culmination of a growth process the Giants had witnessed over the
past year. The true transformation happened over the summer, after he handed
over his play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Sean Payton and became
the total coach of these Giants. He mended relationships with his defensive
stars, Jessie Armstead and Michael Strahan. For three seasons, he had been
the offensive guru buried in his clipboard. Finally, he turned himself into
the great unifier in the locker room.
Maybe it's hard to see these moments reflected for three hours every
Sunday, but this is a fragile sport, a fragile season, and teams can so
easily be torn apart. When the Giants were recruiting free agent Mike Barrow
in the summer, the linebacker had a long list of questions for the organization.
He had the speed at linebacker and strength of character, Ernie Accorsi and
Fassel desperately wanted for the defense.
When they met face to face for the first time, Barrow listened to Fassel
tell him the story of his late father, Bud, an equipment manager for the high
school team who made it his mission to be charitable and caring with the
players under him. The coach's job was to teach this way, even in the NFL.
"I had no perceptions of him before I came here, but after I met him, I
could see he was a good family man, a good leader, and that matters to a
team," Barrow said. "It has to be a family to win, and I could tell Jim was
the man to bring that to us."
Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist at The Record (N.J.) and a regular
contributor to ESPN.com.
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