INDIANAPOLIS — Joe Jacoby, car dealer/radio analyst, is trying to become Joe Jacoby, NFL assistant coach.
Jacoby, the former Washington Redskins offensive lineman who won three Super Bowl rings and played in four Pro Bowls, is attending this week's NFL Scouting Combine with the hope of starting his coaching career 15 years after he retired as a player.
Jacoby is attached to the St. Louis Rams during the Combine as a guest of executive vice president of player personnel Billy Devaney, a former Redskins scout.
"You never get [football] out of your system," Jacoby said yesterday at the Indiana Convention Center. "My kids are grown — one's in college and one is a year away. I've watched them grow up and do their sports and now I want to get back in the game."
Earlier this month, Jacoby sold the Warrenton, Va., car dealership that bears his name. He also worked on Redskins Radio last season after doing Redskins work on SportsTalk 980-AM for a number of years.
Jacoby said he has thought about entering the coaching world for several years.
"I toyed around with it," he said. "I did some work with a high school [Fauquier High, in Warrenton] but really it was my wife who said, 'Why don't you do what you love?' I've thought about getting an opportunity but you never know if you don't try so I'm trying."
In addition to Devaney, Jacoby has visited with Joe Bugel, Russ Grimm and Jim Hanifan and tried to absorb as much as possible.
"It was a surprise to me when I heard he had sold his business and wanted to do this," Bugel said. "We're telling him the good and the bad of this and we'll keep pumping him with a lot of information."
Said Jacoby: "It's interesting to be here trying to switch mindsets, going from the business world to now judging athletes and trying to learn as much as I can from the people I'm sitting with."
When Jacoby was coming out of Louisville in 1981, offensive linemen weren't as big as they are now and there wasn't a Combine. This is the first time Jacoby has attended the event.
"I didn't know what I thought it would be," he said. "But I've been impressed with how lean and well-built the linemen are."
Jacoby realizes he's a rookie again and hopes a team will look at his playing resume and willingness to start from the bottom.
"I'm trying to find a team that will let me come in and just start learning and work my way back through it," he said. "It's exciting to be back involved. It's neat and something different. It's been great so far. How I'll catch on, we'll see."
My dad works for a dealership in Greensboro, NC and he and Joe traded cars a lot. I think it's pretty cool that he wants to get back into coaching. Hopefully, Danny can get him a job working with the O-Line or as a specialist of some sort.
Yeaaaa... I'm all for ANY past Redskin to get back into the NFL but ummmmmm... don't come back here Joe. Love him to death, he's a TRUE Redskin, but right now we don't need anymore help. Lets deal with who we have and lets get consistent, not consistentally hiring/firing. Still, I wish him the best in St. Louis if that's where he gets a gig, good for him!
