He's never let adversity stand in way of goals

January 31, 2004|Globe Staff

HOUSTON -- What was rarely considered when people wondered how John Fox was going to handle the challenge of rebuilding a 1-15 pro football team was this: He had faced far more demanding obstacles in a life of travel that reads like a Jack Kerouac novel.

Try surfing 8-foot swells in Southern California when you're used to the smaller ones back east.

Try discovering at age 30 that the man you thought was your biological father really isn't.

Try nine moves in the first nine years of your chosen occupation.

Try working two seasons for Al Davis.

Try swallowing your pride after watching your team lose, 34-7, on the biggest sports stage there is -- the Super Bowl, edition No. 35.

Having gone through all of that, Fox looked at the remnants of the 2001 Carolina Panthers -- losers of an NFL-record 15 straight games, a franchise fragmented by the murder case of wide receiver Rae Carruth -- and yawned. Big deal. Bring it on.

Life is tough. So is football. "There were scars on the entire organization, really," said Fox, "but I was surprised at the willingness of the football team."

The people who ran the football team, in the meantime, were pinching themselves over their good fortune. Had they really just heard some of the things Fox had said?

"He came in and interviewed and just knocked it out of the park," said Panthers general manager Marty Hurney. "John was energetic. He had always wanted to be a head coach and you could tell it was his time."

Player after player will agree. It took them mere minutes to realize Fox was not George Seifert, the man who had coached them for three lame years. In Fox, the Panthers knew they had a guy who had a plan, who could not only point in the correct direction, but could blaze the way and insist that you follow.

"There are certain people who have `it,' the Joe Gibbs qualities," said Hurney, and when you look around the Carolina locker room, heads will nod in unison.

John Fox, they will tell you, is a guy who has "it."

"Like I tell people," said Hurney. "It was like meeting your wife for the first time -- it just felt right."

Long road ahead

Look at the Fox resume and you shake your head, perhaps wondering if this former defensive back at San Diego State knew what he wanted to do. Upon graduation from college, he had tried teaching, only Proposition 13 became law in California, and he was out of a job. So he turned to football, one of his two passions (the other being surfing). Little did he know this endeavor would require a car that gets good gas mileage, a box of road maps, and a membership to AAA.