June 15, 2025 • 39 mins
On this episode of the O-Zone Podcast, John Oehser brings on a very special guest: Legendary Sports Columnist Gene Frenette. Gene is fresh off retirement and reflects on his storied career writing for the Florida Times-Union for over 43 years. Having covered the Jaguars from the franchise's inception, he reflects on the most memorable moments archived in his journalism. Beyond the paper, Gene has cemented his place in Jaguars fan culture, especially on X/Twitter. He even clears the air on an infamous post regarding a Thanksgiving turkey. All this and more on this edition of the O-Zone Podcast!
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Soon.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Ozone Podcast with Jaguars senior writer John Osher.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
All Right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast. And I
say every week how much I look forward to the guests.
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But in this case,
I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this.
I am joined today by long time and now former
believe it or not. Four the Time's Union columnist Gene
Fornette Jane. First of all, I appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, I'm glad to do it.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I didn't know that I had to retire to finally
get on an Ozone podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Well that's kind of the rules around here. No current media.
That's not true, is it. I know it's hard for
me to believe each victory retired because I never thought
you would it. Is it hard to believe? And how
is it going for a couple of weeks?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Now, not really, because, to be honest with you, when
my wife re hired like eighteen months ago, I kind
of we kind of pegged the spring of twenty twenty
five as sort of being the finish line for me
because I knew i'd do one I do. I said
I'd do a couple more seasons, but I didn't know
if I wanted to really do a third. It just
(01:18):
too cognizant of the fact that you know, you wait,
you wait, you wait, and and while you may get
some financial benefits out of it by maxing out your
Social Security, the flip side is is that you don't
know nobody, none of us. I promised tomorrow, and I
wanted to be able to go out while I still
felt like I was somewhat at the top of my game,
(01:41):
but also healthy, sure, and be able to be able
to do things with my wife in retirement. And so
that's why I did what I did. I don't you know,
I don't judge it on anything else other than that.
And to be honest with you, your body and mind
will sort of tell you when it's the right time
told me ten years ago. So yeah, so I just
(02:03):
kind of felt like it was the right time. I've
had no regrets about it. It was the right decision for me.
For others who want to, you know, stay working in
the media into their seventies or whatever, if that's what
they choose to do, then that's fine.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I just I just didn't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Fantastic we talked a little bit. I joke with you
over the years more than we actually talk, So I'm
looking forward to actually talking without I like to give
you grief. But forty four years, man, I mean, I
know we talked a little bit when you first announced,
when I first found out. That's an unbelievable career gene
(02:38):
in this media age. So first, congratulations, And do you
have a sense of you know, sort of navigating a
tough industry. I guess how rare it is going to
be for somebody to have a forty four career, your
career as a columnist, sports media, whatever that means.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Well, you know, the ironic thing is is that when
I left the Palm Beach Evening Times in eighty one,
and I was the prep writer there, and I took
the same job at the Jacksonville Journal for seventy dollars
more a week, and yeah, and when I left, the
guy who replaced me in Palm Beach ironically as Tom DiAngelo.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And Tom is still there, so he's been forty four.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Years in Palm Beach as well. So I mean, obviously
it's a coincidence. I figured when I came to Jacksonville,
i'd be here like two or three years and then
move on somewhere else. I really liked the job. Wasn't
all that keen on the city when I first got here.
First of all, it took forever to get to get anywhere.
(03:40):
I mean, you don't realize how big Jacksonville really is.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And there was no bypass.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, it was a different driving world than many people
who are listening today realized.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And speaking of driving, you know, and every time you
went over a bridge, you had to dump a quarter
into the thing, right, or you bought the two dollars
book of tickets for you got ten tickets for two dollars.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So you did.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
What I did was was do the fake and then
once you went through in the bell ranguent like you missed.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
No, I never, I never.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
I never did do that because I knew that the
people who do who do get caught on that. Yeah,
I mean, it's not worth the consequences for not having I.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Was fortunate friends of mine did get caught. So I
want to get into some of your thoughts on journalism.
But this is a Jaguars centric podcast. I want to
ask Jags.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
First, Well, you know you've.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Seen so much of this organization, and you saw a
glimpse of what's going on now with Tony taking over.
What are your thoughts on the direction of the team's going.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Now, this is a very early projection without really there.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
They haven't put enough to me on the table yet
to make a clear.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Cut judgment on how it's going to go over the
long haul. I would say what they've done so far,
I like, I'm optimistic about where the direction that this
franchise is headed. But again I say that because we
all know what happens.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
The April May.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
June July is what I call the fool's goal time
of year. Everything's great, there's optimism, you know, with all
thirty two teams possible exception of the New York Giants
or what have you. But you know this time of
the year every year, you know, fans get fired up, right,
(05:33):
and they even get more fired up when there's change.
They got fired up with urban Meyer was hired, you know,
and you know, and they certainly were fired up after
Doug Peterson's first year, thinking hey, this is going along
on a very good path. And it just goes to
show you that the NFL is every year, with the
exception of maybe what the Chiefs have done under Andy Reid.
(05:57):
It's really hard to predict because injuries, you know, factor
into it.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And when you've got a new regime.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
You look at the Jaguars depth chart right now, there's
probably like thirteen or fourteen guys which is not an
unusually absurdly high number that are on the too deep
chart that are new arrivals. They're either unrestricted free agents
that they paid for or their draft picks. And to me,
what I like about what this franchise is doing is
(06:27):
they seem to be creating genuine, legitimate competition at a
lot of different positions.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Which is hard to do. People talk about competitions, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
But it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Yeah, I mean I was just looking. I just took
a glance at the Hour Lads depth chart for the Jaguars,
and I could legitimately look at that depth chart.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Please tell me, Jane that you did that to prep
for this podcast, and that's not what retirement looks like.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Correct, That's correct, that's correct. Yes, the latter is the
former is true.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
But you know, you could look at about five positions
where they projected a starter where it wouldn't be that
outlandish to see the second guy listed be the starter.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Which except is rare competition is off in lip service
and it's not.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Yeah, I mean I can easily see two or three
offensive line positions. The guys that are listed there now,
you know, might be the backup rat come September ten
or whatever the season opener is. So I think from
that standpoint, and I just like the idea that from
the very moment James Gladstone got here and.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You look at certainly what happened.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I mean, everybody's obviously talking about Travis Hunter. I mean,
Travis Hunter has taken over as the face of this franchise,
which I'm sure Trevor Lawrence is more than happy to
bequeath to him, right because Travis has got a little
bit more of the personality to kind of take on
that sort of thing that he would kind of welcome
it a little bit more. But you know, just the
bold move to go up and get Travis Hunter. I
(07:55):
mean I wrote about it because I was, you know,
I was, I was still a week out from retiring
when they drafted him. I just thought it was a
bow move that this franchise would not ordinarily make. It
certainly would not have been made if Trent Bulk would
have been the GM that trade. That trade would have
never happened. So I just kind of liked that. It's
not just a fresh start, but you've also got a
(08:17):
got a head coach who is coming off a track
record of transforming the quarterback in Tampa, and Baker Mayfield
and so a lot there's a lot of signs pointing
in a very positive direction. You know, you know, is
Travis Hunter going to be a future Hall of Famer
like so many people seem to be projecting him to be,
because the optimism about what he can do for this
franchise is unbelievable. That Yeah, yeah, Personally, I think it
(08:42):
would be easier for the Jaguars to play him more
full time as a cornerback and part time as a receiver.
But you know, I get it. Liam Cohan wants to
he wants to generate the offense. I'm sure he's very
selfish about trying to get the extra three or four.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Points per game talent.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I early on, I like the
direction it's going. But you know, I'm not going to
sit here and say, hey, there'll be a minimum of
love it and five eleven and six This year.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Sure, you know, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I want to get your perspective on a couple of
history things because you've been around this franchise as long
as I have, and then you were around for ten
years when I wasn't here. We both have the perspective
of what this team meant to this city because we
both predate the team.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I grew up here.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
You were here for what.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Fourteen years before they came, before they started playing.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So you saw it when I saw it when the
city was the gay or ball in the Florida Georgia
game and hoping against hope to get a team. Do
you think that a lot of people our age are
listening to this, but a lot of young people are.
Do you think young people in the city appreciate how
much the Jaguars have changed? And I guess how because
(09:59):
you me have an attachment to it. How glad are
you that it's secure now for the future. That has
to mean something to you as somebody who has been
about sports in this town for forty five years.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, I've never been of the mindset even back and
I remember when we had this conversation when you were
still in Indianationalist You know, you wanted to, you know,
you wanted to take the job, but you were concerned
about how long the team was going to be here
because I was an outsider, Yeah, and you said, hey,
I need at least three years, And I said, John,
that they're going to be here, right, you know. I
just I just felt very strongly that that Shod Cohn
(10:37):
was about making this thing work in Jacksonville, because I
knew what he had discussed with Wayne Weaver when he
bought the team, and I had to clarify.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I got back before Shod bought, so we were still
talking during the Wayne years, so I was not sure.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, I just didn't.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I just know how hard it is for an NFL
team to move. You know, It's not as if this
happens a lot, right, I mean, yes, we saw the
trucks in the middle of the night go from Baltimore
to Indianapolis, and you saw what happened with Cleveland and
Baltimore and how much Al Davis flip flopped between LA
and Oakland. But other than that, it's it's rare to
(11:15):
get to get a circumstance where an NFL team actually moves,
And I just kind of felt like I had no
reason to doubt that shod Cohn wanted London as a
financial supplement to its franchise, not as an option to
go overseas, because I still don't think the NFL in
Europe can work. I just I don't see how. I
(11:37):
just think there are too many hoops to jump through.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
At all.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yeah, I thought it was much more, much more dangerous
or for the Jaguars to move to like you know,
in la or a Saint Louis or something like that,
than it ever was to London. But to answer your
question about whether the young whether the young generation can
appreciate that, I don't know that you can, because if
(12:03):
you've never known the Jaguars to be nonexistent, you know,
it's hard.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
To get a sense of what that history is.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
And as you know, I mean it was a little
bit of an upset when the Jaguars got the franchise, right,
I mean, Saint Louis had to drop the ball, and
they dropped the ball and Jacksonville capitalized it got the turnover,
and you know, thirty years later, they're still here. And
despite all the terrible seasons the Jaguars I've had over
the last you know, seventeen eighteen years. You know, and
(12:39):
obviously I'm biased because I'm in the industry, but I
just think the city of Jacksonville is so much better
with the Jaguars than without them.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It just gives you, first of all.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
It's a fantastic entertainment option for some people, and even
for people who don't care about football but care about
Jacksonville wanting to grow as a city. I mean, you
get a lot more respect when you have an NFL
team than when you have no major pro sports franchise whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
No doubt I can talk to you about a million
different topics because we know a lot of the same
topics and you've been doing it for you did it
for so long. But what over the years your relationship
with Tom Cofflin, just covering him as an entity in
(13:30):
this city, with the J Fund, with the team. When
I say the word Tom or I would say the
name Tom Coughlin first reaction, and then just talk about him.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Well, I would say, when I think of Tom Cofflin,
I think as much of the J Fund as I
do of him being a two time Super Bowl winning coach.
I mean, I think more people obviously will think of
him as a two time Super Bowl winning coach and
I hope one day that that his resume gets him
into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But that's a
separate topic. You know that that's becoming more challenging. But
(14:05):
when I think of Tom Coffin, I think of the
foundation upon which the Jaguars are built. I mean, it's
like you have this you know, you're building this house,
and before you can design the kitchen and the bedrooms
and all that other stuff, you have to have the foundation.
And to me, that's what Tom. When I think of
Tom Coffin, I think of the guy who built the
(14:26):
Jaguars foundation. And he had the power to do so
because he was both the GM and the head coach.
And he did a fantastic job. I mean, four postseason appearances,
two AFC title games within the first five seasons is
pretty remarkable.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
I've always been intrigued, probably as we've gotten further away
from it. I'm gonna shift to college football for a second.
The time that we covered college football together, I only
covered for a couple of years, but I covered the
Spurrier and you were right there. You touched the Bowden
there at FSU. Clearly the golden era of college football
(15:05):
right here to me? Do you have an appreciation for
how fortunate you've been to have sort of seen a
lot of that.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Level of college football up close?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That era?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I mean, it was.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I'm not sure the Times Union covers it as much
as it used to, but during that time, you were
face front for the best.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Not only was it a golden era for college football
in this state. And I think you would be hard
pressed to find two more successful head coaches who were
coaching at rival schools than Bowden and spur.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Your And we almost took it for granted.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Maybe maybe Tom Osborne obviously right in his era, right,
Barry Switzer, that's the only other one that I could think, Okay,
I mean, you know Bo schamp Black or what he has.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I mean, but you know, I was too young and
dumb to realize it.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
So that was the nineties, and all of this coincided,
by the way, with a time where newspapers really mattered
the internet. The Internet hadn't been really full fledged yet, right.
It truly was the golden age, you know, And I
mean the eighties and the nineties for newspapers, and also
the seventies and sixties.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And all that as well.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
I mean the nineties was kind of like the last
part of the Golden age for newspapers, right, And it
just so happened to be at a time when Florida
and Florida State, I mean Florida State was on a
fourteen year streak of top five finishes. Spurrier was winning
like six six SEC titles in a twelve year span
(16:46):
at Florida.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
The days, my friend, we thought they never ended.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
And oh, by the way, that Jacksonville has an NFL
team and they're going to the postseason, you know, year
after year.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I mean, I don't know that football in this area will.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Ever have a better time than that, right, I mean,
you hope they will, right, But.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
You'd be hard pressed to find something better than that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's hard to imagine.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
You assume they're both in the top five, and for
a little while it's been a while around here, but
for three or four years, you sort of assume this
tune to be in the postseason.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This is very journalism one oh one, And I'm sure
people who don't care about journalism will fall asleep. But
it's my podcast. So where do you see it going?
You know, in terms of newspapers, you know, your position.
I grew up dreaming of wanting to be a columnist.
Now it's not quite you know, it's a tougher it's
(17:43):
a tougher industry to define. You're not really the rock
star as much as maybe the mid nineties, right where
do you see it going?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know, five ten years?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Quite frankly, I don't like the direction that is going.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
A lot of a lot of content that you see,
sports content that you see on the internet now is
somebody playing off what somebody else wrote.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
You know, they they see, oh this is what you.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Know, somebody on ESPN said about this, and then they
create a blog about that and that gets thrown up there.
Everything's like these short, blurpy reads now that people you know,
there's there's there's no time for storytelling or anything like that.
Uh now, which is what?
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Which?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Which is why I kind of appreciate the athletic a
little bit because they still they still, you know, still
reserve some room for doing that. But everything is, you know,
throw it up on there, and the bigger name you
can throw in there, that's going to get more clicks.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Uh, you know, have at it, you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I mean, and accuracy doesn't matter, not as much.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
No, it doesn't. I mean it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
It doesn't matter whether it's politic or whether it's sports.
Just get a name in there so that they can
put this up on their Google searches and to get
the clicks and.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Everything like that. I mean, think about this.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
The Jaguars are going to be playing the Kansas City
Chiefs on a Monday night football game right week five,
Week six.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
How many stories do you think in.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
That week are going to be about Travis Travis Hunter
versus Taylor Swift, you know, I mean, it's just the
fact that you have to think about that just for
a second, tells you where the train is headed.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah, and that could be a series of podcasts with
people such as yourself and myself and probably not get
as much depth as you could because it's it's troubling
for people like us. But okay, now, I guys the question,
You've got to tell me the story behind the Turkey,
(20:00):
because anybody listened to this, there's a there's a Twitter
picture that I repost every and many of my unfunny
friends in the media tweet it was.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
The Turkey for real? Take me through the morning of
the turkey.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
The turkey was for.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Real, because this is why everybody's listening to this podcasting.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So here's the great irony about that picture. Right. I
never and I when.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I say never, I mean n E V E R
tweet put anything up on social media about food.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Ever except that one.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Except that one. I don't know what.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
I don't even know what made me do it. I'm
just sitting there at the table. I just said, I
just so, I just took a picture of the turkey
that was stuffed and all this stuff. And I guess
just whether it was the angle of the picture or
how the turkey looked, you know, to people who saw
it, it didn't look appetizing at all.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Wait, what the heck is this? Right?
Speaker 4 (20:58):
I never dreamed it would take the shelf life that
it did.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
And here it is, like because I think it was
frid after I got back. It was it was twelve
or thirteen, Oh yeah it was.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
It was easily over a decade ago, so you know,
it was just like this, just like this innocent, Oh,
I'll just throw this up there, not, you know, not
that I was expecting any great feedback. And and obviously
if i'd have known what I know now, I would
have never.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Put maybe you would have. It's been a great it's
been a great touchstone for everybody. But do you have
an appreciation, Jean? And I don't really talked to you
about this, for you know, a Twitter Jeene has been followed,
you know, the Turkey and people, the fans really have
(21:52):
embraced you on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
And there's a weird part of Twitter as well. There's
but there there.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Are factions of Jaguars fans that Jean Frenette is part
of it. And I think that's pretty cool. And I
know you're a professional, but there's also that as well.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, I mean number one and maybe this is this
is maybe the you know, the way my dad was
if you got to be able to laugh at yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Sure, if you if you screw up or whatever.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Or you do something and I'm not talking about a
screw up where anybody's hurt or anything like that. I'm
just talking about or a journalism which is not Yeah,
and if you and if you make a mistake, you
just show it, right, I mean not it. I mean
nobody does their job absolutely perfectly where they don't make mistakes, right, Okay,
that's that's even that's even true for a Northeast Florida
(22:44):
cultural icon.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
When I first thought leader.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
When I first saw that, I go, oh, okay, this
is one of those things that John's gonna make stick.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
And for those that you don't know in the Ozone
mailbag fans, I think I did it once. And fans
just love to sort of make up feats of strength
for Gene, feats of cultural identity that he has nothing
to do with. They associated with Gene and he is
(23:19):
longtime Florida Times Union sports columnists and cultural icon, Northeast Florida,
Northeast Florida cultural icon, Eugene P. Gene Furnett, And you know,
to set the record straight for a lot of people
who watch this, Gene as much as we tease him
(23:39):
about the Turkey, as much as we have teased him
about different things. So out of the Corsy has always
been the best sport and gets the spirit of what
things are. And again, I think that's why a lot
of fans on Twitter, because this is a long time
fifteen years on Twitter sort of interacting being a guy
(24:01):
that people go to in the Jaguars and you've always, uh,
I thought done a great job of embracing that.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Well, I got a question for you in relation to
this uh tag as Northeast Florida Cultural icon icon. What
came first that? Or King of All Funk?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Which which came King of All Funk may have been
before that, It's probably around the same time.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
But I am the King of All fund Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Well, and k O A F fits better than n
f C.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
I right, that is true.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That is true.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It's so are you gonna miss it?
Speaker 4 (24:45):
I will miss parts of it. I will not miss
all of it. I certainly don't miss what the profession
has become. As as we've gotten older, and you know,
as as many people know, Gannett has not only bought
The Times Union, but they've bought up virtually all the
papers in Florida, with the exception of Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And Saint Pete.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Okay, they you know, they own, they own, you know,
they own Gainesville, Tallahassee, uh, Brevard County, West Palm Beach, Lakeland, Sarasota,
Fort Myers, Pensacola.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I mean that's what they're doing, really, is the news.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
They're creating their own State of Florida network. So uh so,
Times Union doesn't send people anymore to Florida football games
or f s U games in anything.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Which is a mammoth change that's really tough for local
I mean, yeah, it just is.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I mean it doesn't mean that as a columnist, I
couldn't continue to write about them. I just wasn't going
to be traveling there to go get stories. You got,
you know, you got you got to get interviews by phone,
and you have to rely on the s I D
departments well.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
To kind of deliver to interviews.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
The difference in this day and I know I was
around Florida when you're covering Florida. You know, when you're
the columnist, you had very personal relationships with Bobby Baden
and Steve Spurrier that would probably be very hard to
replicate now just because you're not in person. And for
fans who are winning while I'm talking about this, that
(26:19):
affects coverage, That affects the depth of information that a
fan in Jacksonville can feel for the program. It's just different.
It's the way it is.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
But I'm with you, It's what I would miss it
if I were in your shoes.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Yeah, And it's another reason why I think that people
who cover the NFL, who have covered both college and
the NFL now much before the NFL, because at least
you can go into a locker room. Sure, you know
in college football, we haven't been in a locker room
twenty years, right or whatever.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You know it's done to me having covered it, but
I know it's true.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Now they bring, you know, a select group of players
to you and then you get to interview them that way,
but it's just there you've lost. You lose the personal
connection that the media person, whether it's a columnist or
a beat writer has with the athletes.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
You at least have that a little bit with.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
The Jaguars, although they will make sure that their big
stars probably get to keep their distance, like Trevor Lawrence
and now Travis Hunter will only be a once a
week guy in this coming season for the media to
have access to, and of course you'll have access after games, right,
But you know, so it's it's a much It was
so much more of a personalized business back when I
(27:33):
back when I when I was coming up in the
eighties and nineties, and that.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Part I will miss.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
What I won't miss is how corporate, uh, the newspaper
game has become.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Now they're you know, they're issuing.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Playbooks to these more still to the writers about Okay,
here's what we want for this week. You know, let's
make sure that we we hit this story. Not necessarily
because it's a great story, but because they think that's
going to get clicks, and that's gonna get the that's
what's going to stir up the Google searches. And and
the thing is, even if something gets a lot of clicks,
(28:07):
and I'll tell you, I'll give you a perfect example.
One of the things that got that gets a ton
of clicks down in the West Palm Beach area was
stories about when all this live golf controversy was being
stirred up.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
All of a sudden.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
You know, they saw all these clicks and they're thinking,
oh my, this is great, right, but.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
It gets old after a while.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Okay, here we are here, there are two years since
living the PGA tour were supposedly gonna come to this agreement,
and they're still you know, they're still and and but
yet but they have to keep feeding that beast because
the the writer may be tired, the writer may be
tired about writing about it, but the higher ups don't
get tired about seeing.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
What the numbers.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
There's no substance to it anymore correct.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
All right, One thing we do here, Gene is the
ozone five five quick questions and change them a little
bit for you. Then gets information from you too, Gene Furnette,
what was your last binge watch?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
My last binge watch on TV?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
On TV? You remember TV.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Binge watch? I was I was I was doing. I
was doing.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
A pretty heavy deal of law and order.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
I tend to, you know, I guess you know. I'm
showing my age here.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
I tend to like the older shows more than I
do the newer ones. I could I couldn't tell you
anything about.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Some of the No, no, that's a little that goes
a little too far back.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
I'm having a hard time getting off the dateline binge now.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Okay, that's another that's not it.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
And I prefer the one hour ones as opposed to
the two hour ones. Okay, but yeah, if I'm going
to do a binge watch, it's probably going to be
that music.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
What does Gene Furnette listen to on the way in?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I'm probably gonna give myself away. I actually there's a
and this is I'm not saying that this is necessarily
my favorite. But there is a Christian station in town
called k Love that I do listen to quite a bit.
I musical artists, I mean, Billy Joel is just one
of my all time favorites. I've been to about probably
about five or six of his concerts over time, country
(30:20):
music a little bit, not a lot, But I don't have, like,
what one specific hip hop guy.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, yeah, that's me.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Probably that, but not anything real. I'm not married to
one specific station, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
I flip around.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I think I know the answer. Most memorable event he covered.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Most memorable event that I've covered, yeh, memorable to me
because I because I was so familiar with them was
the Hall of Fame induction of Tony Basselli and Leroy Butler.
I mean I've known them both for and I knew
Leroy back when he was fifteen sixteen years old because
he was which by courkyd over at Lady and I
used to go over there practices, but to see them
(31:04):
inducted on the same day, and you know, and I
knew LeRoy's mother so so well because she lived in
her Arlington neighborhood near Jayu and I used to see
her walking her dog. It was a shame that she
wasn't around to see that. And and also for Tony
not having his not having his dad, but just watching
(31:24):
not only watching the ceremony unfold and their speeches and
all that, but going to their celebrations afterwards.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
I went to Tony's first.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
I went for an hour and a half, and then
I went to LeRoy's about twenty miles away. That for
about an hour and a half. Just the the unbridled
joy was.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Just I've never I've never.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Seen Tony so happy as he was that dad, and
the same for Leroy. Yeah, And it was just you know,
just knowing what you know, what it to get to
the pinnacle of your profession and having it happen for
such quality human beings.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
That was That was the best work day ever.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
My guess is a close second would have been the
World Series Oakland San Francisco. I remember you covered that
from the paper back when the paper covered World Series events.
And you probably don't remember this, but I was a
huge Oakland A's fan. And Jane brought me back on
Oakland A's World Series pennant from that. Oh, that's that's
(32:21):
how far back you and I.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Go, well, listen, what's amazing about how much the newspaper
game has changed.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Not only did the TU.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Send me out to California, but they brought me back
after the earthquake delayed the World Series.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
And then I went back.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
For Games three and four.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
People in the business now, for the TU to have
covered baseball without a team, it just shows you the
money the newspapers had back then. It was a different game.
Your biggest influence, like, who's the reason that you're here?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Well, I told this story in my farewell column. But
I was twelve years old going into my last year
of Little league baseball and my dad came home one
night and he was he was my coach for the
first three years, and said, I'm not going to be
coaching anymore, and you know, and I was like flabbergasted,
(33:18):
is like, hey, what do you mean. We're finally going
to have a really good team this year because we
got we got we got more twelve year olds on
the team we had we had the previous years. I
think we went from two and twelve to five and
nine to seven and seven, and now we were going
to have an even better team. And he says he's
getting out, and so they completely reshuffled the whole league.
(33:39):
And it turns out that the guy that was my
new coach happened to be a sports writer and he
was a two time sports writer of the Year in Vermont,
and when I expressed an interest a couple of years
after I got done playing for him and being a
sports writer, he let me go around with him to
to cover football games, keep the charts for me. But
(33:59):
I got to see him go and interview people after
the game. And I know it was only on a
high school level and you're only basically interviewing the coach.
Players weren't high school players weren't really interviewed back then,
the coaches were. But it gave me a feel for
what it was going to be like and I and
I wanted more of it, and then I got my
and then he helped me get my first job, like
about nine months later when.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
There came and opening.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
So in terms of influence, I would my little league
coach was big. And also when I was in when
I was in West Palm Beach, Bill Panella, who ended.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Up coming to Jacksonville from about period a year and
a half.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
He was my executive sports editor there, and he was
a really big influence because he wasn't afraid to tell
you where you needed to get better, and he would
never do it in a face to face meeting.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
He'd always leave.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
He would leave notes in your mailbox, and that was
very beneficial because you were getting honest, legitimate feedback, and
as a young journalist, that's what you crave, even if
it's and if it's something that he's critical, okay, but
it's a learning experience. The older I got, the less
you got of that because everybody was so caught up
(35:10):
and making sure that the higher ups were being pleased, right,
they don't they they sort of lost the art. Sports
editors have lost the art of actually teaching, sure, and
and a lot of that gets lost. And a lot
of the young guys that come up now, or young
and young women that come up in the business, they're
sort of you know, unless an older colleague kind of
(35:32):
takes them under their wing. The sports editor is too
wrapped up in other more important things to forget about
being a teacher and a mentor give.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Me one column you remember, you remember, let me let.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
Me start with a story first back in In fact,
it was Bill Panella that that came that came up
with this idea. When the Cleveland Indians pitcher and I
forget his name got killed in the boating accident, remember,
and the other and another one got great injured story
as well. Uh, he said, hey, why don't you look
into going down to see if the if the widow
(36:10):
who was still living in the house by the lake
where the fatal accident occurred.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
And this was probably mid February, February.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Of ninety four, it was when the Olympics was going on,
the Winter Olympics was going on, and uh, surprisingly she
she agreed to it. So I was. I spent three
or four hours there at the house, visiting the site
and all that, and I got in touch with other
people who were on the boat, and uh, you know,
and it it turned out to be one of the
(36:39):
one of the more impactful stories that I wrote, and
the TU nominated it for a Pulitzer.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
And it was a.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Stunningly good story, really was.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
But as far as the column goes, you know, the
memorable ones are probably the ones that might be might
involve a little bit of controversy where there was a
Jaguars coach being fired I'll never forget. After the two
thousand and ten season, well, I think the Jaguars were
eight and five, and they lost their last three games
(37:10):
and finished eight and eight, had a chance to win
the division. Peyton Manning beat him out in Indianapolis, had
a chance to win the division. They ended up eight
and eight, you know. And I and this was Jack
del Rio's eighth year as the head coach, and I
advocated for his firing. I just kind of felt like,
(37:31):
you know, for three straight years, you know, without playoffs,
and it just wasn't going in a good direction. It
wasn't like the bottom hadn't fallen out or anything. So
I wrote the column. They didn't fire Jack. And then
my first meeting with Jack in April, after reading that,
(37:51):
I brought it up. I said, look, I know we
haven't had a conversation since I wrote the column advocating
for your firing, but I just want to let you know.
I mean, it was nothing personal or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Jack. However, Jack looked at me.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
And said, well, it wasn't very well received in my house,
but he actually was very was very good about it.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
I mean he understood that that's you know, that's part
of the job. That's part of the gig.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
And of course before the following season was over, you know,
uh about the team. Yeah, it was you know, and
it was just you know and Jack.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
You know.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
I think it was after thirteen games or something like that,
or maybe it was eleven because I think melt.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Tusher finished the last five games.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
But yeah, that was that was kind of memorable because
of of I think I might have been the first
one in the media to advocate for that and then
and then Jack's reaction afterwards went.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
More received in my house.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Well, Jane, to close, I just want to tell you,
you know, worked with you for twelve years, the TU,
worked around you for fifteen forty four years. That at
the Times Union is an unbelievable feat. I am proud
to call you a friend. I'm proud to call you
a colleague from day one at the TU.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
I'm gonna say he took me under your wing, but
always one of the more helpful people that I ever
worked with. You'll be missed. Enjoy retirement. You have earned
a power.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
John, I uh and I'll and I'll always credit you
with the with the phrase a little gino is always
Keith A.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Little gino is always Keena, Jeane. Thank you very much,
my friends, all right, thanks for having me.
Soon.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Ozone Podcast with Jaguars senior writer John Osher.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
All Right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast. And I
say every week how much I look forward to the guests.
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But in this case,
I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this.
I am joined today by long time and now former
believe it or not. Four the Time's Union columnist Gene
Fornette Jane. First of all, I appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, I'm glad to do it.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I didn't know that I had to retire to finally
get on an Ozone podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Well that's kind of the rules around here. No current media.
That's not true, is it. I know it's hard for
me to believe each victory retired because I never thought
you would it. Is it hard to believe? And how
is it going for a couple of weeks?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Now, not really, because, to be honest with you, when
my wife re hired like eighteen months ago, I kind
of we kind of pegged the spring of twenty twenty
five as sort of being the finish line for me
because I knew i'd do one I do. I said
I'd do a couple more seasons, but I didn't know
if I wanted to really do a third. It just
(01:18):
too cognizant of the fact that you know, you wait,
you wait, you wait, and and while you may get
some financial benefits out of it by maxing out your
Social Security, the flip side is is that you don't
know nobody, none of us. I promised tomorrow, and I
wanted to be able to go out while I still
felt like I was somewhat at the top of my game,
(01:41):
but also healthy, sure, and be able to be able
to do things with my wife in retirement. And so
that's why I did what I did. I don't you know,
I don't judge it on anything else other than that.
And to be honest with you, your body and mind
will sort of tell you when it's the right time
told me ten years ago. So yeah, so I just
(02:03):
kind of felt like it was the right time. I've
had no regrets about it. It was the right decision for me.
For others who want to, you know, stay working in
the media into their seventies or whatever, if that's what
they choose to do, then that's fine.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I just I just didn't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Fantastic we talked a little bit. I joke with you
over the years more than we actually talk, So I'm
looking forward to actually talking without I like to give
you grief. But forty four years, man, I mean, I
know we talked a little bit when you first announced,
when I first found out. That's an unbelievable career gene
(02:38):
in this media age. So first, congratulations, And do you
have a sense of you know, sort of navigating a
tough industry. I guess how rare it is going to
be for somebody to have a forty four career, your
career as a columnist, sports media, whatever that means.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Well, you know, the ironic thing is is that when
I left the Palm Beach Evening Times in eighty one,
and I was the prep writer there, and I took
the same job at the Jacksonville Journal for seventy dollars
more a week, and yeah, and when I left, the
guy who replaced me in Palm Beach ironically as Tom DiAngelo.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And Tom is still there, so he's been forty four.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Years in Palm Beach as well. So I mean, obviously
it's a coincidence. I figured when I came to Jacksonville,
i'd be here like two or three years and then
move on somewhere else. I really liked the job. Wasn't
all that keen on the city when I first got here.
First of all, it took forever to get to get anywhere.
(03:40):
I mean, you don't realize how big Jacksonville really is.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And there was no bypass.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, it was a different driving world than many people
who are listening today realized.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
And speaking of driving, you know, and every time you
went over a bridge, you had to dump a quarter
into the thing, right, or you bought the two dollars
book of tickets for you got ten tickets for two dollars.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So you did.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
What I did was was do the fake and then
once you went through in the bell ranguent like you missed.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
No, I never, I never.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
I never did do that because I knew that the
people who do who do get caught on that. Yeah,
I mean, it's not worth the consequences for not having I.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Was fortunate friends of mine did get caught. So I
want to get into some of your thoughts on journalism.
But this is a Jaguars centric podcast. I want to
ask Jags.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
First, Well, you know you've.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Seen so much of this organization, and you saw a
glimpse of what's going on now with Tony taking over.
What are your thoughts on the direction of the team's going.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Now, this is a very early projection without really there.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
They haven't put enough to me on the table yet
to make a clear.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Cut judgment on how it's going to go over the
long haul. I would say what they've done so far,
I like, I'm optimistic about where the direction that this
franchise is headed. But again I say that because we
all know what happens.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
The April May.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
June July is what I call the fool's goal time
of year. Everything's great, there's optimism, you know, with all
thirty two teams possible exception of the New York Giants
or what have you. But you know this time of
the year every year, you know, fans get fired up, right,
(05:33):
and they even get more fired up when there's change.
They got fired up with urban Meyer was hired, you know,
and you know, and they certainly were fired up after
Doug Peterson's first year, thinking hey, this is going along
on a very good path. And it just goes to
show you that the NFL is every year, with the
exception of maybe what the Chiefs have done under Andy Reid.
(05:57):
It's really hard to predict because injuries, you know, factor
into it.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And when you've got a new regime.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
You look at the Jaguars depth chart right now, there's
probably like thirteen or fourteen guys which is not an
unusually absurdly high number that are on the too deep
chart that are new arrivals. They're either unrestricted free agents
that they paid for or their draft picks. And to me,
what I like about what this franchise is doing is
(06:27):
they seem to be creating genuine, legitimate competition at a
lot of different positions.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Which is hard to do. People talk about competitions, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
But it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Yeah, I mean I was just looking. I just took
a glance at the Hour Lads depth chart for the Jaguars,
and I could legitimately look at that depth chart.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Please tell me, Jane that you did that to prep
for this podcast, and that's not what retirement looks like.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Correct, That's correct, that's correct. Yes, the latter is the
former is true.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
But you know, you could look at about five positions
where they projected a starter where it wouldn't be that
outlandish to see the second guy listed be the starter.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Which except is rare competition is off in lip service
and it's not.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Yeah, I mean I can easily see two or three
offensive line positions. The guys that are listed there now,
you know, might be the backup rat come September ten
or whatever the season opener is. So I think from
that standpoint, and I just like the idea that from
the very moment James Gladstone got here and.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
You look at certainly what happened.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
I mean, everybody's obviously talking about Travis Hunter. I mean,
Travis Hunter has taken over as the face of this franchise,
which I'm sure Trevor Lawrence is more than happy to
bequeath to him, right because Travis has got a little
bit more of the personality to kind of take on
that sort of thing that he would kind of welcome
it a little bit more. But you know, just the
bold move to go up and get Travis Hunter. I
(07:55):
mean I wrote about it because I was, you know,
I was, I was still a week out from retiring
when they drafted him. I just thought it was a
bow move that this franchise would not ordinarily make. It
certainly would not have been made if Trent Bulk would
have been the GM that trade. That trade would have
never happened. So I just kind of liked that. It's
not just a fresh start, but you've also got a
(08:17):
got a head coach who is coming off a track
record of transforming the quarterback in Tampa, and Baker Mayfield
and so a lot there's a lot of signs pointing
in a very positive direction. You know, you know, is
Travis Hunter going to be a future Hall of Famer
like so many people seem to be projecting him to be,
because the optimism about what he can do for this
franchise is unbelievable. That Yeah, yeah, Personally, I think it
(08:42):
would be easier for the Jaguars to play him more
full time as a cornerback and part time as a receiver.
But you know, I get it. Liam Cohan wants to
he wants to generate the offense. I'm sure he's very
selfish about trying to get the extra three or four.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Points per game talent.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I early on, I like the
direction it's going. But you know, I'm not going to
sit here and say, hey, there'll be a minimum of
love it and five eleven and six This year.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Sure, you know, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I want to get your perspective on a couple of
history things because you've been around this franchise as long
as I have, and then you were around for ten
years when I wasn't here. We both have the perspective
of what this team meant to this city because we
both predate the team.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I grew up here.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
You were here for what.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Fourteen years before they came, before they started playing.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So you saw it when I saw it when the
city was the gay or ball in the Florida Georgia
game and hoping against hope to get a team. Do
you think that a lot of people our age are
listening to this, but a lot of young people are.
Do you think young people in the city appreciate how
much the Jaguars have changed? And I guess how because
(09:59):
you me have an attachment to it. How glad are
you that it's secure now for the future. That has
to mean something to you as somebody who has been
about sports in this town for forty five years.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, I've never been of the mindset even back and
I remember when we had this conversation when you were
still in Indianationalist You know, you wanted to, you know,
you wanted to take the job, but you were concerned
about how long the team was going to be here
because I was an outsider, Yeah, and you said, hey,
I need at least three years, And I said, John,
that they're going to be here, right, you know. I
just I just felt very strongly that that Shod Cohn
(10:37):
was about making this thing work in Jacksonville, because I
knew what he had discussed with Wayne Weaver when he
bought the team, and I had to clarify.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I got back before Shod bought, so we were still
talking during the Wayne years, so I was not sure.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, I just didn't.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I just know how hard it is for an NFL
team to move. You know, It's not as if this
happens a lot, right, I mean, yes, we saw the
trucks in the middle of the night go from Baltimore
to Indianapolis, and you saw what happened with Cleveland and
Baltimore and how much Al Davis flip flopped between LA
and Oakland. But other than that, it's it's rare to
(11:15):
get to get a circumstance where an NFL team actually moves,
And I just kind of felt like I had no
reason to doubt that shod Cohn wanted London as a
financial supplement to its franchise, not as an option to
go overseas, because I still don't think the NFL in
Europe can work. I just I don't see how. I
(11:37):
just think there are too many hoops to jump through.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
At all.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yeah, I thought it was much more, much more dangerous
or for the Jaguars to move to like you know,
in la or a Saint Louis or something like that,
than it ever was to London. But to answer your
question about whether the young whether the young generation can
appreciate that, I don't know that you can, because if
(12:03):
you've never known the Jaguars to be nonexistent, you know,
it's hard.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
To get a sense of what that history is.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
And as you know, I mean it was a little
bit of an upset when the Jaguars got the franchise, right,
I mean, Saint Louis had to drop the ball, and
they dropped the ball and Jacksonville capitalized it got the turnover,
and you know, thirty years later, they're still here. And
despite all the terrible seasons the Jaguars I've had over
the last you know, seventeen eighteen years. You know, and
(12:39):
obviously I'm biased because I'm in the industry, but I
just think the city of Jacksonville is so much better
with the Jaguars than without them.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It just gives you, first of all.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
It's a fantastic entertainment option for some people, and even
for people who don't care about football but care about
Jacksonville wanting to grow as a city. I mean, you
get a lot more respect when you have an NFL
team than when you have no major pro sports franchise whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
No doubt I can talk to you about a million
different topics because we know a lot of the same
topics and you've been doing it for you did it
for so long. But what over the years your relationship
with Tom Cofflin, just covering him as an entity in
(13:30):
this city, with the J Fund, with the team. When
I say the word Tom or I would say the
name Tom Coughlin first reaction, and then just talk about him.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Well, I would say, when I think of Tom Cofflin,
I think as much of the J Fund as I
do of him being a two time Super Bowl winning coach.
I mean, I think more people obviously will think of
him as a two time Super Bowl winning coach and
I hope one day that that his resume gets him
into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But that's a
separate topic. You know that that's becoming more challenging. But
(14:05):
when I think of Tom Coffin, I think of the
foundation upon which the Jaguars are built. I mean, it's
like you have this you know, you're building this house,
and before you can design the kitchen and the bedrooms
and all that other stuff, you have to have the foundation.
And to me, that's what Tom. When I think of
Tom Coffin, I think of the guy who built the
(14:26):
Jaguars foundation. And he had the power to do so
because he was both the GM and the head coach.
And he did a fantastic job. I mean, four postseason appearances,
two AFC title games within the first five seasons is
pretty remarkable.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
I've always been intrigued, probably as we've gotten further away
from it. I'm gonna shift to college football for a second.
The time that we covered college football together, I only
covered for a couple of years, but I covered the
Spurrier and you were right there. You touched the Bowden
there at FSU. Clearly the golden era of college football
(15:05):
right here to me? Do you have an appreciation for
how fortunate you've been to have sort of seen a
lot of that.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Level of college football up close?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
That era?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I mean, it was.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I'm not sure the Times Union covers it as much
as it used to, but during that time, you were
face front for the best.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Not only was it a golden era for college football
in this state. And I think you would be hard
pressed to find two more successful head coaches who were
coaching at rival schools than Bowden and spur.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Your And we almost took it for granted.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Maybe maybe Tom Osborne obviously right in his era, right,
Barry Switzer, that's the only other one that I could think, Okay,
I mean, you know Bo schamp Black or what he has.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I mean, but you know, I was too young and
dumb to realize it.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
So that was the nineties, and all of this coincided,
by the way, with a time where newspapers really mattered
the internet. The Internet hadn't been really full fledged yet, right.
It truly was the golden age, you know, And I
mean the eighties and the nineties for newspapers, and also
the seventies and sixties.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And all that as well.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
I mean the nineties was kind of like the last
part of the Golden age for newspapers, right, And it
just so happened to be at a time when Florida
and Florida State, I mean Florida State was on a
fourteen year streak of top five finishes. Spurrier was winning
like six six SEC titles in a twelve year span
(16:46):
at Florida.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
The days, my friend, we thought they never ended.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
And oh, by the way, that Jacksonville has an NFL
team and they're going to the postseason, you know, year
after year.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
I mean, I don't know that football in this area will.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Ever have a better time than that, right, I mean,
you hope they will, right, But.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
You'd be hard pressed to find something better than that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's hard to imagine.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
You assume they're both in the top five, and for
a little while it's been a while around here, but
for three or four years, you sort of assume this
tune to be in the postseason.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
So that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This is very journalism one oh one, And I'm sure
people who don't care about journalism will fall asleep. But
it's my podcast. So where do you see it going?
You know, in terms of newspapers, you know, your position.
I grew up dreaming of wanting to be a columnist.
Now it's not quite you know, it's a tougher it's
(17:43):
a tougher industry to define. You're not really the rock
star as much as maybe the mid nineties, right where
do you see it going?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know, five ten years?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Quite frankly, I don't like the direction that is going.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
A lot of a lot of content that you see,
sports content that you see on the internet now is
somebody playing off what somebody else wrote.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
You know, they they see, oh this is what you.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Know, somebody on ESPN said about this, and then they
create a blog about that and that gets thrown up there.
Everything's like these short, blurpy reads now that people you know,
there's there's there's no time for storytelling or anything like that.
Uh now, which is what?
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Which?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Which is why I kind of appreciate the athletic a
little bit because they still they still, you know, still
reserve some room for doing that. But everything is, you know,
throw it up on there, and the bigger name you
can throw in there, that's going to get more clicks.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Uh, you know, have at it, you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I mean, and accuracy doesn't matter, not as much.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
No, it doesn't. I mean it doesn't.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
It doesn't matter whether it's politic or whether it's sports.
Just get a name in there so that they can
put this up on their Google searches and to get
the clicks and.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Everything like that. I mean, think about this.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
The Jaguars are going to be playing the Kansas City
Chiefs on a Monday night football game right week five,
Week six.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
How many stories do you think in.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
That week are going to be about Travis Travis Hunter
versus Taylor Swift, you know, I mean, it's just the
fact that you have to think about that just for
a second, tells you where the train is headed.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah, and that could be a series of podcasts with
people such as yourself and myself and probably not get
as much depth as you could because it's it's troubling
for people like us. But okay, now, I guys the question,
You've got to tell me the story behind the Turkey,
(20:00):
because anybody listened to this, there's a there's a Twitter
picture that I repost every and many of my unfunny
friends in the media tweet it was.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
The Turkey for real? Take me through the morning of
the turkey.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
The turkey was for.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Real, because this is why everybody's listening to this podcasting.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So here's the great irony about that picture. Right. I
never and I when.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I say never, I mean n E V E R
tweet put anything up on social media about food.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Ever except that one.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Except that one. I don't know what.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
I don't even know what made me do it. I'm
just sitting there at the table. I just said, I
just so, I just took a picture of the turkey
that was stuffed and all this stuff. And I guess
just whether it was the angle of the picture or
how the turkey looked, you know, to people who saw
it, it didn't look appetizing at all.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Wait, what the heck is this? Right?
Speaker 4 (20:58):
I never dreamed it would take the shelf life that
it did.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
And here it is, like because I think it was
frid after I got back. It was it was twelve
or thirteen, Oh yeah it was.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
It was easily over a decade ago, so you know,
it was just like this, just like this innocent, Oh,
I'll just throw this up there, not, you know, not
that I was expecting any great feedback. And and obviously
if i'd have known what I know now, I would
have never.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Put maybe you would have. It's been a great it's
been a great touchstone for everybody. But do you have
an appreciation, Jean? And I don't really talked to you
about this, for you know, a Twitter Jeene has been followed,
you know, the Turkey and people, the fans really have
(21:52):
embraced you on Twitter.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
And there's a weird part of Twitter as well. There's
but there there.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Are factions of Jaguars fans that Jean Frenette is part
of it. And I think that's pretty cool. And I
know you're a professional, but there's also that as well.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Yeah, I mean number one and maybe this is this
is maybe the you know, the way my dad was
if you got to be able to laugh at yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Sure, if you if you screw up or whatever.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Or you do something and I'm not talking about a
screw up where anybody's hurt or anything like that. I'm
just talking about or a journalism which is not Yeah,
and if you and if you make a mistake, you
just show it, right, I mean not it. I mean
nobody does their job absolutely perfectly where they don't make mistakes, right, Okay,
that's that's even that's even true for a Northeast Florida
(22:44):
cultural icon.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
When I first thought leader.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
When I first saw that, I go, oh, okay, this
is one of those things that John's gonna make stick.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
And for those that you don't know in the Ozone
mailbag fans, I think I did it once. And fans
just love to sort of make up feats of strength
for Gene, feats of cultural identity that he has nothing
to do with. They associated with Gene and he is
(23:19):
longtime Florida Times Union sports columnists and cultural icon, Northeast Florida,
Northeast Florida cultural icon, Eugene P. Gene Furnett, And you know,
to set the record straight for a lot of people
who watch this, Gene as much as we tease him
(23:39):
about the Turkey, as much as we have teased him
about different things. So out of the Corsy has always
been the best sport and gets the spirit of what
things are. And again, I think that's why a lot
of fans on Twitter, because this is a long time
fifteen years on Twitter sort of interacting being a guy
(24:01):
that people go to in the Jaguars and you've always, uh,
I thought done a great job of embracing that.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Well, I got a question for you in relation to
this uh tag as Northeast Florida Cultural icon icon. What
came first that? Or King of All Funk?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Which which came King of All Funk may have been
before that, It's probably around the same time.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
But I am the King of All fund Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Well, and k O A F fits better than n
f C.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
I right, that is true.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That is true.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It's so are you gonna miss it?
Speaker 4 (24:45):
I will miss parts of it. I will not miss
all of it. I certainly don't miss what the profession
has become. As as we've gotten older, and you know,
as as many people know, Gannett has not only bought
The Times Union, but they've bought up virtually all the
papers in Florida, with the exception of Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And Saint Pete.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Okay, they you know, they own, they own, you know,
they own Gainesville, Tallahassee, uh, Brevard County, West Palm Beach, Lakeland, Sarasota,
Fort Myers, Pensacola.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I mean that's what they're doing, really, is the news.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
They're creating their own State of Florida network. So uh so,
Times Union doesn't send people anymore to Florida football games
or f s U games in anything.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Which is a mammoth change that's really tough for local
I mean, yeah, it just is.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I mean it doesn't mean that as a columnist, I
couldn't continue to write about them. I just wasn't going
to be traveling there to go get stories. You got,
you know, you got you got to get interviews by phone,
and you have to rely on the s I D
departments well.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
To kind of deliver to interviews.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
The difference in this day and I know I was
around Florida when you're covering Florida. You know, when you're
the columnist, you had very personal relationships with Bobby Baden
and Steve Spurrier that would probably be very hard to
replicate now just because you're not in person. And for
fans who are winning while I'm talking about this, that
(26:19):
affects coverage, That affects the depth of information that a
fan in Jacksonville can feel for the program. It's just different.
It's the way it is.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
But I'm with you, It's what I would miss it
if I were in your shoes.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Yeah, And it's another reason why I think that people
who cover the NFL, who have covered both college and
the NFL now much before the NFL, because at least
you can go into a locker room. Sure, you know
in college football, we haven't been in a locker room
twenty years, right or whatever.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You know it's done to me having covered it, but
I know it's true.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Now they bring, you know, a select group of players
to you and then you get to interview them that way,
but it's just there you've lost. You lose the personal
connection that the media person, whether it's a columnist or
a beat writer has with the athletes.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
You at least have that a little bit with.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
The Jaguars, although they will make sure that their big
stars probably get to keep their distance, like Trevor Lawrence
and now Travis Hunter will only be a once a
week guy in this coming season for the media to
have access to, and of course you'll have access after games, right,
But you know, so it's it's a much It was
so much more of a personalized business back when I
(27:33):
back when I when I was coming up in the
eighties and nineties, and that.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Part I will miss.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
What I won't miss is how corporate, uh, the newspaper
game has become.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Now they're you know, they're issuing.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Playbooks to these more still to the writers about Okay,
here's what we want for this week. You know, let's
make sure that we we hit this story. Not necessarily
because it's a great story, but because they think that's
going to get clicks, and that's gonna get the that's
what's going to stir up the Google searches. And and
the thing is, even if something gets a lot of clicks,
(28:07):
and I'll tell you, I'll give you a perfect example.
One of the things that got that gets a ton
of clicks down in the West Palm Beach area was
stories about when all this live golf controversy was being
stirred up.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
All of a sudden.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
You know, they saw all these clicks and they're thinking,
oh my, this is great, right, but.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
It gets old after a while.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
Okay, here we are here, there are two years since
living the PGA tour were supposedly gonna come to this agreement,
and they're still you know, they're still and and but
yet but they have to keep feeding that beast because
the the writer may be tired, the writer may be
tired about writing about it, but the higher ups don't
get tired about seeing.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
What the numbers.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
There's no substance to it anymore correct.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
All right, One thing we do here, Gene is the
ozone five five quick questions and change them a little
bit for you. Then gets information from you too, Gene Furnette,
what was your last binge watch?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
My last binge watch on TV?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
On TV? You remember TV.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Binge watch? I was I was I was doing. I
was doing.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
A pretty heavy deal of law and order.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
I tend to, you know, I guess you know. I'm
showing my age here.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
I tend to like the older shows more than I
do the newer ones. I could I couldn't tell you
anything about.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Some of the No, no, that's a little that goes
a little too far back.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
I'm having a hard time getting off the dateline binge now.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Okay, that's another that's not it.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
And I prefer the one hour ones as opposed to
the two hour ones. Okay, but yeah, if I'm going
to do a binge watch, it's probably going to be
that music.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
What does Gene Furnette listen to on the way in?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I'm probably gonna give myself away. I actually there's a
and this is I'm not saying that this is necessarily
my favorite. But there is a Christian station in town
called k Love that I do listen to quite a bit.
I musical artists, I mean, Billy Joel is just one
of my all time favorites. I've been to about probably
about five or six of his concerts over time, country
(30:20):
music a little bit, not a lot, But I don't have, like,
what one specific hip hop guy.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, yeah, that's me.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Probably that, but not anything real. I'm not married to
one specific station, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
I flip around.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I think I know the answer. Most memorable event he covered.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Most memorable event that I've covered, yeh, memorable to me
because I because I was so familiar with them was
the Hall of Fame induction of Tony Basselli and Leroy Butler.
I mean I've known them both for and I knew
Leroy back when he was fifteen sixteen years old because
he was which by courkyd over at Lady and I
used to go over there practices, but to see them
(31:04):
inducted on the same day, and you know, and I
knew LeRoy's mother so so well because she lived in
her Arlington neighborhood near Jayu and I used to see
her walking her dog. It was a shame that she
wasn't around to see that. And and also for Tony
not having his not having his dad, but just watching
(31:24):
not only watching the ceremony unfold and their speeches and
all that, but going to their celebrations afterwards.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
I went to Tony's first.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
I went for an hour and a half, and then
I went to LeRoy's about twenty miles away. That for
about an hour and a half. Just the the unbridled
joy was.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Just I've never I've never.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
Seen Tony so happy as he was that dad, and
the same for Leroy. Yeah, And it was just you know,
just knowing what you know, what it to get to
the pinnacle of your profession and having it happen for
such quality human beings.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
That was That was the best work day ever.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
My guess is a close second would have been the
World Series Oakland San Francisco. I remember you covered that
from the paper back when the paper covered World Series events.
And you probably don't remember this, but I was a
huge Oakland A's fan. And Jane brought me back on
Oakland A's World Series pennant from that. Oh, that's that's
(32:21):
how far back you and I.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Go, well, listen, what's amazing about how much the newspaper
game has changed.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Not only did the TU.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Send me out to California, but they brought me back
after the earthquake delayed the World Series.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
And then I went back.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
For Games three and four.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
People in the business now, for the TU to have
covered baseball without a team, it just shows you the
money the newspapers had back then. It was a different game.
Your biggest influence, like, who's the reason that you're here?
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Well, I told this story in my farewell column. But
I was twelve years old going into my last year
of Little league baseball and my dad came home one
night and he was he was my coach for the
first three years, and said, I'm not going to be
coaching anymore, and you know, and I was like flabbergasted,
(33:18):
is like, hey, what do you mean. We're finally going
to have a really good team this year because we
got we got we got more twelve year olds on
the team we had we had the previous years. I
think we went from two and twelve to five and
nine to seven and seven, and now we were going
to have an even better team. And he says he's
getting out, and so they completely reshuffled the whole league.
(33:39):
And it turns out that the guy that was my
new coach happened to be a sports writer and he
was a two time sports writer of the Year in Vermont,
and when I expressed an interest a couple of years
after I got done playing for him and being a
sports writer, he let me go around with him to
to cover football games, keep the charts for me. But
(33:59):
I got to see him go and interview people after
the game. And I know it was only on a
high school level and you're only basically interviewing the coach.
Players weren't high school players weren't really interviewed back then,
the coaches were. But it gave me a feel for
what it was going to be like and I and
I wanted more of it, and then I got my
and then he helped me get my first job, like
about nine months later when.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
There came and opening.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
So in terms of influence, I would my little league
coach was big. And also when I was in when
I was in West Palm Beach, Bill Panella, who ended.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Up coming to Jacksonville from about period a year and
a half.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
He was my executive sports editor there, and he was
a really big influence because he wasn't afraid to tell
you where you needed to get better, and he would
never do it in a face to face meeting.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
He'd always leave.
Speaker 4 (34:47):
He would leave notes in your mailbox, and that was
very beneficial because you were getting honest, legitimate feedback, and
as a young journalist, that's what you crave, even if
it's and if it's something that he's critical, okay, but
it's a learning experience. The older I got, the less
you got of that because everybody was so caught up
(35:10):
and making sure that the higher ups were being pleased, right,
they don't they they sort of lost the art. Sports
editors have lost the art of actually teaching, sure, and
and a lot of that gets lost. And a lot
of the young guys that come up now, or young
and young women that come up in the business, they're
sort of you know, unless an older colleague kind of
(35:32):
takes them under their wing. The sports editor is too
wrapped up in other more important things to forget about
being a teacher and a mentor give.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Me one column you remember, you remember, let me let.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
Me start with a story first back in In fact,
it was Bill Panella that that came that came up
with this idea. When the Cleveland Indians pitcher and I
forget his name got killed in the boating accident, remember,
and the other and another one got great injured story
as well. Uh, he said, hey, why don't you look
into going down to see if the if the widow
(36:10):
who was still living in the house by the lake
where the fatal accident occurred.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
And this was probably mid February, February.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Of ninety four, it was when the Olympics was going on,
the Winter Olympics was going on, and uh, surprisingly she
she agreed to it. So I was. I spent three
or four hours there at the house, visiting the site
and all that, and I got in touch with other
people who were on the boat, and uh, you know,
and it it turned out to be one of the
(36:39):
one of the more impactful stories that I wrote, and
the TU nominated it for a Pulitzer.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
And it was a.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Stunningly good story, really was.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
But as far as the column goes, you know, the
memorable ones are probably the ones that might be might
involve a little bit of controversy where there was a
Jaguars coach being fired I'll never forget. After the two
thousand and ten season, well, I think the Jaguars were
eight and five, and they lost their last three games
(37:10):
and finished eight and eight, had a chance to win
the division. Peyton Manning beat him out in Indianapolis, had
a chance to win the division. They ended up eight
and eight, you know. And I and this was Jack
del Rio's eighth year as the head coach, and I
advocated for his firing. I just kind of felt like,
(37:31):
you know, for three straight years, you know, without playoffs,
and it just wasn't going in a good direction. It
wasn't like the bottom hadn't fallen out or anything. So
I wrote the column. They didn't fire Jack. And then
my first meeting with Jack in April, after reading that,
(37:51):
I brought it up. I said, look, I know we
haven't had a conversation since I wrote the column advocating
for your firing, but I just want to let you know.
I mean, it was nothing personal or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
Jack. However, Jack looked at me.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
And said, well, it wasn't very well received in my house,
but he actually was very was very good about it.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
I mean he understood that that's you know, that's part
of the job. That's part of the gig.
Speaker 4 (38:16):
And of course before the following season was over, you know,
uh about the team. Yeah, it was you know, and
it was just you know and Jack.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
You know.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
I think it was after thirteen games or something like that,
or maybe it was eleven because I think melt.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Tusher finished the last five games.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
But yeah, that was that was kind of memorable because
of of I think I might have been the first
one in the media to advocate for that and then
and then Jack's reaction afterwards went.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
More received in my house.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Well, Jane, to close, I just want to tell you,
you know, worked with you for twelve years, the TU,
worked around you for fifteen forty four years. That at
the Times Union is an unbelievable feat. I am proud
to call you a friend. I'm proud to call you
a colleague from day one at the TU.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
I'm gonna say he took me under your wing, but
always one of the more helpful people that I ever
worked with. You'll be missed. Enjoy retirement. You have earned
a power.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
John, I uh and I'll and I'll always credit you
with the with the phrase a little gino is always
Keith A.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Little gino is always Keena, Jeane. Thank you very much,
my friends, all right, thanks for having me.
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