Another marathon shift of draft evaluations at Dove Valley was over, and Jim Goodman’s day wouldn’t get any more thrilling.
His evening consisted of dining alone in a nearby restaurant, then retiring to his familiar hotel room in preparation for doing it all again the next day. The high point of the evening was when Goodman, the Broncos’ director of college scouting, made his nightly phone call to his wife, Jennie. She has been by his side on his journey to nearly every imaginable career stop in football.
That is Goodman’s carrot most nights: a call to the panhandle of Florida. While the rest of the Broncos’ draft strategists go home to their loved ones, their own food and their own beds, Goodman, 52, relies on the telephone and a loving voice on the other end.
It’s not that he, Jennie and their three grown children aren’t used to it. From the start of training camp in July to the end of May, Goodman estimates he sleeps at his Bonifay, Fla., home about 40 nights. Maybe 41.
“James told me he was figuring it out the other night,’ said Jennie, every bit as genuinely Southern as her husband. “I told him we probably shouldn’t do that anymore. It’s too depressing.’
Such is the life of an NFL scout. Particularly one in charge of a department at draft time. Still, the Goodmans push on.
“He was born to evaluate football personnel,’ said the Goodmans’ oldest child, Jeff, a former wide receiver at the University of Florida and now an attorney in Birmingham, Ala. “This is what he is. Everything else – the long days, the long times away – it’s a part of who he is.’
With a machine-gun rapid fire, Goodman spits out his complete r sum . He has been a high school coach, a college head coach, an athletic director and a recruiting coordinator. He coached outside linebackers at Air Force in 1981.
Goodman has crossed paths with hundreds of coaches and players, and remains close to many. Goodman, who will be a vital part of the Broncos’ draft Saturday and Sunday, works closely with two of the folks he met along the way. He met Broncos coach Mike Shanahan at the University of Florida. Shanahan was a 28-year-old offensive coordinator for the Gators, and Goodman was working a camp there. Goodman met Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist the following year, when Sundquist was a freshman fullback at Air Force.
Goodman said he has found his niche with the Broncos.
“Everyone here is comfortable with Jim, and everyone knows that he is a lifelong football coach and talent evaluator,’ Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said. “The future of the organization relies on guys like Jim.’
The relationships Goodman has forged along the way make him effective in his job, those close to him say. He has an easy way about him. He usually greets people he knows with a warm smile and a hearty hello, which Sundquist calls a “Southern folksy style.’
The role of a college scouting director has become as much detective as talent evaluator. For all the time in the film room – Sundquist said Goodman is one of the best film evaluators he has been around – Goodman is valuable outside it. Finding the truth about players off the field is vital.
“What I love most about Jim is that if he doesn’t know the answer we’re looking for, he finds it out,’ Sundquist said. “And he usually finds it out from the right sources. Some guys may get to someone who knows a player’s coach. Jim gets right to the coach. He gets into places not everyone can.’
Goodman’s schedule rarely slows. He begins the work year evaluating the Broncos’ veteran talent at training camp, then shifts to the college season and into the postseason all-star games and workouts. He spends most of March and April in Denver working in the team’s “war room.’
Next month, Goodman will begin preparing for the 2006 draft before heading home for a vacation.
As Goodman sat in his hotel room, waiting to return a call to his wife, he made it clear it’s all worth it.
“I’ve been in the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Liberty Bowl as a coach,’ Goodman said. “But none of it is nearly as exciting as these two draft days coming up. This is what it’s all about.’
Bill Williamson can be reached at 303-820-5450 or bwilliamson@denverpost.com.
