Legendary NFL Coach Jeff Fisher chats with Charlie about his involvement with the new Arena Football League and the Nashville Kats. The Kats have an upcoming home game at the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville.
Clarksville Conversations with Charlie Koon
Jeff Fisher: Arena Football In Clarksville
I've lived in Clarksville, Montgomery County nearly my entire life, and I've seen a lot of growth and met some amazing people along the way. There's a lot going on in our community, and on this podcast, I hope she had some light of what's going on in Clarksville. I'm Charlie Kuhn, and this is Clarksville Conversation. Coach Fisher, welcome to Clarksville Conversations. How you doing? I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. Man, I know we got to talk about some football and some things, but everybody in this town loves that mustache beard deal you got in there. Oh, man. The noise regret is it just keeps changing colors, and it's going in the opposite direction. But it's okay. Yeah, that's right. Mine does, too. It's not that you care, but I've never shaved it since I could grow it. Well, that's the... Well, I don't think... Well, I'm the same way. I mean, back, you know, was it high school days when you kind of started? Oh, yeah. I thought somebody said, "Why don't you eat some oatmeal or something like that and leave the milk on it and let the cat lick it off instead of shaving." I thought, "Dang." But no, I don't think I've ever shaved it, but... Yeah. It's a trademark. It's good for you. Yeah, it is. I can tell you some stories. For another day. That's right. Thank you. Well, thank you for being in Clarksville, and I know we've got a lot to talk about, but let's talk about the Nashville Cats and what you've got going on this weekend made out to me. Let me give you a little bit of background. Okay. You know, when I got out of coaching, you know, I've been out for a while now, it's just kind of... I'm just kind of wired to go out and want to help people, you know, help different leagues, and I've done so, and work with the Alliance American Football and help some friends there. And then I got some friends at Fox, and I helped in the U.S. up the whole one. Yep. You know, not for anything other than just to help, you know, help, you know, because I love the game, and, you know, most importantly, it's about the players and, you know, giving them an opportunity to realize dreams. And so, I was approached by an ownership group about six months ago here that we're going to bring the Nashville Cats back to Nashville and get involved in a league, and so I listened to them for a couple of weeks and basically said, "You know what? I'd love to help you." So, you know, that was six months ago, and here we are. So, you know, we're three games into a season, and things are going along, you know, just as well as we could expect right now. We had our opener three weeks ago down at municipal auditor in the Nashville, and the biggest problem we had was long lines. And so, we had nearly 6,000 people there, and so things are rolling right along. Bottom line is this, anytime you do what we're doing, the appropriate thing to do is to give back to the community, and that's kind of what, that's the foundation of why we're doing this. And so, we have a fan base. That's the one thing. The startup team, we didn't have helmets, we didn't have shoes, we didn't have uniform. We had nothing, but what we did have is we had a fan base, and so they all came out, and they've been extremely supportive, and they have memories, you know, it's like the people that we're talking to now have kids, and they said, they remember when their parents brought them out to the Cats, and they just had a love for it. So, that's the uniqueness of the indoor game. It's intimate, you know, it's exciting, it's entertainment, and, you know, everybody leaves with a smile on their face, win or lose, and they come back to the next one. So, you know, here we are. So, as we were doing our scheduling and everything, we looked into the possibility of having one of our games up here. So, you know, we got five down in Nashville, we have one here, and then we've got several on the road. But, this was an opportunity when we circled it on the calendar to, all right, well, let's everybody reach out to their contacts in Nashville, and let's make sure we get in touch with the base and talk to the base, and so that's what we've done. It's Armed Forces Day. We're honoring a lot of members on the base, and, you know, we've got a good team coming up, and we've got a team we don't know much about coming in, and Wichita Regulators, you know, that a big win here a couple nights ago. So, it's just an opportunity to give back, and that's what we do. So, yeah, you talk about Fort Campbell, and they are such a big part of our community, and Clarksville has become a big part of the Nashville community. So, it's almost like we're all just, we're just neighbors, because we just have a little interstate to navigate. Yeah, it is. I mean, you know, early on in my, you know, my career with the Titans early on, we got involved with the base, and did so many different things. I think it was the old Fort team, I brought them up for training camp, and we stayed at Austin Peay, and did a lot of fun stuff with the base, and, you know, I parachuted out of a black helicopter on a practice field with 101st, and we've just done a whole bunch of stuff. And so, and those relationships, we've maintained those relationships and the respect, and so, you know, Nashville, when we moved from Houston to Nashville, we took notice, and you can't help but realize what the music industry was doing and how they were giving them back. When Vince Gill was playing a concert at Franklin High School, because his daughter went there and there, you know, he was just giving back, he said, "Well, okay, well, we know what this is all about, and when we hit the ground, you know, back in '97, that's what we were about, and I'm just trying to continue that here. Yeah. You know, I was at the, I wouldn't see you guys practice at Austin Peay, and Pac-Man Jones, and you had, man, you had quite a squad back then, and, you know, he would catch the punts one arm and kind of wiggle around, and, you know, put his shoe on. Yeah, that was Vince's rookie year, and, yeah, I mean, it was, it was a unique group. I needed to get them away. We needed to get away on our own and kind of get to know each other, and, you know, because I had this policy back then, and if you had, you know, two or three years or less experienced, then you're going to stay in either a hotel or a dorm during train camp and everybody else will stay home. It made sense when you're a veteran, you can just go come, you know, come and go back and forth from home to work, and I took this whole team away for a few weeks, and it was, it was helpful, but we got great memories about, you know, regarding the experience here in Clarksville. Well, and we appreciate you doing that, and, and really, you know, with this new effort in Bank of Reno, we've got downtown. It's the, the perfect setup for a cats game. I mean, what can people expect to see at the game on Saturday? Well, I mean, I'm trying, I'm still trying to visualize, I mean, we went by it. We went by it here today before we stopped here, and, you know, I actually took two tours through it, you know, as we were getting ready and, and what a, it's a best kept secret. I mean, people have no idea how beautiful this arena is and to think that we're going to have, you know, AstroTurf on that field and, and our walls and, you know, the padding and everything, and, and, you know, this game is different in that there's nets, and there's a small goal post between the nets and the balls live off the net, and, you know, it's two weeks ago, we, we were down, we were struggling a little bit in Albany, and we scored a touchdown and kicked the extra point, and then kicked off, and the ball hit the net, bounced out and bounced back into field to play. We scooped and scored and scored another touchdown, we scored, we scored 14 points with the extra point, and, you know, eight seconds, and so, you know, it's exciting game. The rules are different, and, but just, I'm really looking forward to seeing, you know, the AstroTurf on the surface, and our plane service, we're bringing our field up, and, yeah, it's really, it's going to be an exciting afternoon of, well, I, I sure hope everybody will get out there, and, and something I just heard in the hallway, they really need to get out there to congratulate you, because I hear there's some news that came out today about a, another job, or a part of a job, taking out some stuff going on, and we needed, uh, as a league, some of the other owners, we got together, and they, they were looking for some, some interim temporary leadership, and, uh, so I, I, you know, I didn't volunteer, but I certainly, I certainly had been helping for the last three weeks, and I just, I just accepted that. And again, it's just, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's franchises in this league right now that are basically the fabric of these communities in Rapid City and Wichita and Selena and even Oregon, Washington and Albany and, and these teams just were, were longing for some direction and some leadership. And so, yeah, I accepted that. And yeah, it's going to, you know, it's going to cut a little into my fishing time. But, you know, if I can help, if I can help create a situation where parents can bring their youngsters out to a game on a weekend, and any of these cities and these, where these franchise exists and look forward to it and leave with a small interface and I'll maul in. Well, man, that's fantastic. And I'm sure you've had, I mean, just watching your career, there's been quite a few things that cut into your fishing time. Well, there was a, I, you know, I've been blessed and, you know, I have a Montana cabin and why I was a head coach in the NFL for well over 20 years. I never saw my cabin in the fall. Yeah. And so, fortunately, I've been able to see my, my cabin in the fall the last four or five years. And this won't affect it. But, you know, if I, if I've been given the, the choice between going fishing or raising some money for a worthy cause, and I'm going to go right to the worthy cause and see if I can help. I don't blame you there. One little tidbit I will tell you. And, there's a young lady on the cats dance team from Clarksville. So, she'll get to come home and dance on Saturday. Is that right? Well, that's great. I wasn't aware of that. I mean, you know, we're going to try to honor and recognize anybody from the area, you know, even if that's from the Wichita team, you know, these, you know, these, these teams consist of players from small programs, big programs all over the country. And so, we have another one of the dancers. Her grandfather is Phyllis Caballera. And that's Phyllis from the young rascals. Oh, wow. Grooving. And, and, and, and I got to be friends with him, you know, during our, our run in Nashville, and he's played on my piano and my living room with a glass of wine many, many times. And, it was just, I was really surprised and honored at the same time to meet his granddaughter, who's now cheering for us as well. So, small world, small world. Her name is Haley. So, I'll make sure she gets tagged on this and maybe, maybe you'll see her. Please do that. Yes, sir. Thank you. Yes, sir. Well, listen, I appreciate you coming. I know you're busy. Okay. Thanks for having us. Yes. Yes, sir. Do good on Saturday. And we'll see you there. Wow. Some fun. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you.