Q&A with Chargers President Dean Spanos

This past weekend’s mini camp marked the unofficial start of the Chargers’ preparations to earn their third consecutive AFC West title. Team President Dean Spanos sat down with Chargers.com this weekend to discuss mini camp, the draft, the 2008 season, and provide an update on the team’s efforts to build a new stadium in San Diego County.

 

“It’s always hard to tell, but just going by what A.J. (Smith) and our scouting department and the coaches are saying, our head coach especially, they seem very upbeat and excited about our young prospects. It’s kind of neat to see all the young guys and watch how they transcend from college to the professional level. That’s the thing that I enjoy the most.”

 

 

“This is the kickoff of our offseason. This is officially the start. It’s really more of a transition for the young guys coming in. It’s nice to see all the veterans coming back. We had a lot of injuries last year. Philip Rivers and L.T. and even Antonio Gates, a lot of our guys are getting better faster than everybody thought. That was really the thing that stuck out to me the most. Watching everybody interact is important. Coach Turner seems very upbeat about everything also.”

 

 

“The thing that stands out to me is we’ve got almost everybody coming back. That gets back to the most important point we’ve made over the last several years and that’s continuity. We’ve been able to draft well in the last four or five drafts and we’ve signed over 35 of our players to long-term contracts so we can maintain that continuity and that’s exciting going into this year. The more they get to play with each other, the better chance they have to be successful.”

 

 

“It says a lot. It’s a great compliment to the players and the organization to have five primetime games. It’s been a work in progress for the last four or five years, but right now we’re the third-winningest team in the National Football League over the last four years. I think everybody’s pretty proud of that. But that only takes you so far though. Until we get a Super Bowl trophy, I think everybody will look at it as not finishing what we set out to do.  It shows a great deal of respect to the organization. Everybody’s proud of it.” 

 

 

“The league was very accommodating. We told them what was important to us. Playing the game in Buffalo and leaving from there to head to London was really important and they made it happen. It’s as convenient as it can be. It’s not perfect. We’re going to have to adjust. Everyone’s got a great attitude about it. The players, the coaches and the staff are excited about going over there. This is a big-time game. Playing on big stages prepares the organization for the most important games. We feel very privileged to be selected to go. It’s going to be showcased all over the world. It’s pretty exciting.”

 

 

“The biggest challenge is trying to get back to the AFC Championship Game like we did last year and hopefully taking it a step further. Our biggest issue at the end of last season was injuries. In some ways, going 1-3 wasn’t fun at the time but in some unique way it might have been the best thing that could have happened to us. It showed the resiliency of this team, the organization and our coach to hold everything together. That’s about as low as you can get early in the season. We overcame it and we were a quarter away from getting to the Super Bowl. The most important thing that came out of last year was that this team can overcome great adversity.

 

“There were a couple of changes on the coaching staff that I’m happy about. I’ve known (Wide Receivers Coach) Charlie Joiner since we first bought the team back in 1984. He was here as a player so I’ve known him my entire career in the National Football League. To have him back here is great. He’s one of the class guys in the NFL. And (Running Backs Coach) Ollie Wilson is one of the great guys too and it’s very nice to have him back also.”

 

“I think it’s a great opportunity for (Director of Player Personnel) Jimmy Raye to move into a very key position in the organization. For my son John Spanos, it was a great compliment to him to have A.J. promote him. There were five individuals in the scouting department that got promotions, and it’s a great opportunity for all of them because your best opportunity to get better sometimes is to promote from within. They were all well-deserving.

 

“There’s no doubt that Buddy Nix has been an integral part of the success of our drafts since he’s been here. He was a great addition to the organization when John Butler brought him here seven years ago. I have the utmost respect for him and we hated to see him go.

 

“And it’s nice to add Randy Mueller. He’s got 22 years of experience in the National Football League. A.J. has known him for quite a few years and has great respect for his ability to scout new talent for us. He’ll be a great addition to our personnel department.”

 

“I think a lot of people don’t realize that there are tickets available just from annual attrition. Our fans have given us a distinct home-field advantage the last several years. We’re 15-1 at home the last two years. Our season ticket holders have played a big part in that.”

 

 

“We’ve been at this now for more than six years, and we’ve devoted a tremendous amount of time and money to the effort.   Right now, as you know, we’re concentrating all of our efforts on the last possible San Diego County sites. There are two sites that we’re potentially looking to build on. The one that seems to be the one that everybody is most interested in is the bay front site, where the power plant now sits. We’re really looking hard at that right now. We have studies underway. One is about the feasibility of that site and the other deals with how we could finance the project going forward. We’re hoping within the next two to three months these studies will be done and we can come to some resolve by the middle to the end of the summer as to whether it’s a viable location and we can proceed. 

 

“There are two critical aspects, though, that we have no control over. One is the actual power plant and whether the city can get permission to close the plant down so we can build there. That’s probably the single most critical aspect right now. And the second critical aspect that we have no control over is the fate of the Gaylord project – our stadium project is unlikely to proceed until the Gaylord Project is decided one way or the other.” 

 

 

“Ed Roski is a friend of mine. Our fathers were in the development business together, and we’ve talked about various development projects over the years.   Ed has told me about his plans for a Los Angeles stadium. And I’ve told Ed that the Chargers’ focus continues to be in San Diego. We’ve tried very hard to work something out here. We weren’t successful in getting anything done in the City of San Diego. We then turned our attention to San Diego County. We’ve looked in National City and in Oceanside. We’re working with Chula Vista now, and we’re going to continue to look at our last two options in Chula Vista for as long as we can.”

 

 

“We’ll probably have a nice quiet dinner at home with my wife Susie and my sons. I’ll do a little barbecuing at the house. That’s what I enjoy the most.”