Ryan Pace in Chicago after being hired as the Bears’ general manager on Thursday, January 8, 2015. (Matt Koch / ChicagoBears.com)
As the Saints’ chief scout, Ryan Pace had it good in New Orleans.
His department enjoyed a tight relationship with the coaching staff. Coach Sean Payton and General Manager Mickey Loomis never disagreed on critical matters.
But, when it became clear that the Chicago Bears were interested in hiring him to fill their GM role, Pace found a spot where he might have it even better.
The 37-year-old had met his wife — Stephanie, the mother of his daughter, Cardyn –while he played defensive end at Eastern Illinois University, about three hours away from Chicago.
His father- and brother-in-law are Bears fans. It was a chance to close a circle he began drawing when he left Illinois in a beat-up car in 2001 to accept an entry-level gig in New Orleans with the Saints — only this time he’d return to the Prairie State on an airplane to assume charge of football operations for one of the NFL’s charter franchises, which he could tell was willing to do anything it took to get back to some winning ways after going 5-11 and missing the playoffs in 2014.
Pace spoke at length with Loomis and Payton — an Eastern Illinois alum himself — and decided the time was ripe to make a move.
“You only get one first shot at this, (and) this is a dream for me,” Pace told reporters in Chicago on Friday, one day after the Bears had hired him over three other candidates to become the league’s youngest general manager. “The historic franchise, the city of Chicago, coming back to Illinois, … everything just felt right. I trust my instincts and my gut, and that’s why I’m here.”
Pace discussed his reasons for leaving the Saints after 14 years of employment at an introductory news conference at Halas Hall, the Bears’ administrative headquarters. But he touched on more — notably, what he felt his most important experiences were as he worked his way up from assisting in the coordination of Saints operations at training camp and during games to overseeing New Orleans’ college- and pro-level scouting.
The remarks may be illuminating for some, as the Saints rarely made Pace available to the media in New Orleans.
Pace said nothing was more valuable to him than watching Loomis hire Payton in 2006. The Saints had registered a 3-13 season in 2005, when they played their entire schedule outside of New Orleans, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina that August.
Many doubted New Orleans could support the Saints after the failure of federal levees produced catastrophic flooding, and many feared the team would relocate permanently.
But then Loomis hired Payton. The Saints subsequently acquired quarterback Drew Brees. Months later, the organization reached its first NFC title game — ironically, it was a defeat at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The Saints then won their lone Super Bowl championship on Feb. 7, 2010. That remains New Orleans’ sole major sports championship.
“It started when Mickey Loomis hired Sean Payton — so, hiring the right head coach,” said Pace, who replaces the dismissed Phil Emery in Chicago and is now responsible for bringing in someone to coach the Bears after the recent firing of Marc Trestman. “We developed an organizational philosophy right then and there on the players we wanted to acquire, and the whole building was on the same page. Everything was focused on winning games; everybody dropped their egos; and the rest is history.”
Yet Pace made it sound like he gained as much out of the 2012 bounty scandal that led to suspensions for Payton (season-long) and Loomis (eight). New Orleans — like it did in 2014 — went 7-9 and missed the playoffs.
The Saints recovered in 2013 to win 12 of 18 games and qualify for the divisional playoffs. One of their victories was the first road playoff win in franchise history.
“I truly believe in adverse situations … you find out a lot about the people that are in the building and on the team,” Pace said.
Unsurprisingly, Bears President Ted Phillips expressed optimism about Pace’s arrival. “He has the intelligence, the passion, the integrity, high character and toughness to be a strong leader and to make an immediate and lasting impact,” Phillips said Friday.
Yet Pace’s youth surfaced as a topic more than once Friday, even after the Seahawks hired GM John Schneider at a similar age in 2010. Three seasons later, Seattle won its only Super Bowl title.
Pace acknowledged he was young, but he urged reporters to understand one thing.
“I’ve seen a lot in (these) years — I think a lot more than a lot of people have with a lot of teams,” Pace said. “I don’t look at my age. I look at my experience in New Orleans.”
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