COSTA MESA — The first thing to know about Joe Hortiz, the Chargers’ new general manager, is that he’s a Philadelphia guy, a Delaware guy, a Baltimore guy. He has the no-nonsense sensibilities of the old industrial Northeast, with all the stereotypical passion and stubbornness that implies.
The second thing to know about him is that he’s a family guy, a football guy, a team guy. He started his career at the absolute bottom of the NFL’s food chain, rising through the ranks for 26 years, from personnel assistant to regional scout, to national scout, to director of player personnel.
So, why leave the Baltimore Ravens for the Chargers? Why leave behind all he had accomplished over 26 years with the Ravens for a new job with the Chargers? Why leave all he knew and all the comforts of one coast for the other? Was it a leap of faith or was there something more to it?
Hortiz, 48, said during his introductory press conference at the Chargers’ training facility on Tuesday that he had a different feeling when he completed the first of his two interviews with team executives last month. He said he later told his wife, Jennifer, “Baby, this is it. This is the fit. I want this job.”
“In that Zoom call, you hear about the longevity of the people in this organization and you hear about the love they have for this organization and the commitment they have to winning,” Hortiz said. “I made a commitment to building a consistent winner. You hear that (on the Zoom call), and then when I came here (for an in-person interview) you feel it, and you know it’s true.
“You know they’re committed to winning. It makes it easy to go from one great organization to another great organization. I believe it. There’s talent on the field. They know how to draft players here. They’ve drafted some really great players. We’ve played them. We’ve lost to them in playoff games. We’ve beaten them in tough, hard-fought games. Our goal is to just build it bigger and stronger and tougher.”
It’s one thing to say it and another to actually do it, though, as Chargers fans down the years will tell you again and again. Hortiz acknowledged the hard work and the challenges ahead. He also laid out some of his priorities during a nearly 40-minute question-and-answer session.
Suffice it to say, a culture change is underway within the Chargers with his hiring on Jan. 30, which came six days after Jim Harbaugh was lured away from the University of Michigan. Hortiz replaced Tom Telesco and Harbaugh replaced Brandon Staley as the head coach, after they were fired on Dec. 15.
“It’s team, team, team,” Hortiz said. “That’s real. We want guys to have that mentality, to persevere, to fight. Up 30, down 30, we’re playing hard all the way to the end of the game. High-character people. Players who care about each other, do the right thing. Those are the things we’re going to be looking for.”
Hortiz’s background has served him well to this point. He recalled beginning his career as a graduate assistant at Auburn University, his alma mater. He said he would arrive at 7 a.m. each day to get the coffee started before the staff meeting. He broke down video. He ran the youth football camps.
It was grunt work, but it got him noticed.
Ozzie Newsome, the Ravens’ GM at the time, hired him in 1998.
“Alabama guy hiring an Auburn guy,” Hortiz said, shaking his head in wonder.
Jim Harbaugh was the Ravens’ quarterback at the time, nearing the end of a 14-year NFL career that concluded with a two-year stint with the Chargers in the 1999 and 2000 seasons. One afternoon in 1998, Harbaugh invited Hortiz to play racquetball – a version of the sport, anyway.
“I was, like, ‘Oh my God, this is so cool,’” Hortiz recalled. “I was 22 years old. I’m a kid. I swear to you, I’m so blessed to be here today, that I got out of that room. I was getting thrown around. I’m ready to hit the ball off the wall and Jim comes in and just checks me into the middle of the court.”
Cutthroat was what it was.
Now, they’re together again, working side by side.
“I’ll talk to Jim every morning during the season and say, ‘Where can I help you get better,’” Horvitz said. “He’s going to say, ‘Joe, I need an inside (line)backer. We need to upgrade.’ Well, that’s what we’re going to go out there and do. You do it through free agency. You do it pre-draft, post-draft in free agency. You do those summer signings, the cap casualties. Things to do to protect comp picks and then, really, just churn the bottom of the roster. Always looking to get better.
“Always looking to improve every week.”
