The Nashville Kats were on their way to winning the Arena Football League’s Eastern Division in the summer of 1997. Jay Gruden, a 30-year-old rookie offensive coordinator with a head of shaggy brown hair, a bright smile and puffy cheeks, toiled along their sidelines.
Nashville’s defensive coordinator Pat Sperduto, a longtime friend and former teammate of Gruden‘s, walked over to talk before a game. In his hand, Sperduto clutched his call sheet, meticulously organized with plays for different personnel groupings and downs and distances, all typed up and laminated.