From EIU to Bears GM, Pace proud of his path

It has been 14 years since Ryan Pace left Eastern Illinois University with a degree in marketing and headed for New Orleans, hoping for a future in football after his playing days as a defensive end for the Panthers.

Now he's back as the sixth general manager in the history of the Chicago Bears.

"I was telling my wife (Stephanie), I remember leaving Eastern Illinois in some beat up car and driving down to New Orleans for the job interview," Pace said. "The other night, we're flying back here to be the general manager of the Chicago Bears. I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud of the path that I took. It just makes me smile."

But the youngest GM in the NFL was all business when he told the media that the most crucial decision he'll make with the Bears is hiring the right head coach. That's clearly Job One as Pace begins the task of resurrecting a 5-11 team and a franchise that has been to the playoffs just once in the last eight years.

He mentioned it multiple times Friday during his introduction at Halas Hall. The 37-year-old Pace saw how integral that decision was in New Orleans, where he spent all of his 14 years in the NFL, including 13 in personnel evaluation. A 3-13 season in 2005 came with the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, which rendered the Saints' Superdome unplayable. But Saints general manager Mickey Loomis hired Naperville Central High School graduate Sean Payton, another EIU alum, as head coach in 2006. That year the Saints were in the NFC title game, where they lost to the Bears, but three years later they won the first Super Bowl in franchise history.

"I witnessed this firsthand with Sean Payton, and how that was the spark that got the New Orleans Saints headed in the right direction," said Pace, who does not have a specific style of coach in mind.

Armed with a five-year contract and final say in the process, Pace says he wants as the interview process plays out in the coming days.

"It doesn't matter if it's an offensive or defensive coach," Pace said. "I'm looking for the best head coach that has the traits we're looking for - that's confidence, charisma, discipline, leadership, those types of things. The best man for the job."

Pace ran Thursday's head-coaching interview of Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles the same day he was hired as Bears GM. He has other interviews already scheduled, but declined to name the candidates.

Pace, who will have final say on who is hired as head coach, said Bears chairman George McCaskey, team president and CEO Ted Phillips and consultant Ernie Accorsi will be involved..

"It's a group effort, and I'm going to lean heavily on George and Ted and Ernie Accorsi, who I admire tremendously," Pace said. "But, yes, I do have final say."

Pace also has the last word on the 53-man roster, which he will begin evaluating soon. He will oversee the entire football operation and report directly to Phillips. The new head coach will report to Pace.

Once a head coach is in place, Pace will examine a roster that includes just one current Pro Bowl player (guard Kyle Long) and is top heavy with huge contracts for some players who underperformed in 2014 (Jay Cutler, Jared Allen, Brandon Marshall).

"That will be a critical first step in us making the right off-season plan and decisions," Pace said. "We'll be a team who looks at every single avenue in improving our roster. We'll be aggressive in our approach, but for the Bears to have sustained success, we must build through the draft."

Though Pace spent more of his time in New Orleans on the pro side of evaluation, he was involved with college scouting as well. Pace was involved in the free-agent signing of quarterback Drew Brees in 2006, which was the biggest on-the-field factor in the Saints' turnaround.

"The recipe to winning Super Bowls is stringing successful drafts together again and again," Pace said. "We're not just collecting athletes. We're acquiring football players that fit the Chicago Bears. There will be a major emphasis on character, toughness, instincts and intelligence.

"It's all about winning games, and that's what I'm here to do."

Many who witnessed the embarrassment of the Bears' 2014 season would characterize Pace's job as a rebuilding, and Pace recalls similar sentiments after the Saints' 3-13 fiasco in 2005.

"Everyone thought, 'This is a massive rebuild. This team has been decimated,' " Pace said. "We quickly put together a team to go the NFC championship that very next year. But the next two years we were continuing to build, continuing to progress, (and in), 2009 we won a Super Bowl. The most important thing is that we have an aggressive plan, and we're improving."

In the past, Pace declined opportunities to interview for promotions with other organizations, and early in the current cycle of hirings and firings was believed to be leaning toward staying in New Orleans. This time, he said, the time was right.

"I was in a good situation in New Orleans," he said. "I worked with great people there in a good environment. I wasn't one of those guys looking to jump to the next job. This was a very thorough and calculated decision by me and my family (wife Stephanie and daughter Cardyn).

"This is a historic franchise that desperately wants to win and they're willing to do whatever it takes for that to happen. And I want to be leading that charge."

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