Tag: Amy Palcic

Urban Meyer congratulates 11-year-old girl for 1st touchdown

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer took to social media to compliment an 11-year-old girl for scoring a TD

The first touchdown scored will never be forgotten. For 11-year-old Keilani Contreras, she will have a compliment and invite that will put the accomplishment over the top.

Contreras became the first girl to score a touchdown in Jacksonville’s Arlington Youth Football Association on Saturday.

“Sometimes boys might be like ‘Oh you can’t do this because you’re a girl’ … well, look at me! I’m a football player!” she said after the game. “You should always go for your dream. … “it doesn’t matter if it’s a boy thing or a girl thing.”

The story was chronicled by ActionJax reporter Ryan Nelson and it made its way to the Jacksonville Jaguars’ new head coach.

He took to social media and offered his congratulations.

That’s a way to ingratiate yourself to a community. And let’s give an assist to the marvelous Amy Palcic, who is all things to the team’s vice president of communications for chiming in, too.

https://twitter.com/CoachUrbanMeyer/status/1377316290981924870?s=20

Jags promotes longtime executive Dan Edwards to new role

Jacksonville promoted longtime executive Dan Edwards to Senior Vice President of Jacksonville Tradition and Alumni on Wednesday.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have promoted executive Dan Edwards to the position of Senior Vice President of Jacksonville Tradition and Alumni. Edwards, who has been with the franchise since 1994 (before its inaugural season), previously served as senior vice president of communications.

Jacksonville announced the move on Wednesday in addition to the formal announcement of Amy Palcic as head of communications. Palcic previously worked for the Texans, where she was the first woman to lead the PR operations for an NFL team.

With Palcic now running communications, Edwards will focus on his new role, which will be to “focus on building alliances, programs, brands and more that will illuminate and market the history, alumni and colorful moments of the Jacksonville Jaguars,” according to the team.

“There has been no better servant to the Jaguars and the Jacksonville community than Dan Edwards,” said Jags president Mark Lamping. “The Jaguars were extremely fortunate as an expansion team to recruit Dan as a young PR professional to Jacksonville.  But, anyone who knows Dan — current players, alumni, coaches, colleagues, league officials and many others — will be the first to say that where we really lucked out is being able to call Dan a neighbor and friend.

“That’s why Dan will be perfect for this new and important opportunity. Dan has a passion for the Jaguars and love for our hometown of Jacksonville that will bring a new dimension to everything we do, and want to do, during what is undeniably an exciting time for our fans and franchise.”

With both these moves now official, Jacksonville’s front office inches closer to being complete.

Listen to the latest from Jags Wire’s own James Johnson and Phil Smith on their podcast “Bleav in the Jags.” Subscribe via Apple Podcasts and check out our archived episodes via Bleav Podcasts.

Jags HC Urban Meyer announces Amy Palcic to lead communications department

Palcic was the first woman to serve as an NFL franchise’s top PR contact, and she’s regarded as one of the best in the league.

Jacksonville has hired Amy Palcic as the new head of the Jaguars communications team, head coach Urban Meyer announced on Tuesday.

Palcic, who is considered one of the top public relations talents in the NFL, was surprisingly and controversially dismissed by the Houston Texans in November after the team made a change at general manager and head coach.

Palcic made history when she was hired by Houston in 2013 as the first woman to serve as an NFL franchise’s top public relations contact. Her tenure was notable for helping manage J.J. Watts’ Hurricane Harvey relief fund. Additionally, her team won the Pete Rozell Award in 2017, which is given annually to the league’s top PR staff.

Now, she’ll be aiding the Texans’ AFC South rival, who they have to face twice a year.

J.J. Watt says Texans firing Amy Palcic ‘a very difficult loss’ for the organization

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt took time to express his thoughts on the firing of vice president of communications, Amy Palcic.

The Houston Texans shook up more of their behind-the-scenes operation Wednesday when they fired vice president of communications Amy Palcic.

For the average Houston sports fan, Palcic may have been recognizable as the lady who would accompany Deshaun Watson or J.J. Watt during postgame interviews. For many of the players, especially Watt, she was part of the fabric of Texans football at NRG Stadium.

“I think you can tell from the universal response from prominent people in the business, what type of person Amy is and how well respected and well liked she is, both inside our building and outside the building,” Watt said. “Extremely professional; just really good at her job, cared a lot, just wants what’s best for the team and what’s best for the organization.”

Palcic would normally help Watt out with his annual charity softball game, but the biggest assist she gave Watt was in 2017 in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. As Watt sought to raise money for the city of Houston and areas of South Texas affected by the hurricane, Palcic worked her connections to get in touch with GoFundMe directly to handle all of the donations that were pouring into the site, up to $37 million worth.

“Always trying to do what’s best, and was a massive helping hand with me during the hurricane, during my entire time here,” Watt said. “So, I think it’s a very difficult loss. She’s an incredible person and I think she’s going to have another job in an absolute heartbeat. I think it’s a big loss for us.”

Incidentally, the Texans are playing the Cleveland Browns Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT at FirstEnergy Stadium. Before coming to the Texans in June 2013, one of Palcic’s prior jobs was with the Browns for 10 years, which also included the Romeo Crennel regime from 2005-08.

Texans fire VP of Communications Amy Palcic, leading to swift and voluminous backlash

The Texans fired VP of Communications Amy Palcic on Wednesday, leading to a swift backlash from football journalists.

The list of women who run communications for NFL teams went from one to zero on Wednesday when the Houston Texans fired Amy Palcic, their VP of Communications. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Palcic was terminated because she was no longer a “cultural fit” with the organization.

It’s a highly suspect move. Palcic is one of the most highly-respected people in the business at her job, she and her staff won the won the 2017 Pete Rozelle award, presented annually by the Pro Football Writers of America, to the NFL’s best PR staff, and she was instrumental in coordinating J.J. Watt’s Hurricane Harvey fund in 2017, which raised $41.6 million in relief for the Houston area.

Reaction was swift, voluminous, and universal in favor of Palcic from the football journalists who have associated with her in the past.

Given the Texans’ history of conservative politics, this particular journalist posited that this tweet from Palcic last Saturday in support of Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris may have had something to do with the “cultural fit” nonsense.

(For the record, every time I dealt with Palcic and the Texans’ media arm, she and they were nothing but professional, accessible, and helpful).

Unfortunately, the Texans don’t have a good PR person to handle the fallout from this move… because they just let her go.

Texans fire vice president of communications Amy Palcic

The Houston Texans have fired their vice president of communications, Amy Palcic.

The Houston Texans continue to make changes inside the building as they attempt to get to the bottom of why they started the year 0-4.

On Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the club fired vice president of communications Amy Palcic, who had been with the team since June 2013. However, she was no longer considered a “culture fit,” according to Schefter’s source.

According to the Houston Chronicle’s John McClain, team president Jamey Rootes was the one who fired Palcic. In addition to leading public relations for the team, Palcic also handled all relationship management with the league’s network TV partners.

Palcic was the first woman to be the head of an NFL public relations department, and her work was meritorious. In 2017, Palcic and the Texans PR department won the Pro Football Writers of America’s Pete Rozelle Award, which is given to the most outstanding team PR staff for that year. Not only was Paclic the first woman PR director to win the award, but she was the first PR director to win the award in their first year.

In 2016, Palcic was promoted from director of corporate communications to director of communications and eventually earned the vice president of communications title in April of 2018.

A graduate of Auburn, Palcic spent her 10 years as the director of communications for the Cleveland Browns.