Denis Pagan recently joined Rex Hunt on SEN’s Rex’s Football Life, where he recounted the story of how he became the coach of North Melbourne.
After spending time as the Under 19’s coach at Arden Street, the competition was disbanded at the end of 1991, forcing Pagan to look elsewhere for employment.
PRESS PLAY above to listen to the full interview with Denis Pagan.
Pagan took up the role as coach of the Essendon reserves, and he was still there when Wayne Schimmelbusch was sacked by North Melbourne at the beginning of 1993. Soon after, he received what would turn out to be an important phone call.
“I reckon it was about the 5th of March, 1993. I was just driving in from work at that stage; it was about 5:30 at night when the phone rang,” Pagan recalled.
“It was a North Melbourne director. They told me that Schimma was no longer coaching and that they were going to have an interview tomorrow afternoon – ‘are you ready?’”
Pagan was one of three candidates for the top job. Dermott Brereton and Rodney Eade were the other two and by his own admission, the then 45-year-old was the rank outsider of the trio.
Nevertheless he prepared all through the night for the interview, recalling advice Ron Joseph had given him some six months earlier.
“I’d found out the night before (an interview with Melbourne) that they’d appointed Neil Balme. I rang Ron Joseph and said that this was silly.
“He told me that I’d learn a hell of a lot by going along. Probably the biggest lesson I learned was that the people who interview you, don’t do it too many times. In the space of an hour or an hour and a half it’s amazing what sort of impressions you can make.”
Pagan arrived for the interview at Peter De Rauch’s factory in Brunswick well prepared. With a dozen men on the Kangaroos’ board, it was an intimidating atmosphere to walk into.
“I remembered some advice the late Ron Evans gave me when we were talking about potential negotiation skills. He told me that in any negotiation, don’t try to be bossy or authoritarian or dictatorial, but try to control it.”
Pagan left the interview thinking he had acquitted himself well, but didn’t hear anything from the board for the next day and a half.
Getting on with his job at Essendon, he then drove out to Skinner Reserve to prepare for the Bombers’ match against Footscray's reserves. Sitting in the car park by himself, it was here his life changed forever.
“It was about half past eight and I got a phone call from Greg Miller - you could have blown me away. He told me that I’d got the job and I was over the moon.”
Pagan quickly hurried home to begin his new life as the senior coach for North Melbourne. He would go on to coach the most games in the club’s history, with 240 appearances between 1993 and 2002.
He was at the helm for the 1996 and 1999 premierships, and led the side to seven straight preliminary finals between 1994 and 2000.
