The Jags Had Me With Coughlin and Lost Me With Marrone

Posted By on January 10, 2017

The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Doug Marrone as their next Head Football coach yesterday. In addition to Marrone, they also hired Tom Coughlin as the Vice President of Football Operations. 

By John Sarianides

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a new coach. The Jags hired former Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone as their new head coach yesterday. Reportedly, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels turned down overtures from the team and that’s when the Jags turned to Marrone.

The Jaguars also hired former coach Tom Coughlin as the VP of Football Operations. Coughlin was the first coach in Jaguars history and guided the team to the 1995 and 1999 AFC Championship games where they lost to the Patriots and Titans. The Jaguars experienced the most success they have had as a franchise under Coughlin. In fact, they have only made the playoffs twice since he was fired after the 2002 season.

I like the Coughlin hire. I think he brings experience and a championship pedigree to the Jaguars front office. Two things they desperately need. Coughlin will make all personnel decisions but he will also be a valuable asset to general manager David Caldwell. Coughlin can be a little rough around the edges sometimes so it’ll be interesting to see how he and Caldwell work together.

I am not crazy about the Doug Marrone hire however. Marrone is tough to work with by all accounts. He had a difficult time working the Bills front office and he is not exactly a players coach. Marrone also had a hard time dealing with the media in Buffalo. He can be very curt and short with his responses. That’s fine if you are Bill Belichick but when you haven’t won anything like Marrone, it doesn’t fly.

Both Coughlin and Marrone have a connection to Bill Parcells so they are “Parcells guys” if you will. I am sure that is a big reason why they agreed to work together. Both also have big egos and are hardliners. It’ll be interesting to see how they work together seeing that they have similar personalities.

I think bringing back Tom Coughlin is a great move the Jaguars. Bringing back Doug Marrone is not. Owner Shad Khan could have done better. I guess that’s why they are the Jacksonville Jaguars. They always find a way to mess it up.