Jaguars Hire Doug Marrone As Coach, Bring Back Tom Coughlin As VP

The Jacksonville Jaguars have made some major additions to their staff.

Jaguars Hire Doug Marrone as Coach, Bring Back Tom Coughlin As VP

The Jaguars officially hired Doug Marrone, who finished the 2016 season as the team’s interim coach, as head coach on Monday, and brought back their first head coach, Tom Coughlin, to oversee football operations as executive vice president.

Jacksonville also signed general manager Dave Caldwell to a two-year extension. All three staff members’ contracts run through 2019.

“I have confidence that one day soon we’ll look back on today’s news as the moment that inspired and ultimately established the Jacksonville Jaguars as a football team that wins, week to week and season to season,” owner Shad Khan said in a statement. “The results will speak for themselves in time, but with Tom coming in to join Dave and Doug, there is no question the Jacksonville Jaguars are a stronger football team today.”

Marrone went 1-1 after the firing of Gus Bradley in December.

“I think Doug has earned the respect of the offensive players, and I’m excited for him to get this opportunity and the direction of this team,” quarterback Blake Bortles recently wrote in a text to ESPN’s Mike DiRocco.

Bortles completed over 64 percent of his passes in both of his starts under Marrone. The quarterback only did that in one game under Bradley this season.

The Jaguars finished 3-13 this season– their sixth straight losing campaign– and have not reached the playoffs since 2007.

Coughlin, 70, was the franchise’s first head coach when the Jaguars entered the NFL in 1995. He led Jacksonville to the 1996 and 1999 AFC Championship Games during his eight-year stint with the team.

Coughlin also spent 12 years as head coach of the New York Giants, whom he led to two Super Bowl titles after the 2007 and 2011 seasons. He stepped down from that post after the 2015 season and worked as a senior adviser for the NFL this past year.

Marrone worked as the Buffalo Bills’ coach in 2013 and 2014, going 15-17, including Buffalo’s first winning season in 10 years in 2014 (9-7)– before opting out of his contract after an ownership change. He was hired as Jacksonville’s offensive line coach and an assistant coach for offense before the 2015 season.

Bradley hired Marrone to replace George Yarno, who was diagnosed with cancer and eventually died in August 2016.

Marrone, 52, coached Syracuse to a 25-25 record from 2009-2012, which included a share of the Big East title in 2012. The Orange won two bowl games under Marrone, and their victory over Kansas State in the Pinstripe Bowl after the 2010 season marked the first time Syracuse had posted a winning season since 2001.

ORCHARD PARK, NY – NOVEMBER 27: Assistant head coach Doug Marrone of the Jacksonville Jaguars talks to his players on the bench during NFL game action against the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field on November 27, 2016 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena