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Tom Coughlin interviews with the Jacksonville Jaguars

By Daniel Lago

Nov 14, 2016; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants former head coach Tom Coughlin walks off the field after being interviewed before a game between the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Bengals at MetLife Stadium. The Giants will induct Coughlin into their Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 14, 2016; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants former head coach Tom Coughlin walks off the field after being interviewed before a game between the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Bengals at MetLife Stadium. The Giants will induct Coughlin into their Ring of Honor during a halftime ceremony. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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With only one game left in the regular season, the Jaguars have begun their coaching search in earnest, starting with Tom Coughlin.

The Jacksonville Jaguars let go of former head coach Gus Bradley after another embarrassing loss in week 15, presumably to get a head start on searching for a new coach. That sentiment was proven correct on Wednesday as the Jaguars reportedly interviewed Tom Coughlin.

Tom Coughlin is an obvious candidate because of his ties to Jacksonville, but the timing of the interview came as somewhat of a shock:

"“It was a surprise to all of us,” a team source said.A surprise because general manager Dave Caldwell spent the afternoon watching practice, which may have precluded him from attending the interview."

That one tidbit from the team source (props to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union) opens up a can of worms in terms of what is going on with general manager David Caldwell. After publicly tasking Caldwell to lead the coaching search, owner Shad Khan hired a prominent firm to help with the coaching search. According to Ryan O, it doesn’t appear Caldwell was involved with Coughlin’s interview:

"But if Caldwell, who Khan said last week was “charged,” with leading the search for a new coach, wasn’t a part of the interview, then it’s conceivable to think any Coughlin-related discussion would involve him gaining control of the 53-man roster.What role the search firm hired by Khan last week played in the interview is also unclear.Caldwell didn’t return a message to the Times-Union seeking comment.A team source said Coughlin, Khan and senior vice president Tony Khan weren’t spotted at EverBank Field at any point Wednesday."

If Khan and his analytics-centric son Tony are taking initiative to talk to Coughlin first, that seemingly indicates Coughlin is being considered for a personnel role.

My tentative conclusion here is that Khan wanted to speak with Coughlin to get his assessment of the roster before deciding what to do with Caldwell and the front office structure. I think Khan wants to keep Caldwell onboard as the GM, but Coughlin could take a seat at the top of chain as the football tsar.

The next few weeks should be interesting.

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