The Jaguars’ Next Head Coach: Who Should Jaguars Fans Want?
By Luke Sims
"Editor’s Note: This article is from Black and Teal’s newest contributor, Daniel Lago. He’s got some pithy insight into the Jaguars going into the offseason."
Before we delve into the Jaguars coaching search, let’s take a look at a few numbers and pose a question.
- 36 Wins – 44 Losses. One playoff appearance as a head coach
- An offensive coordinator who just led the lowest scoring offense in the NFL.
- An offensive coordinator who just led the highest scoring offense in the NFL.
If you were to hire one of these three candidates to coach the Jaguars, which one would choose? Follow the jump to find out.
If you picked candidate number three, you made the same mistake the Miami Dolphins did when they hired Cam Cameron as their head coach in 2007. You also just passed on Bill Belichick (candidate 1) and Mike McCarthy (candidate 2).
What’s the moral of the story? Hiring a coach based on pure statistics is borderline nonsensical. So when you hear reports of the Jaguars requesting to interview some less than exciting candidates – i.e. Brian Schottenheimer, Mike McCoy, and Mike Mularkey – don’t sweat it. Gene Smith has constructed this roster and he knows exactly what kind of voice the team needs to succeed. And to be completely frank, we won’t know if he made the right hire or not until the team starts playing and we see what kind of product they put on the field.
Since we’ve gotten the rational part of the article out of the way, let’s discuss who I hope becomes Jacksonville’s next head coach.
I’m talking about the other Gruden – Jay Gruden. Jay has long been touted as the better coach of the two brothers and it isn’t hard to see why. He’s been successful in every situation so far in his career. He’s won Arena League championships as a both a quarterback and a coach, he’s had a long tenure as an offensive assistant in the NFL, and he led his team to the UFL championship game the two seasons he coached there as a coordinator and a head coach. Most recently, he helped construct an offense around a rookie QB with limited tools and made the playoffs in Cincinnati. A lot of fans will scoff at the idea of Jay with the thought that he’s a just a familiar name, but this guy will be a head coach soon. Hopefully he’ll be prowling the sidelines of Everbank Field in 2012.
– Daniel Lago