Jacksonville Jaguars’ Shad Khan finally ready to win, be competitive

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan is clearly taking some cues from Tom Coughlin, adopting a sharper tone in his semi-annual state of the franchise address.

Tom Coughlin is about winning everything and he has already influenced the culture of the Jacksonville Jaguars more than anybody else in the last half decade. That same half decade has been a learning opportunity for new owner Shad Khan who is also being influenced by Coughlin to focus more on winning.

Those first five years were about trusting the past regime with Gene Smith at the head in 2012. A disastrous 2-14 season later and Khan blew it all up in favor of a slow-build approach under general manager Dave Caldwell and head coach Gus Bradley. Khan was one year into his tenure as owner, Caldwell and Bradley were first-timers in their positions, too.

Four seasons of futility later and only Caldwell remains (now firmly underneath Coughlin who has final say) and Khan is no longer sounding like an owner who is happy to simply learn. He now sounds like an owner that wants to win. This is clearly seen in his focus of on-field performance before diving into other topics:

"Before I continue, I do want to emphasize that this is the state of the franchise address, so we will touch on a lot of matters away from the field but I do want to be clear: I remain extremely unsatisfied with our performance last year and our disappointment predates the 2016 season."

NFL.com’s Conor Orr expanded on this with some insightful words that are often rare from the national NFL media who aren’t closely associated with the Jags:

"Khan has lofty ambitions for the Jaguars, as should every owner, but it’s been refreshing not to see him subject the organization to the kind of radical changes that end up permanently sinking a team. The addition of Coughlin has been praised in part because it should not disrupt the work already in place. The same can be said for the hiring of Marrone, who is already familiar with the roster.Whether or not this phase of their plan works remains to be seen. What we do know is that Khan isn’t just sitting by."

Khan has proven to be patient in the past. He has success in business through persistence and strong planning. The Jaguars have been well-planned in his mind but the execution has been terrible. Now, with the plan still pointing in the same direction, he is expecting that new people in place will yield better results.

If they don’t, we may see Khan’s emphasis on poor performance grow even further. And if that happens, who knows what could happen? There is only so much patience a person can give as he sinks millions of dollars into a sports franchise and the surrounding area.

Either way, we’re seeing a new focus on winning. Khan wants more return on his investment.