Jacksonville Jaguars start interviewing potential coaching candidates with focus on offense – NFL News
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ new owner Shahid Khan is up to his first job of finding a head coach for his side a couple of days before he takes over the Jaguars formally.
Del Rio, the former Jags coach had been fired by the outgoing owner Wayne Weaver on the day he sold the franchise to Pakistan-born American businessman, and the main challenge before Khan is to find a fulltime coach.
Having overcome all the regulatory hurdles successfully since announcement of the deal on November 29, 2011, Shahid Khan is all set now to take over the Jags on January 04, 2012, the day the deal will be declared closed.
Mel Tucker who had been promoted from his defensive coaching duties to takeover the side as an interim coach will be replaced with a head coach and the side has already starting interviewing potential candidates.
The hiring process which so far has been kept quite close by the side management is headed by the general manager Gene Smith. Smith had been handed an extension in his contract by the outgoing owner.
The Manager is reported to have already interviewed quite a few candidates so far but there is no confirmation if any of them has been pinpointed as their potential target.
Those interviewed include Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien and others.
Despite that there is no hinting from the side what areas were in their focus in selection of a candidate to be their head coach but all those interviewed are from the offensive coordination department.
This shows that the Jags might be looking for an offensive coach. However, it will be seen when the team finalize the list of their potential aspirants.
Shahid Khan who himself is not involved in the interviewing and selection process said that the money was not an issue for his side to find a right candidate for their coaching duties. He however did not specify what sort of a candidate they are aiming for.
Rio had been with the Jacksonville Jaguars for past nine seasons without much achieved by his side. His last year (2011) was worst of the all previous seasons. His departure looked inevitable given the task that his owner had given him before the start of
the season and that was to taking the team to postseason round.
The Jags finished the NFL season 2011 at the score of 5-11, five wins and eleven losses. Their record under the makeshift coach Mel Tucker was 2-3, two wins and three losses.
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