Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone will return in 2020

The Jaguars and owner Shad Khan have officially named Doug Marrone their head coach for the 2020 season.

Over the weekend, a report surfaced from ESPN’s Dianna Russini that Marrone had been informed he would be relieved of his duties following the team’s week 17 matchup against the Colts.

That report was then later disputed by Jaguars owner Shad Khan through his spokesperson, Jim Woodcock. This was further disputed by Khan’s son, Tony Khan who is currently the team’s Senior Vice President of Football Administration and Technology.

The Jaguars and Khan decided to go with status quo at the head coach position for the second-straight season after releasing a statement following the 2018 season, which included assurances to fans of not being content with mediocrity citing, “far too many long Sundays”.

Marrone has accomplished a 22-28 record as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars after being named the interim head coach for the final two games of the 2016 season.

Just one week into the season, the Jaguars lost their starting quarterback, Nick Foles — signed to a four-year $88M contract with a franchise-record $50.125M in guarantees during the offseason — to a broken left collarbone. Foles missed the following nine games of the season, before returning for three games (0-3), only to be benched in favor of rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew II.

The team saw star cornerback Jalen Ramsey demand a trade, which was eventually granted following a conflict on the sideline between Marrone and Ramsey during the team’s week two matchup against the Houston Texans. Ramsey would later say that the conflict had nothing to do with the trade demand, but following the game, “Some disrespectful things were said,” by members of the team’s front office.

The move to retain Marrone comes just two weeks after Tom Coughlin, the team’s former EVP of Football Operations, was relieved of his duties following a report sent by the NFLPA which claimed over 25% of all grievances filed by NFL players originated from the Jaguars.

Marrone will be allowed to coach his team the way he wants without Coughlin micro-managing situations nor causing disruptions within the locker room with fines or otherwise.

Jaguars players recently voiced their love and appreciation for Marrone as a leader, and a player-friendly coach.

“Coach Doug has done an excellent job with the players,” Fournette said last week. “Like I said, nobody is perfect – I think he has learned to with communicating with the players and just trying to understand us. It is a different generation of guys, too. He has done a tremendous job with us, and he is very understanding this year. I love coach Doug.”