Jaguars HC Doug Marrone to continue evaluating assistant coaches

Continuity was the theme of today with Jaguars owner Shad Khan announcing the return of head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell. While some organizational structure will be different, the question of assistant coaching will have to wait until a later date.

An evaluation period from Marrone to his assistant coaches such from coordinators to position coaches will come in short time. While nothing will change as of today from a coaching perspective, there could be some after a careful evaluation of the season.

“I think it is something that is going to go back and be evaluated. I think, obviously, my focus and concentration at the end was to get our players in a better position to perform. I think I am going to go back through the same process of looking at the staff, seeing what we can do,” Marrone said when asked if his assistant coaches will be back and how they will be evaluated.

This season involved multiple levels of failure, and specifically on the defensive front. Jaguars defensive coordinator Todd Wash coached the 24th best defense in terms of yards allowed — 28th in rushing (139 rushing YPG allowed) in the league, and had a five game losing streak in which the defense allowed an average of 193.6 rushing yards per game.

While there were many key pieces missing from this year’s defense — including cornerback Jalen Ramsey (trade) and defensive tackle Marcell Dareus (reserve/injured) —, the Jaguars defense made the same mistakes week-after-week, and there is a need for more accountability.

“I think part of being a good leader is being able to make sure that you have the people in the right position, and you can get the most out of them in that position with their strengths.

“First, it comes to me – kind of what we talked about here, some of the changes that I am going to make and what we do, not just for myself, but for the staff, everyone that touches these players. I think it is going to be a process of I am going to look at it as … The coaches are gone today, they will be back on the 13th, that Monday. That is when we will start meeting and going through that process.”

One key point from what Marrone stated was an indication of changes which will be made to the coaching staff — all of the changes made will be toward not only how he feels it affects the coaches themselves, but also how it will affect it’s players moving forward. Development of young players will be a point of emphasis moving forward with the Jaguars as several veterans are expected to be off the roster.

The team’s assistant coaches will return to TIAA Bank Field on January 13th which is when Marrone can meet with them and further evaluate not only their future but the roster in general. The key mistakes made throughout the season will not be acceptable moving forward, especially with a mandate from Khan indicating such for the 2020 season and beyond.