Jaguars relieve HC Doug Marrone of his duties after four seasons

Today, the Jaguars officially relieved head coach Doug Marrone of his duties after four seasons as the team’s head coach, Jaguars owner Shad Khan announced in a statement this morning.

“I am committed and determined to deliver winning football to the City of Jacksonville. Realizing that goal requires a fresh start throughout our football operations, and with that in mind I spoke this morning with Doug Marrone to express my gratitude for his hard work over the past four seasons as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars,” Khan said in a statement.

“I’ll always appreciate Doug’s passion, grit and class, and I’m confident he will enjoy success in the next chapter of his career. As the search for our new general manager continues, now the quest begins to find a head coach who shares my ambition for the Jacksonville Jaguars and our fans, whose loyalty and faith are overdue to be rewarded.”

This decision comes after a franchise-worst 1-15 season that included 15-straight losses to end the year.

Marrone originally took over as the team’s head coach in 2016 as an interim coach for the final two games of the season before taking over full time officially for the 2017 season. He would post a record of 23-43, including one playoff appearance, reaching the AFC Championship game in 2017.

The Jaguars were always expected to clean house following the ousting of general manager Dave Caldwell in late November.

As a team, the Jaguars boasted one of the youngest rosters in the NFL, and fielded an NFL-leading 81 different players this season. At 1-15, the Jaguars were the worst franchise in the NFL by record, and will be selecting first overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Over the weekend, a report surfaced from NFL Network’s Ian Rapopport stating Marrone was set to be let go, and the team was also set to hire Urban Meyer as the head coach, granted Meyer wanted to leave his post as an analyst for Fox Sports.

When asked about the report, Marrone mentioned the NFL Network reporter reached out prior to releasing the information, a heads up that the team’s now-former head coach was appreciative of.

“In other words, he was able to get that to me so I can prep my family, my children so they don’t have to hear it from their friends or anything like that and I think that’s something I’ll always appreciate,” said Marrone in post game, following the team’s 28-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

“I think that when the record is what it is, you have to be able to expect those things. But like I said before, I asked about it and it was new news for us. So we’ll see what happens.”

The Jaguars will now begin the search for a new head coach along with its general manager. A fully cleaned house after yet another long season filled with far too many long Sundays.