Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has corrected his biggest mistake; he can’t afford to make another – Jacksonville Jaguars Blog

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Shad Khan really did the right thing.

It was only eight months later than he thought.

The Jacksonville Jaguars‘owner must Urban Meyer fire trainer less than a year after hiring him. Not because of too many losses – although that is certainly a problem – but rather a long list of embarrassing mistakes with players, coaches, and in one example, a woman in a bar. They continued to pile up and left Khan with no other choice.

That puts Khan to shame because he’s been smitten with Meyer for years after watching his Ohio State teams tussle with the Big Ten.

He trusts Meyer wholeheartedly as the coach to lead – with help from the 2021 overall No 1 pick, the midfielder Trevor Lawrence – the revival of the franchise. That was evident in a press conference introducing Lawrence and running again Travis Etienne Jr. – who was also the one who was chosen in the first round before End of season injury with his left foot – as Khan proudly, and a little arrogantly, declares, “This time I got it right.”

Except he doesn’t.

Jaguars have been the laughingstock of the league since reaching the knockout stages in 2007. They have only had one winning season since and have lost 10 or more games in 10 of the last 11 seasons. – includes 9 seasons of double-digit losses out of Khan’s 10. many years as owner. Their only winning season since ’07 came in 2017, when the Jaguars used an elite defense to win the AFC South title and a surprising run to the AFC Championship.

This year is even worse because of Meyer.

He screwed everything up from the start, starting with the hiring/resigning of athletic performance director Chris Doyle, who was accused of making racist remarks and bullying Black players when and in Iowa.

The league fined Meyer and the Jaguars for improper communication practices in OTAs…he signed Tebow’s heart to play the tight end…he had Lawrence and Gardner Minshew replacing first team representatives in training camp, only to deal with Minshew… viral videos of him in a bar with a woman who isn’t his wife… gossip buzz about running away James Robinson … do not know which players are on the field … report stress to assistant coach … another report by recipient Marvin Jones Jr. walked out of the facility and yelled at Meyer because he was unhappy with something Meyer said about the receiver.

Confusion after embarrassment, combined with the fact that Jaguar is only 2-11. So Khan really had no choice but to fire Meyer.

Now, he’s faced with making the most important hire in franchise history. Jaguar finally has a quarterback, the most important part of any rebuild. Khan had to find a trainer who would build around him, hire the right dispatcher to deliver the attack system that worked best for him, and create the culture in the building that Meyer promised but couldn’t deliver. show up spectacularly.

And, most importantly, do it without any drama.

The problem was that Khan didn’t get any of his football leases. He retained general manager Gene Smith, who hired head coach Mike Mularkey. They lasted a year and Khan hired GM Dave Caldwell, who hired Gus Bradley. Bradley won 14 games in the four years before being fired.

Khan brought in Tom Coughlin as chief executive and he picked Doug Marrone as coach in 2017. That resulted in the only successful season of Khan’s tenure, but Khan had to fire Coughlin in 2019. after the NFLPA warned players not to sign with the Jaguars because of too many player complaints that Coughlin fined.

Caldwell was fired in November 2020 and Marrone was fired after the 1-15 season ended, which led to Meyer.

Khan’s biggest flaw as an owner is his inability to find the right people to lead his franchise. Hiring Meyer was a spectacular and costly failure, and he could not have made another mistake with his replacement.

If he does, he risks squandering a generational talent in midfield and establishing the franchise in a lost decade.

This time, he has to do it right.