Doug Marrone new head coach; Tom Coughlin returns

JACKSONVILLE – The Jaguars have a new head coach – and much more.

That was the storyline of a major news day at EverBank Field Monday, with Doug Marrone becoming the Jaguars’ permanent head coach and one of the most prominent names in franchise history – Tom Coughlin – returning to the organization.

Marrone, the interim head coach during the last two games of the 2016 season, became the team’s fifth permanent head coach. The team announced the moves late Monday afternoon.

Coughlin, the Jaguars’ head coach from 1995-2002 and the first head coach in franchise history, will return to the organization as Executive Vice President of Football Operations. He had been the head coach of the New York Giants from 2004-2015, where he won Super Bowls following the 2007 and 2011 seasons, and worked in the NFL office as senior advisor to football operations this past season.

The team also announced it has extended the contract of general manager David Caldwell, who has served in that capacity since 2013.

Marrone and Caldwell both will report to Coughlin. The contracts of all three will run through 2019.

Marrone, 52, who served the past two seasons as the Jaguars’ assistant head coach-offense/offensive line coach, spent 2013-2014 as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. He had a 15-17 record as head coach there.

The Jaguars went 1-1 during Marrone’s two games as interim head coach, beating the Tennessee Titans 38-17 at EverBank Field on December 24 and losing to the Indianapolis Colts 24-20 in Indianapolis in the regular-season finale on January 1.

The Bills went 6-10 under Marrone in 2013 and 9-7 in 2014.

Marrone, who served as the head coach at Syracuse University from 2009-2012, was the New Orleans Saints’ offensive coordinator from 2006-2008 and the New York Jets’ offensive line coach from 2002-2005. He served as a collegiate assistant from 1992-2001 with the exception of the 1995 season, spending time at Cortland State, Coast Guard, Northeastern, Georgia Tech, Georgia and Tennessee.

The Saints ranked first in total yards in 2006 and third in 2008. The Jaguars improved their sacks allowed total from 71 in 2014 to 51 in 2015 to 34 this past season.

Marrone becomes the fifth permanent head coach in franchise history. Tom Coughlin served as head coach from 1995-2002, followed by Jack Del Rio (2003-2011), Mike Mularkey (2012) and Gus Bradley (2013-2016). Mel Tucker served as interim head coach for the final five games of 2011 and Marrone served as interim head coach in the final two games of 2016.

The Jaguars relieved Bradley of his duties on December 18 following a 21-20 loss to the Houston Texans. Bradley had a 14-48 record in nearly four seasons.

- Jacksonville Jaguars/John Oehser

Coughlin: Unfair to depict Beckham Jr. as only one wrong

"The 100 Yards" Staff Report

Tom Coughlin

New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin gave a press conference during the team's practice session early Wednesday at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.

Coughlin said that Odell Beckham Jr. was not at the practice session earlier on Wednesday. Beckham was recently suspended by the NFL, and also has his hearing on Wednesday to determine if he will play this Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Coughlin gave his opinion of if Beckham was wrong with his actions or not.

“To depict this as Odell Beckham being wrong, and the only one wrong, is not right,” Coughlin said. “It’s not fair, it’s not justice, it’s not the way it was. If you’re naïve enough to think that way, then you better do some soul-searching yourself. Beckham certainly was wrong, and we said he was wrong from day one. But there were factors involved, starting in pregame, which are well-documented, which indicate that there was an attempt to provoke him. He was provoked, he was out of control, he was wrong, there’s no doubt about it. You’d like that that didn’t happen. But the fact of the matter is, if you know that, the situation pregame with the baseball bat (which a Panthers player carried onto the field during warmups), and if you know what occurred at the very beginning of the game, you can understand that there was two sides to this and not just one. And that’s the only thing I’ll say about that incident."