JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone appears to have survived what’s known in the NFL as Black Monday -- the day after the final regular-season game when head coaches of losing teams often lose their jobs. Between Sunday night and Monday, the Browns fired coach Freddie Kitchen and the Giants fired coach Pat Shurmur. The Redskins fired general manager Bruce Allen and were said to be interviewing coaches.
A spokesman for Jaguars owner Shad Khan refuted an ESPN report over the weekend that Marrone would be fired after Sunday’s game against the Colts, saying that Khan would meet with Marrone and other coaches and staff by mid-week before there would be any additional front-office changes. Former coach and vice president of football operations,
Sources now say that that meeting is scheduled for Tuesday morning.
News4Jax sports anchor Cole Pepper said the longer the team waits, the more likely it is that Marrone will stay for another year.
“I think the longer we go there won’t be any major changes," Pepper said. “(We) could see some changes on the coaching staff underneath the head coach.”
Since taking over as head coach in 2016, Marrone, 55, led the Jaguars to a 10-6 record and the AFC Championship Game in 2017, but has a 21-28 record in his three seasons in the job.
There’s also the appearance of a shifting dynamic within the ownership of the team.
Pepper said he’s noticed a lot more mentions of Khan’s son, Tony Khan, who is in his eighth year as the Jaguars executive vice president of football administration and technology and listed as a minority owner.
“As you go through the year and you start hearing people, when they refer to Shad, say Shad and Tony or the Khans. And then, when you hear people have those conversations in the building, you start to get the sense that Tony is taking on a more assertive role with this team,” Pepper said.
Pepper said the 69-year-old Shad Khan does not appear to be slowing down and will remain the primary owner for many years, but it makes business sense to bring his son more into the process. Tony Khan already is running the Khan family wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling, and has a hand in Fulham FC, Khan’s soccer team in Great Britain.