Gamble on Tom Coughlin has made Jaguars Super Bowl contenders

Shad Khan knew what he wanted to do was unorthodox and could end up a disaster, but the Jacksonville Jaguars' owner also knew something needed to change. nfl jerseys for cheap What the Jaguars had been doing for the past decade clearly wasn't working.

So he gambled that Tom Coughlin would be able to change what he had been for nearly 50 years in order to change the fortunes of one of the NFL’s worst franchises. Nobody -- not even Coughlin himself -- was sure it would work.

Fourteen months later, this is clear: Khan’s unconventional move has made the Jaguars legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

“Tom is a unique individual,” Khan said. “I thought he was perfect for what we wanted to do. Doug [Marrone], we had known, was perfect for what we wanted to do. Maybe the organization is untraditional, but it was going to work.

“Where we were, I think we were ready to try something different. Fortunately, it has worked.”

Why was Khan’s move unorthodox? Coughlin had been a football coach for 46 seasons, beginning in 1969 as a graduate assistant at Syracuse and ending in 2015 after a 12-year stint as the head coach of the New York Giants that included two Super Bowl victories. Khan didn’t want Coughlin to coach, though. He wanted him to be the team’s executive vice president of football operations and have final say over all football matters.

Coughlin admitted that he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to resist the urge to be on the practice field and had no idea what he’d do on game days. But the 71-year-old, who was hired in 1994 as the franchise’s first coach and general manager and then fired nine years later, found a compromise.

Coughlin watched film of the players returning in 2017 and studied film cheap nfl jerseys on free agents and draft prospects. He also was on the practice field every day -- organized team activities, minicamp, training camp and regular-season practices -- and watched film of the workouts. He was a resource, sounding board, and counsel for Marrone, the Jaguars' head coach.

Related posts:

Men New England Patriots NFL Pro Line by Fanatics Branded Navy Super Bowl LI Champions Custom T-Shirt A lot to digest with Robert Kraft's comments on Malcolm Butler Men New England Patriots NFL Pro Line by Fanatics Branded Navy Super Bowl LI Champions Custom Long Sleeve T-Shirt Men Jacksonville Jaguars 5 Bortles Black Nike Vapor Untouchable Limited NFL Jerseys