Jacksonville Jaguars Parted Ways With Trent Baalke

They fired their head coach on January 6 but kept the general manager. But now the team has had second thoughts on their decision. Yesterday afternoon the Jacksonville Jaguars parted ways with general manager Trent Baalke. Many had wondered how Baalke managed to keep his job while the head coach didn’t. And others thought Baalke should have been let go awhile ago. And now it has happened but did the move come too late?

After terminating Doug Pederson, Jaguars owner Shad Khan had said that a complete organizational overhaul would be “suicide.” Therefore he kept Baalke. But Khan also stated that if any coaching candidate expressed reservations about the organizational structure or working with Baalke, he would be willing to address the topic. Apparently there were candidates that had an issue working with Baalke. Ben Johnson, recently hired as the Chicago Bears head coach, had been the top prospect for the Jaguars.

After losing out on Johnson, Liam Coen became the front-runner for the job. Coen chose to remain with the Bucs as offensive coordinator along with a significant raise, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter: “Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen is taking himself out of the running for the Jaguars’ head coaching job to stay in Tampa on a new contract that now will place him amongst the highest-paid coordinators in the NFL, per sources. Jacksonville was in the midst of conducting second in-person HC interviews this week with Liam Coen – who’s now out.”

Two top quality candidates passing on the Jaguars head coach position may have triggered Khan’s decision to move on from Baalke. He was responsible for hiring Pederson as head coach. But later criticized Pederson saying the team lacked an identity. And the coaching staff did not do a good job of getting the team’s draft picks ready to play in 2023.

Jacksonville Jaguars Parted Ways With Trent Baalke

Below is the statement from Khan regarding the termination:

Following several discussions with Trent Baalke this week, we both arrived at the conclusion that it is in our mutual best interests to respectfully separate, effective immediately. Trent leaves us with my deepest appreciation for his efforts over the past five seasons. Ethan Waugh will serve as interim general manager and play an important role, with others, as we continue the process of interviewing candidates to serve as our new head coach. I am deeply committed to building a winner here in Jacksonville and look forward to introducing a new head coach who will make that happen for our players and fans alike.

So now the Jaguars are in the market for a head coach and a general manager.

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