Coughlin no longer pacing sideline, but his presence felt throughout Jags’ organization
PHOENIX — Th e adjustment, Doug Marrone, said, is more physical than anything else. Though they never worked together before joining up for this venture running the Jacksonville Jaguars, Marrone has a long and treasured history with Tom Coughlin. Still, Marrone was not quite ready for the pace his new boss maintains.
“He walks fast,’’ Marrone, the Jaguars coach, said this week at the NFL owners meetings. “I just open up my stride now.’’
Coughlin always has been a fast-walker but nowadays— in his new, non-coaching role as the Jaguars’ executive vice president of football operations — he seems to have turned it up a notch. At the scouting combine in Indianapolis, Coughlin was speeding by with so much acceleration he nearly pulled a reporter’s shoulder out of its socket, barely slowing down as he reached back for a grab-andgo handshake.
It is as if Coughlin is in such a hurry to fix the Jaguars, a team in need of repair after losing 63-of80 games the past five years. The Giants, following the 2015 season, decided to part ways with Coughlin after a 12-year run as head coach — which included two Super Bowl triumphs. Coughlin spent a year decompressing as a senior adviser working for the NFL. He needed to get back with a team, as close to the field as possible, and the Jaguars provided the perfect landing spot, considering the great success Coughlin brought to the Jacksonville expansion franchise as its first head coach.
Marrone is 52; Coughlin is 70. It is not easy for the younger man to move with the alacrity and urgency of the older man.
“I just look at it he comes in every day and works extremely hard, I’m just trying to keep up,’’ Marrone said. “It’s amazing. People ask me, I go gosh, obviously I’m younger but shoot, I got to keep up with Coach. We’re going 100 miles an hour. I see someone I have a great amount of respect for, I spent a ton of time with now, and the great thing about Coach that I love is he knows what he wants, he knows how it should look and there’s no agenda. All he wants to do is win, and that’s all I want to do.’’
This could be a difficult situation if not for their shared previous relationship. Marrone was an assistant at Navy in 1993 when he asked Coughlin, the Boston College head coach, for a job. Marrone didn’t get it, but they stayed in touch. Marrone eventually became the head coach at Syracuse — Coughlin’s alma mater — and that furthered the friendship. Marrone said even when he became head coach of the Bills, he sought out Coughlin as a sounding board.
“Our knowledge of each other is extensive,’’ Coughlin said the day he and Marrone were hired in Jacksonville.
In some ways, Coughlin’s presence takes the focus off Marrone, who replaces Gus Bradley — taking over a Jaguars team coming off a hugely disappointing 3-13 season, considering the improvements that were supposed to translate into a competitive roster.
“What’s great about when you’re with Coach, when you’re walking with Coach, nobody wants to talk to Doug Marrone, you know what I’m saying?” Marrone said. “So it’s awesome. I can walk through and everyone grabs Coach and I’ll just keep walking.’’
As you may h ave not i ce d, yes, Marrone does not refer to Coughlin as “Tom.’’ Not ever.
“I could not do that,’’ Marrone said. “I’m sure Coach doesn’t mind. I don’t think he worries about what people call him.’’