◆ George Díaz: Tom Coughlin is back in charge of Jaguars.
JACKSONVILLE — Breaking news: The Jacksonville Jaguars, with Tom Coughlin back in the mix, are all about winning.
You’ll have to excuse the Captain Obvious reference, but for a team that has won just 17 games in five years, the culture of contending has become a little lax. Former coach Gus Bradley reveled in false platitudes and participation medals, an attitude that finally got him canned toward the end of the year.
Enter Coughlin, back in town as vice president of football operations, alongside Doug Marrone, bumped up to head coach- ing status after a two-week run as interim coach to close out the 2016 season.
So when Coughlin was asked whether the focus would be on winning during Thursday’s introductory press conference, it’s understandable why he got a little uppity.
“Is that going to be the focus? What else is there?” Coughlin said, warming up with every word. “What the hell would you be doing this for? We are trying to win everything. We are trying to win today.
“Who is going to get the better lunch? I don’t want any misunderstandings on why we are here. This is all nice and dandy, but winning is what this thing is all about.”
I’m not sure what Coughlin had for lunch, but let’s be clear on one thing:
He is serving up a heaping helping of hope for a moribund franchise that has struggled for relevancy since he left the building. That would be 1995 to 2002, a run that included two AFC Championship Game appearances.
He is back under his terms, of course, insisting he didn’t want the head coaching gig. We’ll take him at his word, and suggest it’s a better fit for the future in Jacksonville.
A noted control freak — consider that as a complimentary assessment — Coughlin isn’t going to be an executive pencilpusher. He is going to have his mitts all over the 53-man squad. That’s his job, and he has no problem with it.
He’s even turned to another crabby-pants former NFL great — his mentor Bill Parcells — presumably to get up to speed on sarcastic retorts and the majestic power of one.
“My last text to him was, ‘I’ll be in touch,’ ” Coughlin said. A noted control freak, that’s a compliment, Coughlin won’t be an executive pencil-pusher.
Bazinga. Finally, the Jags have some juice in what may be the best-free agent signing of the off-season.
“I probably have the best situation than probably any other NFL coach out there,” Marrone said. “I can go, I don’t know the exact feet he will be away, but I’ll be able to walk into his office and talk to him and get his knowledge and pick his brain …”
At 70, Coughlin brings renewed life here. As much energy as we saw in the 2014 NFL Draft, when the Jags selected UCF quarterback Blake Bortles with the third overall pick.
Bortles regressed considerably last season, much like a golfer with the yips. His throwing motion and footwork were atrocious, as were 22 combined turnovers. All disconcerting signs, but likely not a lost cause in the Jacksonville makeover.
The team has until May 3 to pick up the fifth-year option on Bortles.. The option, which is estimated at $19 million in 2018, is only guaranteed if Bortles is injured.
Blake likely gets another year to get it right, with Coughlin keeping meticulous notes.
“We will make all decisions as a team,” Coughlin said. “Blake Bortles is our quarterback.”
The moves made by owner Shad Khan — hiring Coughlin, promoting Marrone, re-upping general manager David Caldwell with a two-year extension — feel more like a reorg of the matrix. Things were shaken and stirred, and didn’t get blown up.
“Rome was burned in a day,” Khan said. “It wasn’t built in a day.”
Coughlin is a builder. He did it once, and now he gets to come home again, defying the Thomas Wolfe narrative, for a second run.
You can bet there will be a focus on winning, and fabulous lunches.