Marrone’s culture shock brings success for Jaguars
Late last season, in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ locker room was abuzz with activity.
Four players played table tennis while others crowded around a small table for dominoes. Two 80-inch televisions were tuned to a sports highlight show, and music blared from a corner of the room.
Doug Marrone, the team’s offensive line coach at the time, walked through and shook his head.
“Can you believe this?” Marrone whispered.
The Jaguars were deep into a 3-13 season that ultimately would cost coach Gus Bradley his job. Marrone had watched from afar for two years, witnessing an atmosphere he felt was too loose and too lenient amid losing.
So when Marrone was hired to replace Bradley last January, high on his to-do list was to change the culture in Jacksonville. His success is one reason the Jaguars (12-6) are in the AFC championship game against New England (14-3).
The ping pong table was the first to go. Dominoes followed. The locker room was overhauled, too, with Marrone mixing and matching position groups and putting certain players next to veteran leaders and/or role models.
“We definitely threw a tantrum,” Pro Bowl defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. “(I) went in there and talked to him about it; definitely wasn’t happy. I learned to be quiet and go with the flow.
“He has been at it longer than I have, and I’m just the football player. He says do this and I go do it … and I’m glad I did.”
Marrone saved the most significant changes for the practice fields. Marrone, top executive Tom Coughlin and general manager Dave Caldwell wanted a tougher and more physical team. They drafted bruising running back Leonard Fournette and fiery left tackle Cam Robinson to complement a defense that was significantly beefed up in free agency with the addition of pass-rusher Calais Campbell, cornerback A.J. Bouye and safety Barry Church.
They also designed an offseason program more grueling than most players had experienced. Marrone’s message was clear: Go hard or go home.
The Jaguars were in full pads nearly every day during training camp, a torturous stretch in draining heat and humidity that left rookies and veterans alike questioning the process and wondering whether it would pay off.
“Guys in camp (talked) about (how) this took a few years off their lives,” Jackson said. “It’s pretty funny just to see us now. I guess he does know what he’s doing.”
It ultimately brought players closer, made them accountable to each other and made them care more for each other. Winning was the final piece, and thumping Houston 29-7 in the 2017 opener was all the proof players needed.
“It was the toughest training camp I’ve ever been a part of,” veteran linebacker Paul Posluszny said. “Coach Marrone would say, ‘Listen, I have a plan and you have to trust me.’ Guys were able to say, ‘OK, we haven’t gotten what we wanted in years past doing things a certain way, so we have to buy in, trust the head man and know that will bring us success when it’s time.’
“It was difficult, (but)
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the most important thing is we always said, ‘If it helps us win, then it’s all good.’ ”
Jacksonville had gone 17-63 from 2012 to ’16 — the worst record in the NFL during that span — and had been through two coaching changes. Coughlin’s return was a key part of the revival, and although the twotime Super Bowl-winning coach with the New York Giants gets plenty of credit for the team’s turnaround, Marrone pushed all the right buttons.
Marrone — a former head coach at Syracuse University and with the Buffalo Bills — had been other places where players resisted, prompting personnel moves that would slow progress. That wasn’t the case in Jacksonville, and he credited his players for being open to change.
“They gave our staff the opportunity to say, ‘This is what we believe in as coaches or as an organization. This is how we want to handle ourselves,’ ” Marrone said. “We are still working toward that. It is not perfect by any means.”
It’s working, though, evidenced by the Jaguars making the AFC title game for the third time in franchise history, one victory away from their first Super Bowl appearance.
“They say (stuff) rolls downhill,” Jackson said. “Well, the good stuff rolls downhill, too. … It’s all worth it when you win.”