Jacksonville Jaguars decided not to wait until the end of the season to start making some changes after a disappointing 2019 season. Jags’ owner Shad Khan announced on Wednesday that the team fired the executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin.
While the Jags have been bad in the past two seasons, the timing of the move is surprising. According to reports, however, Coughlin’s exit comes after NFL Players Association won several grievances against the organization.
NFLPA managed to overturn millions of fines that Coughlin handed out to his players, and then warned players about signing with Jags. According to the association, more than 25% of all grievances in the past two years were filed by Jacksonville’s players.
Khan himself admitted that this was one of the reasons for making the decision earlier than he planned.
“I determined earlier this fall that making this move at the conclusion of the 2019 season would be in everyone’s best interests but, in recent days, I reconsidered and decided to make this change immediately,” said Khan in a statement. “I thank Tom for his efforts, not only over the past three years but for all he did from our very first season, 25 years ago, to put the Jacksonville Jaguars on the map. “
Tom Coughlin was named Jags’ EVP in 2017 and had the final say in all football matters reporting only to Khan. While Jaguars reached AFC Championship in his first year at the position, the team regressed in 2018 and had a 5-11 record. The situation is pretty much the same this year, with the team sitting at 5-9 record.
Coughlin previously also served as Jaguars’ head coach between 1995 and 2002. During that time, he made the postseason in four years and made it to AFC Championship two times.
