Jacksonville Jaguars Fire Head Coach Mike Mularkey
By Josh Hill
On January 11, 2012, the Jacksonville Jaguars proudly announced that they had hired Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator and hot commodity Mike Mularkey to be their next head coach. On January 10, 2013, under new management, Jacksonville fired him. The Jaguars have announced that they’ve fired head coach Mike Mularkey after just one season with the team, meaning that while the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills have filled their vacancies, the Jaguars will replace them on the open market as a team searching for a new head coach.
Mularkey, who was hired less than a year ago by the Jaguars, posted a 2-14 record this season and earned the new regime the second overall pick in this upcoming April’s NFL Draft.
It was just Mularkey’s third season ever as an NFL head coach, as he served as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills for two years from 2004 to 2005.
The writing was on the wall for Mularkey after the season and it became more and more clear when Jacksonville hired a new general manager in David Caldwell. It was a safe assumption that since Caldwell was so sought after, he wasn’t going to roll into this upcoming season with the old system still in place.
Plus, Caldwell and Mularkey have a history together, as the two were together in Atlanta. Owner Shad Khan went on record as saying he thought Mularkey’s job might be safe but the final decision would be made by the next general manager.
That decision was one to move the Jaguars in a new direction, but the question is how far away from last year’s team will they move? The question on almost every Jaguars fan everywhere is how high up is this new general manager on Tim Tebow?