Shad Khan on Trent Baalke: ‘My Belief in Him Never Wavered’
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan didn't make the popular decision when he retained general manager Trent Baalke in 2022.
But a year later, Baalke helped deliver the second AFC South title and winning season of Khan's ownership, a season fueled by contributions from Baalke's free-agent and draft classes from 2021 to 2022.
Khan stuck by his guns with Baalke, even when it seemed like the fan base and national media were split on the decision and the impact of doing so. Now, Khan can look back on the decision knowing that his intuition proved to be the correct path to follow.
"I've known Trent now for three years. Okay, so I mean, I believe in him, okay, whether he was popular with the fans or not. I mean, that was for the fans to decide. My belief in him never wavered," Khan said during an interview with Jaguars reporter John Oehser this week at the owners meetings in Phoenix.
"And, and no matter what the noise was ... one of the things like this event here, you meet a lot of, you know, GMs, present or past. And so, you know, he just proved what I thought he was going to do."
To Khan's credit, he didn't need Baalke and the Jaguars to be the success they were in 2022 to be confident in his decision. Khan was adamant after hiring head coach Doug Pederson last offseason that Baalke is who he wanted to remain as general manager,
"This was a tough month. Is that what you're saying? I knew all along that I was. I had a vote of confidence from Shad," Baalke said at Pederson's introductory press conference last year.
"As we went into the process, I had a plan. There was no timetable to announce the next head coach. We went into it with a very open mind. We had a process. We stuck to it. At the end of the day, it was about getting it right. I truly believe we got it right with Doug. Have no doubt about it."
A year later, it is clear the Jaguars absolutely got it right with Pederson, with Khan making an excellent hire that no other owner was willing to make. And it appears Khan got it right again, this time with Baalke.
