Shad Khan Stayed True to His Word During Pursuit of Liam Coen

Shad Khan said he would be willing to reverse the Jacksonville Jaguars' organizational structure for the right coach -- and he has proven to be right.

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan and Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan sign copies of a proclamation on the new stadium agreement ahead of Wednesday's event. Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, Jaguars president Mark Lamping, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan and the city of Jacksonville's chief negotiator on the stadium deal Mike Weinstein met at the Jaguars Miller Electric Center Wednesday, June 26, 2024 to address the media and team personnel about the newly approved stadium renovation | Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan is a man of his word.

Two weeks ago when Khan made the move to fire head coach Doug Pederson, he was transparent and open with the media on the state of the organization moving forward.

Khan wanted to keep general manager Trent Baalke. And for two weeks, he did. But Khan also noted that if the right coach came along with the right ideas, he would be open to hearing him out.

"What we want to do is for them to have an environment where they’re going to be successful. They say, ‘I want my own quarterback, I want my own health and wellness, I want my own doctors.’ It’s like, you do that, unless they have identified—somebody wants to say that, I would want to really go through that in depth," Khan said.

"Because if we can get better, if they have a better doctor… [Head Physician] Kevin Kaplan is among the top two or three best doctors in the NFL, for example. Same thing, a lot of things we’re doing, I’d want to listen to them and get better. If they have reservations, I would want to address them honestly and openly, because our goal is they need to be successful. What do we have to give them to be successful? Fear, preconceived notions, whatever, that really can inhibit the right performance. But if they need something, I mean, obviously, we want to listen and we want to improve. I know we can improve.”

Khan does not deserve credit from moving on from Baalke weeks -- and even years -- later than he should have. This all could have and should have been a much cleaner process.

But at the end of the day, Khan stuck to his word. When Coen pulled out of the running for the Jaguars' job on Wednesday, Khan not only made the tireless pursuit of Coen continue, but he made the changes he needed to make to bring him on board.

Khan had shown loyalty to Baalke for years. But when the right coach came along, Khan turned his franchise upside down and offered the clean slate that coaches had been waiting for in Jacksonville for a long, long time.

Just like he said he would.

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