Shad Khan Explains Retaining Doug Marrone and Dave Caldwell: ‘The Results Are Going to Speak for Themselves a Year From Now’

Why did Shad Khan keep Doug Marrone and Dave Caldwell after firing Tom Coughlin? He explained this week.

Ever since the Jacksonville Jaguars' 2019 regular season ended and the team announced head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell would be retained, a key question has been asked over and over again.

Why didn't the Jaguars shake up the status quo after two losing seasons and a 11-21 record since 2018? Jaguars owner Shad Khan explained his decision some this week on Tuesday, noting the team thinks it made the necessary changes by firing Tom Coughlin, who was the one in charge of football operations.

Khan went on to say that firing Coughlin was enough of a changeup for the team considering they went 10-6 in 2017 and advanced all the way to the AFC Championship, coming within a quarter of the Super Bowl.

“The key question that I have to ask myself, ‘Is this the time to start over from where we were just two years ago?’" Khan said Tuesday. "A game away from the Super Bowl. I know things change greatly year to year, but we’ve been closer more recently than many teams in the league. My feeling is that we can return to that place and go much faster to where we want to be if we can keep some things intact for 2020."

Khan went on to say he thinks the Jaguars are set up to win with Marrone and Caldwell in 2020. He pointed to the strengths of the past several draft classes, which has brought in players like wide receiver DJ Chark, safety Ronnie Harrison, defensive end Josh Allen, offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor, and quarterback Gardner Minshew II as reasons to be optimistic for the upcoming season.

Along with those players, the team has two first-round draft picks in 2020 thanks to trading cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Los Angeles Rams for a haul of draft picks in October.

"We have a really good core of young players from our recent drafts. We have excellent draft capital," Khan said. "The message as the whole football organization as I met with them after our season was over, is the time to win is now. We have everything really in place with some of the changes to expect a good season."

Will the move to retain Marrone and Caldwell pay off, despite Marrone having only a 22-28 record in Jacksonville and Caldwell having a lowly 36-76 record since being hired as general manager in 2013? Only time will tell, but at the end of the day, Khan will be the one held accountable for the decision.

"The results are going to speak for themselves a year from now, and we will all know if this is the right approach I took and I will take full responsibility for it," Khan said.