KC Chiefs: Jacksonville Jaguars are now the best fit for Eric Bieniemy
By Cullen Jekel
KC Chiefs: Jacksonville Jaguars are now the best fit for Eric Bieniemy
One of the many things that make Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt so fantastic at his job is that he doesn’t meddle. He hires smart football people to get the job done. He doesn’t pretend to be the smartest man in the war room like Jerry Jones and Mike Brown do. He doesn’t meddle and enforce his will to get players he wants like Daniel Snyder and Jimmy Haslam do.
No, he’s patient and lets the football decision-makers make the football decisions.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan does the same thing–he’s patient and he lets the football minds make the football moves. The biggest difference between Hunt and Khan, though, is that it’s worked out for Hunt. Not so much for Khan*.
*Though he does have a super boss mustache.
Still, Khan’s patience is a positive trait for potential head coaches. Maybe he’s too patient, but that wouldn’t seem to upset his employees. Let’s take a look at Jaguars head coaches and decision-makers since the start of the 2012 season (Khan’s first full season as owner), how long they spent with the team and the team’s record with them. Note, these records overlap.
- Head coach, Mike Mularkey, one season, 2-14
- General manager, Gene Smith, one season 2-14*
- General manager, David Caldwell, eight seasons, 37-90
- Executive vice president of football operations, Tom Coughlin, three seasons, 20-26
- Head coach, Gus Bradley, four seasons, 14-48
- Head coach, Doug Marrone, four seasons, 23-42
*Smith had been the GM for the previous three seasons before Khan purchased the team, going 20-28 in that time.
Cast aside Mularkey, an outlier, and the head coaches got at least four seasons while the front office members got at least three with Caldwell getting a whopping eight years.
That type of patience bodes well for whomever Khan next hires as GM and head coach. This rebuild won’t be an overnight type of thing. It’s going to take several years, probably four. If in that fourth year the Jaguars are winning, then the next GM and head coach will get even more time than did Bradley (2-12 in year four) and Marrone (1-14).
Count Khan’s patience as a pro, not a con, for Bieniemy.