By Hays Carlyon
Jaguars owner Shad Khan had it right in 2017.
Following the firing of Gus Bradley, Khan went with a new model: The Trinity Model.
Khan hired Tom Coughlin as executive vice president of football operations to lead the football side of the franchise. He retained general manager Dave Caldwell and promoted interim coach Doug Marrone.
The first season of this model brought an AFC South title and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game.
The model then fell apart, largely because Coughlin meddled too much in all aspects.
Khan needs this model as he seeks to build the Jaguars again after the disastrous 11-game Urban Meyer mistake.
Khan isn’t around the team every day, which is understandable given his global empire. Therefore, he needs a football ombudsman. Khan needs a football mind that doesn’t make personal decisions or tries to coach the team from behind the curtain. He simply keeps tabs of what is working within the building and what isn’t and communicates that with Khan. He is a resource of advice for coaches, front office executives or players when asked.
Here is the Trinity Model that Khan should adopt as he embarks on his fifth head-coaching search.
*Hire Jim Caldwell as EVP of Football Ops
Caldwell is ideally suited to serve in this role. He turns 67 in January and hasn’t been a head coach for four seasons. I’m not interested in him coaching the team. However, he would be an ideal conduit to give advice when asked and gauge the progress and decisions being made by the new general manager and head coach.
Caldwell was 62-50 in a seven-year tenure with Indianapolis and Detroit. He’s a respected offensive coach and quarterback developer.
He’s also a grown up, something the Jaguars need after the Meyer debacle, and would stabilize the franchise. He also would be player friendly, unlike Coughlin’s rigid ways that brought scorn from the NFL Players Association leading to his firing.
Caldwell would guide Khan in the search for a new head coach.
*Hire Doug Pederson as head coach
The coach-centric model works best. Pederson, the former Philadelphia coach, would have the final say on roster decisions.
Pederson led the Eagles to a Super Bowl triumph after the 2017 season, before being fired after last year with a 42-37-1 record. Pederson reached the playoffs in three of his five seasons in Philadelphia, going 4-2. The 53-year-old Pederson also served as Kansas City’s offensive coordinator from 2013-15 and played quarterback for 10 seasons in the NFL.
Pederson would work wonders with quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
*Hire Mike Borgonzi as general manager
Khan should fire current general manager Trent Baalke. That should be an easy decision.
Pederson should have the final say on the roster, but the Jaguars can’t hire a yes man for him. There needs to be a checks and balances. He should have input on this hire, but the decision should be influenced by Caldwell too.
Khan should hire Mike Borgonzi, the assistant general manager in Kansas City. Borgonzi has been with the Chiefs for over a decade and been a part of their entire build into an elite franchise.
Khan’s new version of the Trinity Model led by a soft-spoken respected leader in Caldwell, a Super-Bowl winning head coach in Pederson and a Super-Bowl winning front-office executive in Borgonzi could harness the talent, salary-cap space and draft haul to build a winner.
That would give the Jaguars the needed NFL experience, acumen, eye for talent and professional mindset to fully develop Lawrence into a star and thus make the Jaguars a consistent playoff contender.
(You can email Hays at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @HaysCarlyon)
