New on Sports Illustrated: Doug Marrone Returning to Jaguars For 2020 Season

Despite finishing 6-10 in 2019 and 5-11 in 2018, the Jaguars are keeping HC Doug Marrone a heading into next season.

Despite finishing 6-10 in 2019 and 5-11 in 2018, the Jaguars are keeping Doug Marrone as their head coach heading into next season. GM Dave Caldwell will also be retained.

"I have met on several occasions over the past few days with Dave Caldwell, Doug Marrone and their staffs to fully understand their plans to reverse our coursee and compete for a postseason berth in 2020," owner Shad Kahn said in

a statement on Tuesday morning. 

Less than 24 months ago, Marrone and the Jaguars took a lead into the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship game against the Patriots. But since winning 10 games in 2017-18 and being one quarter away from a Super Bowl appearance, the Jags have gone 11–21 over the past two seasons. 

On Saturday, it was reported that the Jaguars informed Marrone that he would be dismissed following the regular season finale against the Colts. However, Jim Woodcock, owner Shad Khan's spokesperson, released a statement denying the rumor.

"Reports that Doug Marrone will be dismissed after Sunday's game are 100% incorrect. Owner Shad Khan will meet with his football staff, which includes coaching and personnel, midweek next week."

According to Kahn, he held "numerous" one-on-one meetings in recent days with players on Monday as well as with Caldwell, Marrone and their respective staffs to discuss the team's past and its future.

The Jaguars defeated the Colts 38-20 on Sunday, though, Kahn said in his statement that the team's victory over Indianapolis had nothing to do with his decision to retain Marrone and GM Dave Caldwell and "everything to do with my positive meetings with Dave, Doug, the coordinators and our players..."

Before Week 17, Marrone had thanked his team for their support during a disappointing season. 

"For me, I look at it as, 'I understand this business,'" Marrone told the Jaguars' official website. "I understand what my job is – is to win games. When you don't do that, you have to be able to accept whatever the consequences are. I've always been a realist. I've never ducked things or anything.

"It doesn't go to an inner feeling of, 'I didn't have this, or I didn't have that.' It goes more to, 'I let a lot of people down.' That's how I always looked at it."

Marrone came to Jacksonville after two years as the head coach of the Bills. He took over as Jacksonville's interim head coach at the end of the 2016 season and was hired full-time shortly after the season. 

On Dec. 18, Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin was dismissed from the team. 

Coughlin's firing came after the Jaguars attempted to require injured players to get all rehab treatment at the team facility. In 2018, Jacksonville defensive end Dante Fowler was fined over $700,000 for missing "mandatory" appointments with team trainers or physicians in the offseason, but under the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams cannot require rehabilitation or medical appointments at team facilities during the offseason.

The NFLPA won its grievance against the Jaguars after disputing the fines.

According to NFL Networks Ian Rapoport, as part of the team's new framework, the position of Executive Vice President of Football Operations will not be filled in 2020 and Marrone and Caldwell will instead report directly to Kahn.

"I want to see what what we produce under a new organizational structure in 2020," Kahn said in his statement. "Goals have been established. Accountability will be paramount."