The Jacksonville Jaguars have fired head coach Jack Del Rio after a disappointing 3-8 start to the season — not to mention a disappointing previous nine seasons — and rumors are starting to leak out about why Del Rio got the axe. According to Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com, Del Rio wasn’t well liked within the Jacksonville Jaguars’ front office:
Del Rio’s wasn’t liked inside the building the past couple of years, and there were many inside who felt once he got paid his big contract he lost the zest for being a head coach.
According to sources, Del Rio was coming into the office this year at around 9 a.m. most days and leaving early.
That rubbed his staff the wrong way. It rubbed the front office the wrong way.
Team owner Wayne Weaver is especially loyal to those within his organization, so the fact that he decided to fire Del Rio midseason seems to suggest that these rumors have at least some basis in the truth. It’s impossible to say exactly what Del Rio did that caused him to be so unliked by fellow front office members, but Prisco has a laundry list of complaints: being inflexible, stubborn, throwing coaches under the bus, etc.
On the flip side of things, Del Rio seemed to have a loyal following in the locker room with players. There have been a number of Jaguars players that have taken to Twitter today to express their disappointment in Del Rio’s departure, so the situation is seemingly more complex than Prisco’s report would suggest.
Del Rio may have lost some of his zeal for coaching, and it may be that he rubbed some people in the front office the wrong way. But he also gained his player’s respect, taught them important lessons, and kept them from giving up or quitting on the season. He probably needed to go, and the Jaguars needed to take a new direction, but it also seems likely that he’ll find another job in the NFL one day.
To join in the conversation about this news, head over to SB Nation’s blog on the Jaguars, Big Cat Country.