The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Mike Mularkey as head coach after just one season, a year which proved to be the worst ever for the Jaguars.
"I informed Mike today that he will not return as head coach of the Jaguars," Reuters quoted Jaguars' newly-hired general manager David Caldwell as saying. "I know Mike well and do not want anyone to misinterpret the rationale behind my decision.
"Mike is an excellent coach and I am sure he will succeed in his next stop in the NFL. However, I must do what I believe is best for the Jacksonville Jaguars and immediately explore every avenue possible to turn our football team around."
Jaguars owner Shad Khan formally introduced Caldwell Thursday. Caldwell replaced Gene Smith, who was fired 10 days back.
Mularkey, with a dismal 2-14 record this season, is the eighth head coach to be fired since the end of the regular season.
"I felt like we needed a fresh start here," Caldwell said. "Coming in here as a first-time general manager, I'm looking for a co-builder of our team.
"When I talked to Shad in terms of a culture change along the football side, I felt like it was more of that. I felt like it was an atmosphere of change. I felt like to do that, you've got to have a fresh start across the board."
Mularkey did not have a quality quarterback in his team. He always pushed his team to make a good start, but, unfortunately, it happened rarely and with the Jaguars falling behind most of the times right from the beginning, they lost eight games by at least a 16-point margin.
Mularkey was also not helped by the fact that running back Maurice Jones-Drew did not take part in the offseason workouts and training camp and also skipped preseason. His key player, linebacker Daryl Smith, also picked up an injury.
It was Khan who himself accepted the Jaguars were passing through a transitional phase.
"A year ago, when I came here, the organizational judgment was we were a pretty good team, just a few players and a draft away from really competing for a playoff spot," Khan said. "As the year progressed, it was pretty obvious that was not the case, and we would need a fresh start and a rebuild from the ground up."
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