JACKSONVILLE, Fla. _ Tom Coughlin is back in Jacksonville, and leaves no questions unanswered despite refusing to address certain specifics:
He is in charge of this franchise. Everyone else _ from general manager David Caldwell to coach Doug Marrone _ is a direct report.
"This is the role I really want," Coughlin said Thursday morning, as he was introduced as vice president of football operations for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
At 70, Coughlin brings renewed life to a moribund franchise that has struggled for relevancy since he left the building. That would be 1995 to 2002, a run that included two AFC Championship Game appearances.
Since then, the Jags have been pushovers, struggling under the last botched hire, Gus Bradley. He was canned at the end of the season, with Marrone getting an uptick from interim to the full-time gig.
Finally, the Jags have some juice in what may be the best-free agent signing of the offseason.
Could he have returned as head coach? Perhaps. But if you take Coughlin at his word, this wasn't in the game plan. And it really doesn't matter. Despite the collaborative spin, he is the face of the franchise from a management team standpoint.
A noted control freak _ take that as a complimentary assessment _ Coughlin isn't going to an executive pencil-pusher. He will be on the front lines, down and dirty in the trenches.
"We will make all decisions as a team," he said. "Blake Bortles is our quarterback."
Bortles, the former UCF star, regressed considerably last season. And although Coughlin and Marrone refused to discuss any player specifically, they were in lockstep that Bortles is the guy moving forward.
"I probably have best situation than any coach out there," Marrone said. "I'll be able to go into his office and get his knowledge and pick (Coughlin's) brain."
