Dirk Koetter denied permission to speak to Rams. Did Del Rio back out on his word, or did something else occur?
The latest scuttlebutt over the Jaguars coaching staff once again involves offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. The Jaguars granted Koetter permission to interview for the Broncos head coaching job, to which Koetter finished as the bridesmaid instead of the bride.
Now it is being reported the Jaguars denied Koetter the option to interview for the Rams OC position. As Paul Kuharsky already noted, this would seemingly be at odds with what Jack Del Rio told reporters earlier this year. So what gives? Did Del Rio back out on his word? Did something come from down high?
Honestly, I can’t say for any certain why the Jaguars decided to take this course with Koetter. The biggest thing that jumps to my mind however is what others have been saying. What is the point in bringing back Jack Del Rio for “continuity” and then potentially have one of your coordinators leave?
With the assistant coaches only on one year deals, if Koetter left, the only real viable option the Jaguars would have had is to hope one of the more tenured assistants (Mike Shula anyone?) would stay on and be promoted to the OC spot. If Koetter brought most of the offensive assistants with him to St.Louis, then the Jaguars would only be able to attract marginal hires at best because of the current coaching situation.
I’m sure this kind of situation was being thought about my Wayne Weaver and Jack Del Rio as Koetter was interviewing for the Broncos job. So the question remains, why did Koetter get to interview for that job and not the St.Louis one?
A chance to be a head coach in the NFL is a potentially once in a lifetime thing. Even to be asked to interview is something not every assistant coach is going to experience. If the Jaguars denied Koetter that opportunity, it would’ve reflected badly on the organization and certainly would have strained Koetter’s working relationship with the team and staff.
Interviewing for a lateral job is a different thing entirely. Although he only does have one more year on his deal remaining, it appears he’ll have other potential offers coming his way. Unless the Jaguars offense completely collapses in 2011, there is no reason to think he wouldn’t be able to get another NFL OC spot in the near future. Or even get back into the college coaching game.
Another question I think needs to be asked, did the Jaguars even think their assistant coaches would be getting this much attention from other NFL staffs? I’m not trying to put these men down, but did anyone think we would be discussing the coordinator positions this much? Between Mel Tucker potentially bolting for another defensive coordinator job and the various Koetter stories, it has been something of a saga with these two men. Did Jack Del Rio (and by extension Wayne Weaver) not think things entirely through before coming out publicly on the status of their assistant coaches?
-Jonathan Loesche
