USAT: Jaguars Wire audio clip

USAT: Jaguars Wire

Jan 16, 2022

Based on the names that Jacksonville has chosen to interview for its open head coaching job, there are more or less two potential philosophical roads the team could go down with this hire. They could elect to go for a young, up-and-coming coaching prospect like Byron Leftwich or Kellen Moore, both of which would be first-time head coaches but are well-respected offensive minds within the league. However, they could also look to target a more experienced option. And if the team wants to make a safe but solid hire, it seems likely that Jim Caldwell will be one of the top candidates. Caldwell, who is 67-years-old, has been out of coaching since 2019, but he still carries a fantastic reputation among the league and could be among the team’s finalists. With that in mind, here’s everything that you need to know about him. Background Caldwell began his career at the college level as an assistant before he got his first big break when he was hired as the head coach at Wake Forest in 1993. He spent eight years helming the Demon Deacons, but he notched just one winning season in that span and was fired after the 2000 season. It was at that point that Caldwell shifted gears from college to the NFL, where he has remained ever since. He was hired by Tony Dungy to serve as a quarterbacks coach in his final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Caldwell followed Dungy to Indianapolis, where he served in the same role from 2002-08. When Dungy retired following the 2008 season, Caldwell took over as head coach. Under Caldwell, the team went 14-2 in Year 1 and lost in the Super Bowl to the New Orleans Saints. In 2010, the team regressed to 10-6 and was eliminated in the first round of the AFC playoffs. Caldwell’s final season came the following year when the team bottomed out at 2-14 after Peyton Manning missed the entire season. He was fired after Indy’s league-worst finish with a 26-22 total record. He was immediately hired by Detroit, where he had a winning record in three of four seasons and took the team to two playoff appearances. But after a 9-7 season in 2017, the Lions fired Caldwell in a decision that doesn’t look very wise in hindsight. His 36-28 record in Detroit made him the franchise’s first non-interim coach to finish his career with a winning record since Joe Schmidt, who left the team after the 1972 season. Caldwell spent the 2018 season as a consultant for the XFL but returned to the NFL in 2019 to serve as the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins. Though he’s interviewed for several head coaching openings, he’s been out of the league since that season. Why Caldwell could be a good hire? Right now, this franchise has one major priority: finding the right coach to develop quarterback Trevor Lawrence. After a lackluster rookie season, the new head coaching hire is crucial. Whether that coach is an offensive guy who does the legwork himself or a defensive guy who will hire a quarterback guru offensive coordinator, all of these decisions need to be made with Lawrence’s progress in mind. And it’s hard to think of a coach with a better track record when it comes to quarterbacks than Caldwell. He was in Indianapolis for the entirety of Manning’s prime, and the Hall of Fame quarterback evolved into one of the best passers the game has ever seen under Caldwell’s tutelage. He also worked with an elite quarterback in Detroit as Matthew Stafford had some of the best years of his career with Caldwell at the helm. His r sum as a head coach isn’t too shabby either. Though he finished just above .500 in both of his previous stops, he made the playoffs in four of the seven seasons he’s been a head coach. He’s one of two candidates for this job that has coached in a Super Bowl (the other being former Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who won it after the 2017 season). Of course, there are concerns with Caldwell. As previously mentioned, he’s 67 and would likely be more of a short-term solution for the franchise, as it’s unclear how much he has left in the tank. He’s also spent the last two seasons away from the league, and his transition back into being a head coach after four years away from that role may not be as smooth as some would think. But he also has a reputation as a players’ coach, and after the disastrous Urban Meyer tenure that alienated both players and the staff, hiring a high-character coach like Caldwell would represent a complete 180 in terms of culture. Caldwell is a polar opposite to Meyer in many ways, and though he may not be the most exciting option, he could be just what this team needs to rebuild its organizational reputation. Email Sign up Like this article? Sign up for the Jaguars Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning An error has occured Please re-enter your email address. Thanks for signing up! You'll now receive the top Jaguars Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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