Jaguars make coaching staff official
Jaguars 19-member 2017 coaching staff includes seven assistants returning from last season
JACKSONVILLE – The staff is in place, and now it's official.
Doug Marrone, entering his first season as the Jaguars' permanent head coach, on Tuesday announced the team's 2017 coaching staff – a 19-member staff that includes seven assistants returning from last season.
Marrone, who served as the team's assistant head coach-offense/offensive line in 2015 and 2016, spent the last two games of last season as the team's interim head coach. He was named permanent head coach January 9.
The seven returning assistants include:
*Nathaniel Hackett, offensive coordinator. Hackett spent 2015 as the Jaguars' quarterbacks coach, a position he held for seven games in 2016 before replacing Greg Olson as offensive coordinator. Hackett served as offensive coordinator when Marrone was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills in 2013-2014 and served under Marrone in the same position at Syracuse in 2011-2012. The Jaguars' offense improved from 30th in the NFL in rushing yards per game to sixth in the category in seven games under Hackett this past season.
*Todd Wash, defensive coordinator.Wash spent 2012-2014 as the Jaguars' defensive line coach before serving as defensive coordinator last season. The Jaguars ranked sixth in the NFL in total yards allowed last season after ranking 24th in the category in 2015. Wash will enter his 12th NFL season next season, having served four seasons with Tampa Bay (2007-2010) and two with Seattle (2011-2012) as defensive line coach. He was the Buccaneers' defensive line coach from 2008-2010.
Rob Middleton, the tight ends coach the past four seasons, will return in that position with John Donovan returning as offensive assistant and Mike Rutenberg returning as defensive assistant. Mike Mallory, the Jaguars' special teams coordinator the past four seasons, will return as assistant special teams coordinator under special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis.
DeCamillis, a special teams coordinator in the NFL the past 23 seasons with Denver, the New York Giants, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Dallas, Chicago and Denver the past two seasons, is one of 11 new assistants on the staff. Seven position coaches – quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, offensive line, defensive line, linebackers and secondary – are new to the staff.
A look at the eight position coaches:
*Scott Milanovich, quarterbacks.Milanovich, a quarterback with the Buccaneers from 1996-1999, spent the past five seasons as head coach of the Toronto Argonauts. He coached the Argonauts to the 2012 Grey Cup title and was an assistant with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes five seasons before that.
*Tyrone Wheatley, running backs.Wheatley, a running back with the Giants from 1995-1999 and the Oakland Raiders from 2000-2004, spent the past two seasons as running backs coach of his alma mater – the University of Michigan. He was the Bills' running backs coach in Marrone's two seasons in Buffalo and the running backs coach at Syracuse in Marrone's final three seasons there.
*Keenan McCardell, wide receivers.McCardell, a wide receiver with the Jaguars from 1996-2001, played 17 seasons in the NFL and also played with Washington, Cleveland, Tampa Bay and San Diego. He is the 13th-leading receiver in receptions in NFL history and coached wide receivers with the Redskins in 2010-2011.
*Middleton, tight ends.Middleton, who played 10 NFL seasons with Atlanta, Washington, Cleveland, the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego, coached the Jaguars' tight ends the past four seasons and coached tight ends and special teams with the Buccaneers from 2004-2006.
*Pat Flaherty, offensive line.Flaherty, a veteran of 19 years coaching in the NFL, spent last season as the San Francisco 49ers' offensive line coach after 12 seasons with the Giants in the same capacity. Flaherty worked all 12 seasons in New York with then-Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, now the Jaguars' executive vice president of football operations. He was the Bears' tight ends coach from 2001-2003 and the Redskins' tight ends coach in 2000.
*Marion Hobby, defensive line.Hobby, the defensive line coach/co-defensive coordinator at Clemson the past six seasons, served as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Saints in 2006-2007. Marrone severed as the Saints' offensive coordinator in 2006-2008.
*Mark Collins, linebackers.Collins, an NFL assistant the past seven seasons, spent the past two seasons coaching the New York Jets' outside linebackers. He spent four seasons with the Atlanta Falcons from 2010-14, serving as a defensive assistant from 2010-13 and working with outside linebackers in 2014.
*Perry Fewell, secondary.Fewell, an NFL assistant the past 19 seasons, spent the past two seasons as the Redskins' secondary coach and spent the five seasons before that as the Giants' defensive coordinator under Coughlin. He also worked as the secondary coach of the Jaguars from 1998-2002, the final five seasons of Coughlin's tenure as the Jaguars' head coach. Fewell was the Bills' defensive coordinator from 2006-2009 and the secondary coach of the St. Louis Rams in 2003-2004 and the Bears in 2005.
The four other coaches new to the staff are assistant offensive line coach Tony Sparano Jr., offense-research Eric Price, assistant defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich and assistant defensive backs coach Joe Danna.
Sparano has spent the past six seasons in the NFL and served as the Bills' tight ends coach in 2015-2016.
Rebrovich spent last season as the Bills' defensive line coach after working with the team's outside linebackers in 2015; he spent 2014 as the Bills' assistant defensive line coach and 2013 as defensive quality control coach, working for Marrone in 2013-2014. Danna spent the past two seasons as the Jets' defensive backs coach and served as the Falcons' defensive backs coach in 2012-2014, Miami Dolphins assistant defensive backs coach in 2010-2011 and Falcons defensive assistant in 2008-2009.
The Jaguars also announced Tuesday that Tyler Wolf will return as assistant to the head coach and that ElizaBeth Mayers will return as assistant to the head coach and administrator of coaching operations.
