Jaguars Then-Owner Wayne Weaver knew what he wanted when he got around to hiring the first head coach for his new NFL franchise. His experience in the rough and tumble fashion world of ladies shoes, really, no sarcasm at all, taught him that tough jobs need tough people.
He talked to Tony Dungy, who would go on to win a Super Bowl in Indianapolis, but decided on Tom Coughlin, who would go on to win two Super Bowls in New York, which is fitting, since it was his time with the Giants and Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells that enticed Weaver. Parcells famously quipped that if "he had to cook the meal he might as well buy the groceries." In other words he wanted total control.
That's what Coughlin got from Weaver on February 21, 1994, when he took the helm. He, Coughlin, would decide who the quarterback was and who would wash the socks after Wednesday practice.
Weaver also wanted a coach with an offensive pedigree. He knew what was happening down the road in Gainesville and understood that the football fans in north Florida wanted to see the ball going up and down the field. Coughlin was one of the college game's most innovative offensive minds and in just a few short years would have one of the NFL's best offenses.
Coughlin moved to Jacksonville that very day, and began the process of building an NFL franchise from the ground up, which he found both appealing because he wanted to create what he saw as the perfect situation for a football program and he loved the challenge of building a winner in a league where winning is tough to do.
