Quote:I guess I'll add my two cents to this 93 page behemoth...


Coaching changes on young teams are always a bit risky. The last thing we need is someone who wants to come in, blow everything up and start building a new team in their image. The Jaguars are undeniably heading in the right direction, and as long as we keep showing improvement it's tempting to just leave things as they are.


That being said...


If you objectively analyse Gus's performance as head coach its hard to reach anything but a negative grade, even if you decide (with good reason) to overlook his overwhelmingly negative win-loss ratio because, frankly, no coach in history could come through a total tear-down like we did with a winning record.


As far as the x's and o's and game management go, even Gus supporters will have been frustrated at times. The list is long and has been repeated ten billion times on here, but its fair to say there have been some baffling personnel decisions, poor game management with timeouts and challenges, and a reoccurring theme of being unable to adjust in games. However, I think these things are always overplayed and over analysed when the spotlight is on a coach. Pretty much every team in the NFL will have questionable moments that the fans get annoyed with every week. Just think of the end of the last Superbowl... If Gus was responsible for something like that then it would be painted on here as further evidence of his total and utter ineptness, yet nobody really questions Pete Carrol's coaching ability.


Perhaps more damning is the team mentality aspect. It might seem like I'm contradicting myself a bit here, but first I want to give Gus some credit. The job he took on was pretty daunting. He was facing at least two guaranteed losing seasons while we rebuilt. I think, and some will argue with this, that Gus has actually done a good job throughout this time. We needed a positive, energetic, optimistic and enthusiastic atmosphere to carry the players through that period, and to create an environment where the players are in a position to focus on improving. I thing Gus was successful with that, and its credit to him as a coach and a man that the players still seem to have so much respect for him. Most coaches with a record like that would lose the respect of the players. Gus hasn't.


However... Now that we are emerging from the rebuild with an impressive core of young players expectations have rightly changed. We have talent. We want victories. It can be argued that Gus's friendly and supportive approach is no longer the right vibe for this team. Up to this point the priority has been on commitment, effort and improvement, and mistakes have been excused as growing pains. Now we need to switch to a culture where we demand results, and failure is not accepted. Look at the Patriots... You perform or you're out.


The question is whether Gus can switch from being the 'everybody's best friend' coach to the hard taskmaster that people are afraid to cross... Personally, I don't get the feeling that he will be able to do that.


So where does that leave us? Obviously the next move is an important one, and for that reason I believe we wait until the end of the season before we do anything. Gus has 8 games left to prove he can get results with this team. If, and I acknowledge this is unlikely, he has a winning record over the second half of the season then he will probably deserve another year. Anything less and I think he should be out, and replaced with someone who will be committed to continuing to build around the core of young players we have. That person will need to come in and immediately establish a culture that puts the priority on winning. Considering the young talent we have at key areas, and the cap situation and owner, it should be a very appealing position.