Nothing is official yet, but Tania Ganguli of the Florida Times-Union is reporting via Twitter that the Jaguars have hired Mike Mularkey to be their head coach moving forward.
Mularkey first became an offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2001. He became the Buffalo Bills’ head coach in 2004 and resigned following the 2005 season due to disagreements with the direction of the team. While with Buffalo, Mularkey compiled a 14-18 record, narrowly missing the playoffs in 2004.
The sudden hire is somewhat surprising, especially considering the Jaguars reportedly called in Panthers offensive coordinator Rod Chudzinski for a second interview.
While the timing of the hire is something of a head-scratcher, the fact that the Jaguars hired an offensive minded coach is not. Mularkey has been largely successful in his role as an offensive coordinator for multiple teams, especially the Steelers and the Falcons. Clearly the Jaguars like what Mularkey has been able to do with Matt Ryan, and they’re hoping to achieve similar results in Blaine Gabbert’s development.
