by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
If Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver plans to replace Coach Tom Coughlin before next season, he has yet to notify the National Football League of his decision as required by an “unofficial” league rule.
While media and fan speculation may suggest otherwise, the NFL says it has not heard from Weaver about a Jaguars head coaching vacancy next season.
“While not an official league rule,” said Greg Aiello, vice president of NFL public relations, “the team owners came together not too long ago and agreed to interview at least one minority candidate when a job became available as suggested by a diversity committee.”
According to Aiello, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who heads the committee established in late October to insure the hiring of more African Americans in NFL coaching and front office positions, has not been contacted.
“While it would be inappropriate to comment on any sort of replacement,” said Aiello, “I can say that no one has called Dan Rooney.”
Weaver, who was unavailable for comment Thursday, said earlier this month that he continues to strongly support Coughlin despite a losing record the last three years.
“I continue to have great confidence in Tom Coughlin and his coaching staff,” said Weaver. “Tom has two years left on his contract after this season and, as we always do, Tom and I will sit down and review our performance and determine what changes are necessary to get the Jaguars back to competing at the highest levels.”
At that time, Weaver said any decisions regarding personnel changes would take place after the season.
As for Coughlin, he’s awaiting the yearly post-season review with his owner.
“I haven’t had any indication when we’ll get together,” Coughlin said Thursday at his final in-season press conference at Alltel Stadium. “He’s a busy man. I don’t know his schedule.
“I’ll get with the other coaches early next week and go over the season. At some point, I’ll review it with Wayne.”
Coughlin continued to refuse to discuss his future with the team, repeating his oft-made statement that he was only focusing on the task at hand — in this case, Sunday’s 4:05 p.m. game at Indianapolis — and was not going to discuss his coaching future.