I thought that Mike Mularkey got something of a raw deal when the Jacksonville Jaguars only gave him one year as their head coach. His 2-14 record in 2012 wasn't a great start but the first year with a new coach is often a rough one. Key injuries in Jacksonville helped make things difficult. Mularkey had two years remaining on his contract. He had great success as an offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons. He was handed the handle of "Inspector Gadget" for his innovative play calls while with Pittsburgh. Mularkey has been one of the more creative offensive minds of the past decade. Shad Kahn bought the Jaguars during the 2011 season. Following that season he hired Mike Mularkey as his first head coach. That 2-14 season in 2012 prompted Kahn to start fresh with new team leadership. He fired General Manager Gene Smith and gave the keys of the franchise to Atlanta Falcons Director of Player Personnel Dave Caldwell. Caldwell decided it best to start fresh. He let Mularkey go as the Jaguars head coach nearly one year to the day after he was hired. Interestingly, Caldwell and Mularkey had worked together for four years with the Falcons.
Despite thinking that Mike Mularkey got a raw deal having only a single season to prove himself, I think that Dave Caldwell made a terrific hire when he brought in Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars. I really only knew Bradley from his defenses in Seattle. There was no doubt that he knew that side of the ball with the rapid rise of the Seahawks defense. Bradley started his NFL coaching career in 2006 as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebackers coach. There he had the opportunity to work with and learn from Monte Kiffin. The longtime defensive coach was impressed with this young football coach. Kiffin shared his opinion of Bradley with his recommendation to new Seahawks coach Jim Mora in 2009:
"J.L (Mora), listen to me. I have got a guy here in Tampa that is one of, if not, the finest football coaches I have ever worked with. He's an A-plus. He's a once-in-a-lifetime football coach. You need to talk to him."
-Monte Kiffin
Mora took Kiffin's advice and brought Bradley in for a talk. 15 hours of football talk later, Mora decided that he had found his defensive coordinator. Like Mularkey, Mora was only given one season. Seattle dumped him when Pete Carroll bolted the mess that he helped create at USC. Carroll brought in many of his own coaches but Gus Bradley stayed as the defensive coordinator in Seattle. Carroll obviously saw what Kiffin and Mora had come to know. Bradley is an excellent football coach. It took two more years before some fortunate team got themselves a fantastic head football coach. The Jacksonville Jaguars were that fortunate team.
I still think that unless it's a complete disaster a head coach deserves more than one year to get things going. Despite that, I can understand why Dave Caldwell thought it best to bring in a coach of his choosing rather than keep the coach that he inherited. When that coach turned out to be Gus Bradley I understand it even more. The more I hear about and from Bradley the more impressed I become. His players love playing for him. That's often the biggest hurdle with a rookie head coach. His work in Tampa Bay and Seattle definitely shows that he knows the defensive side of the ball. Kiffin was obviously impressed. So was Mora. So was Carroll. Finally, so was Caldwell. Bradley was a guest on Peter King's podcast this week. He simply sounds like a great guy. At the end of the conversation, he thanked King for the interest. I mean, who does that? What NFL head coach does that? I like Gus Bradley. I wish him well.
I still feel bad for Mike Mularkey but football can be a brutal business.
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