Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver says he's "still in the beginning stages of assembling a list of available coaches and personnel people," but he could begin interviewing candidates as "early as this weekend."
Weaver told reporters this past Monday he'd like to have a new head coach and GM-type personnel person in place by mid-January, but adhering to that timeline won't be as easy as interviewing and selecting. The greater part of Weaver's search-and-hire process would seem to involve decisions on how Weaver wants to structure the relationship between his new coach and personnel person.
"I'm still wrestling with the idea of how to set this up so one person doesn't have all of the power," Weaver told jaguars.com today. "How do you create an environment in which everyone is around the (draft) table expressing an opinion, and it comes down to the coach or personnel person making that decision?"
Weaver is looking for a coach and personnel expert who are willing to set aside their egos and work together in making final decisions on personnel matters (especially in the draft), without one boasting of final-say power.
"I've got to put together a group of people who have a chemistry for a working relationship so it's not dominated by one person's strong view. We have to make sure our scouts are giving us good information and we're using that information, and that it gets good, lively discussion," Weaver added.
Of course, in the first eight years of the Jaguars' history, head coach Tom Coughlin had total control in all matters of football operations. Coughlin promoted the "one voice" concept Weaver says he will now change to "many voices."
"I feel the coach and general manager roles are adversarial because one has too much power. I'm trying to do a hybrid; that they use all of their resources to make the best decision," Weaver said.
Creating that hybrid will be largely determined by the reaction of the candidates Weaver interviews for the two positions. When Weaver finds two men who represent his model, they will likely lead the Jaguars into the second era of the team's history.
It's expected Weaver will hire a personnel boss first, but the Jaguars owner said he is "going to have the biggest say in who the coach is."
