Jack Del Rio's Coaching Style Is Better Suited for College Football

Week after week, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio comes to his Monday press conference and looks at the media.

His facial expressions are of a man who is somewhat upbeat but understands the situation in front of him.

He knows his job is on the line. The spin placed on a growing football team may be well and good, but will not save his position with the organization if the Jaguars (1-3) cannot salvage the season with a new quarterback and a bunch of questions on offense.

I know—it sounds like the same message over and over again, but Del Rio comes to the press conference or meets with the media and pleads his case.

He says the team is talented enough to win the AFC South Division and make the playoffs. And we all sit there in wonder as we cannot believe what we are hearing on the television or radio or what we read in the local paper.

A lot has been made about Del Rio’s fiery intensity and “coach ‘em up" style. He talks to his players and tries to convey the past and his experiences to them in hopes of making an impression.

It seems at times that Del Rio, a former NFL linebacker, misses the days of practice, putting on the pads and hitting someone on game day.

There has been a lot of talk about Del Rio and the way he approaches the game and the season. While this is a nine-year coaching veteran with the Jaguars, some have said (including myself) that maybe Del Rio is suited for the college game instead.

Maybe if LSU’s Les Miles or some other big-name college coach decided to test the NFL next year or the year after, Del Rio would be a good fit for the college atmosphere.

As a graduate of USC, I could see him on the sidelines rooting on his Trojans and coaching the team to victory. That is the type of guy Del Rio is.

But sadly, those emotions have fallen on mainly deaf ears here in Jacksonville. The fanbase and the owner, Wayne Weaver, are sitting in a wait-and-see mode. With the possibility of another losing season under Del Rio’s belt, a change in the head coaching position and wholesale changes on the staff and possibly the entire organization may be on the way.

It’s a heavy price to pay for an organization that took a chance on a man who looks the part, plays the part as best he can and, right now, can’t get the part to fit the coach he is.

In his defense, it is tough to come into a situation like Del Rio did in 2003 after the team let their only head coach in team history, Tom Coughlin, go.

The team was in disarray back then and, much like now, the players were searching for an identity. An identity that had local favorites Mark Brunell, Jimmy Smith and Fred Taylor still attached to its roster.

The talent then was not as weak as it is now. The skill positions are better, especially at receiver. The defense is about the same or close to it.

Coughlin taught a different style of play—his way to get through to his cast of characters was through military-like order. Some players even compared to it to Shawshank Prison.

Del Rio has not lived up to the promise of being more aggressive and scoring more points on offense. Yes, he is a gambler like a Steve Spurrier or a Pete Carroll—two coaches who made the leap to the NFL after very successful college careers.

Spurrier floundered in Washington. The jury is still out with Carroll in Seattle.

Del Rio knows no other way to coach but to coach from the heart and has said on many occasions he does not coach scared. He gambled on fourth down a few times this season and twice against New Orleans last week.

He cut his starter, David Garrard, because he thought it was the best thing for the team and to give rookie Blaine Gabbert a chance to learn on the job at some point this season.

That point came sooner than expected.

Del Rio needs to be in an environment where he is always being looked at as the one to make things better and not the one who makes things worse. We have seen him criticized way too often for things he has done over the last nine years, when other coaches would have already been given the boot.

But Weaver has stood by his coach. Now, he wants to be in the playoffs, or changes will be made.

College is an insular place where Del Rio can be the king of the mountain, and while he would still answer to an athletic director and boosters, the fall from grace would not be as steep. Those he worked with, his student athletes, would benefit from his training and fire inside.

It is kind of hard to make a guy listen to you and get fired up about a game that means nothing when you make three or four million dollars more than the coach.

College gives Del Rio a true chance to do what he wants. He can mold a team, mold men and take a few chances along the way.

That seems to be the thing that got him the job in Jacksonville in the first place.