Mularkey hired as Jacksonville head coach
Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey chats with the local media. (D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER/AJC)
UPDATE: The Jacksonville Jaguars have confirmed the hiring of former Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey as their third head coach.
The Florida Times-Union is reporting, through a source, that the Jaquars have hired Mike Mularkey as their new head coach.
FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey is interviewing for the vacant head coach position with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Les Snead, the team’s director of player personnel is interviewing for the general manager’s post in St. Louis, today.
He’s set to interview with Miami later in the week.
Should Mularkey land the Jacksonville or Miami job, he could take a couple of assistant coaches with him. There has been very little turnover from Smith’s original staff. With former defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder’s swift departure to the college ranks, five of the original 16 members have moved on to other jobs.
Mularkey was a candidate last season for head coaching jobs in Cleveland and Denver. He interviewed with Cleveland, but withdrew from the Denver search. Cleveland hired Pat Shurmur and Denver hired John Fox.
Mularkey’s son Patrick is a scouting assistant with the Jaguars. He wants to be a head coach again. He was Buffalo’s head coach in 2004-05 and posted a 14-18 record.
Mularkey and former offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave have been lauded league-wide for their fast development of quarterback Matt Ryan and for turning the Falcons’ offense into one of the league’s better units which has powered the team to a 43-21 record and three trips to the playoffs.
Mularkey is attractive because of his background in coaching power football. Jacksonville also needs someone to develop quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who struggled in his first year in the league. Miami will likely be in the market for a quarterback in the draft.
Mularkey was Miami’s offensive coordinator in 2006 and their tight ends coach in 2007.
Mularkey’s unit was stymied in the 24-2 loss to the New York Giants in the NFC wild-card playoff game on Sunday. The Falcons were 4 of 14 on third downs and 0 for 3 on fourth downs as they were kept out of the end zone.
Jacksonville dismissed Jack Del Rio this season. He was replaced on an interim basis by Mel Tucker. Miami parted ways with Tony Sparano.
After the 2010 season, Mularkey was selected as the coordinator of the year by The Sporting News.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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415 comments Add your comment
Phil McCrackin
January 10th, 2012
3:10 pm
And let’s not get another running back who’s built like a Sherman tank and moves about as fast as one!! I know there aren’t many Sproles out there… but I love how fast the Saints’ running backs hit the holes and gain yardage. We have plenty of those half-back, chubby, slow running backs… let’s get one with SPEED!
Gumbo
January 10th, 2012
3:10 pm
Wear your best tie and do well Mikey. Maybe you’ll get lucky and none of the Jaguars front office watched that joke of a game plan you put together Sunday. UGH!
Smitty, you’ve got to to the right thing and unload this cretin, whether anybody else wants him or not.
Steve
January 10th, 2012
3:10 pm
Bring him home McKay!
Hugo
January 10th, 2012
3:11 pm
Rollo Shushhhhhhhhhhhhh. Let him GO, please. When u have a empty backfield and qb sneak? Please let him go.
UGABugKiller
January 10th, 2012
3:11 pm
I like how the unrelenting smug JSS calls an exposing of him as an “attack,” whilst what he does “exposing the truth,” because y’all know, he’s “above-it-all,” and so much smarter than the rest of us, what with his brown-nosing of the AJC staff and his air of failed journalist.
Funny how that works, considering he’s the one who “attacked” (or is that “exposed the truth?”) me first.
Jimmy Crack
January 10th, 2012
3:12 pm
“…self-righteous, smug, arrogant, faux-intellectual, wannabe (failed) journo douche…”
Rob Parker?
Phil McCrackin
January 10th, 2012
3:14 pm
Both of you guys need to get on a private blog and rip the shi* out of each other… enough here, we don’t care about your personal attacks.
Pauls Johnson
January 10th, 2012
3:15 pm
UGABugKiller
“Too bad we all still have to read JSS’s quasi-intellectual, semi-hipster, everything and everyone is stupid but me and my s–t don’t stink thoughts on ANY subject.”
LOL
ChucktownATL
January 10th, 2012
3:18 pm
Am I crazy to want Spags and Todd Haley?
kreedham
January 10th, 2012
3:19 pm
DOL…I knoow it’s just been a day but let us know when you get any idea of might be on the Falcons radar for DC.
Bama Mike
January 10th, 2012
3:20 pm
Agree Lawson. Why he is still employed today with the Falcons today is mind boggling. I lost faith and confidence in Smitty when he fought with DeAngelo Hall on the sidelines.
JSS
January 10th, 2012
3:28 pm
@ Ledbetter…
See that is why I say “let all of his attacks” stay out there… He always needs an excuse…
BugKiller, you always rant… You did it all of that in 2006, 2007, and 2008… Bill King got so tired of you and you had to change your user-name… You talk about “brown-nosing,” you’re the king of it… There is not a beat writer or sports columnist on the AJC whose Twitter page is not full of your daily “pseudo-journalism” or your palabra masquerading as opinion… When your great takes on bankruptcy law and sociopathic tendencies hit the peer review process, please let us all know!
loyal falcon
January 10th, 2012
3:31 pm
RW to the patriots for Aaron Hernandez?
Pauls Johnson
January 10th, 2012
3:37 pm
I dont know the history here,, but best I can tell you did Start it JSS with your snide comment,,, and Bugkiller was pretty much right on point about you,,, Good Stuff,,
keepinitreal
January 10th, 2012
3:42 pm
“And let’s not get another running back who’s built like a Sherman tank and moves about as fast as one!! I know there aren’t many Sproles out there… but I love how fast the Saints’ running backs hit the holes and gain yardage. We have plenty of those half-back, chubby, slow running backs… let’s get one with SPEED!”
There’s no reason Rodgers can’t be another Sproles. He just needs the right coach to really unleash him. Sproles was always a nice player in San Diego, but once Payton got a hold of him he became dominant.
Jimmy Crack
January 10th, 2012
3:45 pm
BugKiller seems to have some aversion to douching or being douched.
KevinM
January 10th, 2012
3:50 pm
“lombardi
January 10th, 2012
1:55 pm
And he’s not going to the Jags because the new owner Shahid Khan who just shelled out $100mm, is sitting in on interviews w/ parties of considerable interest which at this time seems to be Brian Schottenheimer. Can you imagine the questions Khan’s gonna have for MM after failing to get a single point against a mid-to-lower tier rated D.”
If the last name is Schottenheimer, plan on him coming up short on the expectation scale. Brian is not the answer…he didn’t even get to the playoffs and they were a ‘lock’.
I like the idea of Billick, and possibly Haley, provided he is not a ticking bomb waiting to implode.
DC, wouldn’t that be funny to go get Grantham from ugga? Would Arthur intentionally upset the dawwwwwwwwwg fan base? I don’t think so.
Sad to hear if Spags is really heading to Philly…I wish nothing but the worse for that franchise. I’m glad they’re keeping Andy Reid.
extremus
January 10th, 2012
3:50 pm
Go Van Gorder, and take Mularkey with you!!!! Seriously, these are the first Falcons “losses” in awhile that I’d actually feel good about.
al.com
January 10th, 2012
3:50 pm
People dislike our OC almost as much as they do obama!!!!!!!!!!! We need to get rid of both losers.
bobby
January 10th, 2012
3:51 pm
I would hire Singletary to run the defense and hire Cam Cameron to the the offense. Then I would let go Abraham and Mike Peterson. Then I would sign or go after Desean Jackson and use Julio as a third receiver then trade Harry Douglas and Jason Snelling to the Eagles for Asante Samuel then trade Dunta Robinson and Eric Weems to Cincy for their 1st round pick and select Marcus Forston out of Miami.
SirReal
January 10th, 2012
3:52 pm
Hope Mularkey moves on…BUT i just heard Mike Smith say he still wants to be a run first team….so it sounds like whoever comes in is also gonna be subjected to conservative, dinosaur football. I dont know if I like the vision this team has. As much as I like Smith, he’s honestly starting to wear thin on me. Next year should be a make or break year for him but it wont. Blank is too soft on his employees. TD is too smug to think his decisions are wrong. People just look at how many of his free agents or draft picks have been BUSTS or havent seen the field at ALL. Peria Jerry? BUST Remember them bringing in Tye Hill a couple years back? BUST Wonder who he’ll draft in the first round this year….thats right we dont have one. Why? Because we drafted a very good WR for a not so good offense. Either TD is saying the Birds need to go to a pass first offense or everyone is basically delusional. Our lines are not up to par with others in the division. I like babs and peters but I think its time to get 2 power pigs in the middle. Our offensive line is like 40 lbs lighter on average than others in the division. They arent good enough to hold up in pass protection but barely good enough to make holes. Power football my as….k me no questions.
cmc
January 10th, 2012
3:56 pm
please jax does us a favor, skip the interview..you can have him…..and the “development” of Matt Ryan?? please dont make me laugh
JSS
January 10th, 2012
4:01 pm
“Tired” is not “banned;” but when you’re myopic, of course you see “banned.” Your multiple blogger user-name personality disorder catches up with you again! And “palabra” is not Spanish slang. Hey, you took the SAT, I guess you skipped that one on the vocabulary section… You’re a hoot…
The Truth
January 10th, 2012
4:03 pm
If a basket of fresh picked south Georgia okra were available, I’d trade Matt Ryan for it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I think the owner of the okra would probably want more than Matt Ryan in return.
atlnative
January 10th, 2012
4:04 pm
Hey Coach Mularkey,I hope you get a job somewhere other than here in Atlanta.You need to take the Wonderlic Test, because it’s idiotic to have you as a Offensive Coordinator.
Arther Blank
January 10th, 2012
4:04 pm
I’ll buy UGA’s O-line. Is that possible? (scraching head)
SirReal
January 10th, 2012
4:05 pm
UGABugKilla VS. JSS
TWO MEN ENTER…ONE MAN LEAVES.lol lol
RJ Voorhees
January 10th, 2012
4:13 pm
I hope they hire a proven DC coordinator. Mike Singletary would be my top choice
TheRealBirdLady
January 10th, 2012
4:22 pm
Enter your comments here
willow
January 10th, 2012
4:26 pm
UGABugkilla, Do you have a job? Are you posting from work? If yes, how on earth do you get by with it? Maybe you own the company.
I’m disappointed with Sunday’s game same as everyone, but I don’t want to destroy the team and start over. Mr. Mularky needs replacing, yes. What the team really needs are a couple more really big agile offensive linemen. Like the ones the arrogant glorious one in Green Bay has. Then Matt Ryan will have a good chance to win post season. He doesn’t win games by himself, and he sure as heck doesn’t lose them all on his own. I would love to see Mike Singletary join the Falcon’s coaching staff.
LOL
January 10th, 2012
4:28 pm
al.com, lose the knee-jerk reactionary political cra*! This is sports, not a simpleton political message board for folks like you.
Arther Blank
January 10th, 2012
4:29 pm
Ryan needs to put on about 23 pounds of muscle for next season. He wieghs a mere 218. For his size that ain’t all that heavy. Tebow is a solid 245, a fullback and growing. Tebow’s not scarred to get hit. On the contrary, Matt is terrified his small frame may get mess up if he takes one hit too many. Strengthen your core. Build your torso shoulders and arms. Strenghten you legs. If that can’t be done, then we’ll trade him.
Supes
January 10th, 2012
4:31 pm
If Mularkey is STILL the O.C on Wednesday (when the Falcons have their “big presser”) I’ll be shocked. He needs to be GONE, FIRED or just take a job before then somewhere else.
One last thing…Dimitroff needs to be clear with Mike Smith…if they go with a new philosophy on offense he needs to tell Mike Smith to KEEP HIS HANDS OFF, enough of that “run first crap”…the league is becoming a pass driven QB league, not a RB league…even with Mike Smith’s conservative approach and all…you can have a west coast type approach with Matt Ryan and our current offense and be successful…my hope is that the FALCONS go in that direction.
Arther Blank
January 10th, 2012
4:32 pm
This is the era of the new quarterback profile: Height: 6′5″, 248, rocket arm, hard runner, fast on the outside. Not scarred.
LOL
January 10th, 2012
4:33 pm
Yes, because if this guy can’t throw an out pattern with the kind of zip 80% of the NFL QBs have… and if he falls down or chucks the ball out of bounds every time he’s flushed out of the pocket… we may have a huge problem on our hands…
nathan
January 10th, 2012
4:35 pm
My prediction:
Smitty is out after next year…hearing these comments about him being stuck on “run first” combined with a MUCH MORE DIFFICULT SCHEDULE next season is gonna make for an under .500 season.
My hope:
Give JPW more reps…I wasn’t impressed in preseason, but I doubt he could be much worse. I wanna see his toughness…
My question:
Is Ryan really “scared” on the field? Aren’t most/all football players tough, and that’s why they play the game? Is he only out there ’cause he’s gettin’ paid handsomely? Or positioning himself for something in the future? I hate to rag on the guy, but the zero mobility, throwing out of bounds, and meek interviews make me wonder…
John T
January 10th, 2012
4:45 pm
This team needs heart! They were soft and it was UGLY. The O line needs a make over, D line needs to get mean! DB look bad. Mr. Blank might have to clean house, FANS will be there when they see heart and pride in there team!
skeptomania
January 10th, 2012
4:47 pm
Mularkey is too predictable and Ryan has turned to slush. Enough of the dunk and dink offense. After watching the Falcons futility it was refreshing to see some action in the Denver-Pittsburgh game and an exciting finish.
RJ Voorhees
January 10th, 2012
4:52 pm
DC : Mike Singletary
Chuck
January 10th, 2012
4:53 pm
Mike Mularkey = training wheels. Good to learn on, but they slow you down. Eventually you have to get rid of them.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
January 10th, 2012
5:04 pm
JSS – Too late! Been scrubbing the comments a little too hard today. That will really send him over the edge.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
January 10th, 2012
5:05 pm
Name calling — delete!
chas
January 10th, 2012
5:07 pm
“Take my Mularkey…please”. – Henny Youngman
tyger
January 10th, 2012
5:08 pm
Let’s do the Heisman!!! – RG#
Falcons have shown they’ll move up for a receiver, how bout a QB?
Let’s do the Heisman
New Blood
January 10th, 2012
5:11 pm
So as any of the media asked the Falcons if Mularkey does not get a head coach gig if he will be retained by the Falcons. That topic seems a little quiet which may be a good thing.
New Blood
January 10th, 2012
5:14 pm
I am not sure we have any thing left to move up with. I have a feeling Turner could be counting his days as a falcon
New Blood
January 10th, 2012
5:15 pm
Also we need Left tackle and right guard help, more than we need a qb. However we could trade white since his hands are no longer sticky.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
January 10th, 2012
5:16 pm
I just report the facts. BugKiller wants me to state an opinion. That’s the Bradley and Schultz department. FACT: Falcons were 43-21 with Mularkey calling the plays. FACT: They are 0-3 in the playoffs. FACT: They did not score any points in the playoffs. I ASKED RODDY WAS THE OFFENSE TOO CONSERVATIVE: Roddy told me No. Told Jason Cole something else. Here’s Roddy’s response to my questions: Was the offense too conservative? RODDY: “I don’t want to say that. We wanted to come in here and get off to a good start running the ball. We didn’t think they were going to be able to stop us. We ran some plays into some bad looks that we didn’t want to. At the end of the day, that’s part of the game. They did a good job.”
BUGKILLER can respond, but without all the name calling!!!
tyger
January 10th, 2012
5:19 pm
What’s Smitty smokin?
- His naive arrogance over 4th down is worrisome –
- You don’t kill a rhino with a fly swatter –
- Those are the Giants not the Midgets –
- There’s a reason 99% of teams punt-
- Statistical odds don’t mean $hit when you cant score -
- Sounds like he’s doing some damage control –
- That $hit was stupid –
- We haven’t bulldozed anybody this year, why now?
- And the lack of any deception is troublesome -
- He could’ve at least spreaded them out -
- Everyone knows the Giants’ strength is up the middle -
- Haven’t drafted/signed any 1st rd OL – what u expect?
Falcons4Eva
January 10th, 2012
5:19 pm
DLED –
Do you think the offensive line coach of the Falcons will be the one to be the fall guy (Scapegoat) for the offensive woes? I think he will be. They will point mostly to those 3 and 1 failures and 4th and 1 failures.