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
wow
January 11th, 2012
5:15 am
All you DA’s bad mouthing Matty ice just have no darn football IQ…. I mean look at the line the Guy has blocking for him and the genius that was calling plays. Whenever we go to no huddle and the offense is moving up and down the field almost 100 percent of the time Ryan is calling the show. Ryan is a great quarterback and if he was given the freedom to run more on his own it would help this team out greatly. Plus where were you haters at when we were the #1 seed last year? Exactly darn bandwagon fans…. oh well prolly mostly mutt fans the ones doing the hating.
Jaguars hire Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey as franchise’s 3rd … – Washington Post | myalicherif
January 11th, 2012
5:21 am
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution [...]
wow
January 11th, 2012
5:46 am
Hell plus our receivers have the most drops in the league …that Ryan’s fault too?
rfgh
January 11th, 2012
5:54 am
Changing the subject, but after hearing AGAIN how slow Tebow’s release is, let’s compare the time it takes for him to throw a ball 40 yards from start of throw till caught to Matt Ryan’s. I bet Ryan’s is MUCH slower. Ryan may not even get it 40 in the air.
drew
January 11th, 2012
6:01 am
He gone! It’s like a late Christmas (or maybe a really early Christmas).
Now who to bring in…Mike Martz??? Yeah, he might have some personality issues, and we still might not have all the offensive weapons in place, but at least it wouldn’t be boring!
MR needs to hit the weight room…arm strength is lacking, and not just on long balls, there are times when the 10-yard out needs to be zipped. And the whole organization needs to figure out what they want to be, and get the missing pieces in place.
Maybe in the long run, last Sunday’s performance was a positive thing.
Those lucky Falcons: Mike Mularkey goes to Jacksonville | Mark Bradley
January 11th, 2012
6:44 am
[...] Jacksonville Jaguars, for reasons unclear, have hired Mike Mularkey as head coach. That means the Atlanta Falcons lucked out. They’ve been spared having to fire him as [...]
Preston Thompson
January 11th, 2012
6:46 am
With all the Ryan bashing going on, remember one thing. The downfall of Matt started when Mr Musgrave left to go the Philly Egleats. After that move Matt looked lost. He lost confidence totally. He acts as though he doesn’t think he can get it done.
So I’m suggesting get Musgrave back or could something be going on in the front office where once a coach has a taste of it he wants no more. Something is stinking in the office, and I don’t think it’s a dead rat.
Rember something though, as bad as everybody seem to dislike Malarkey we could have Bobo from UGA. How would that fit in the craw?
I’m afraid something is wrong in the head coaching ranks. Smith acts like he’s a little lost. But the players like him so all things are good.
SINCE66
January 11th, 2012
6:48 am
Coaches changed. Now, what are you going to do with the players that can’t play? Round and round
we go, but the results seemingly are about the same as always.
The Falcons beat a few good teams, but when it comes putup or shutup time, where are the Falcons? Uaually looking as if a sixteen wheeler has run over them.
clean house
January 11th, 2012
6:58 am
Thank you jacksonville!! Now the ATL can hire a real OC!!! They fired van gorder, got lucky on mularkey and now its time to rebuild and start over!!!
FalconDawg
January 11th, 2012
7:07 am
He’s GONE!!!
FalconDawg
January 11th, 2012
7:09 am
Unfortunately, we’re stuck with Donte. He and Edwards are a drain on our potential.
Trade 4 Tim Teebow
January 11th, 2012
7:16 am
Trade 4 Tim Teabow and all this will be 4 gotten
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:17 am
Enter your comments here
hiramsaint
January 11th, 2012
7:29 am
finally the failcans get rid of some dead weight. 2 down and 54 to go
Londonman
January 11th, 2012
7:29 am
Finally Mularky is gone! Smitty, please hire an innovative, creative and proven OC!
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:41 am
Defensive players who played well in 2011:
Franks
Loftin
Weatherspoon
Grimes
Moore (when healthy)
Who did I miss?
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:42 am
Defensive players who were a bust in 2011:
Robinson
Edwards
Owens (except for two hustle plays)
Who did I miss?
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:44 am
Offensive players who played well in 2011:
Tong G
That’s all. Did I miss anybody?
Gary 32
January 11th, 2012
7:44 am
Reading these stupid comments on Matt Ryan really makes me wonder what games these idiots have been watching for the last 4 years. Ryan has already broken most of the Falcons passing records since their inception. What is amazing is he did it behind this offensive line and with Mularkey as offensive coach.
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:47 am
Offensive players who were a bust in 2011:
Svitek
Hawley
McClure
Blalock
Clabo
Did I miss any?
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:48 am
Players who were up and down, but down in the big games:
Ryan
Turner
White
Jones
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:49 am
Roddy is borderline on my bust list. Leading the league in drops.
old man
January 11th, 2012
7:53 am
Bosher really picked it up. Our special teams overall did pretty well. My only complaint is we don’t have an automatic touchback on kick-offs.
Right or wrong?
Greg
January 11th, 2012
7:58 am
Great news for the Falcons – Mularkey finally gone!!!!
Matty Melt
January 11th, 2012
7:59 am
Amen!!! Now we will see if Matt is capable enough to be a starting QB in this league, cause right now I’m not so sure.
Chris Snow
January 11th, 2012
8:34 am
I got a text about 10pm last night about the good news. Now let’s get a creative OC in here to hopefully meshes well with our offense!
Chris Snow
January 11th, 2012
8:37 am
mesh*
Veedub
January 11th, 2012
8:48 am
@D Led.. DANG!! You had to know this would get many comments. Couldn’t we get a new blog for this update. This is huge!!!
LOL
January 11th, 2012
8:51 am
Mularkey gone is nice… but let’s see what Thomas and Smitty replace him with. Because we could be in for more of the same conservative, conservative, conservative approach. If so, we are doomed.
jim brady
January 11th, 2012
8:55 am
Fans as long as you have Ryan as quarter back you should not expect any more than what you got this year no matter who the o coordinator. The falcons need o line and a quarter back.
Mularkey hired as Jacksonville head coach | NFL Online News
January 11th, 2012
8:56 am
[...] Atlanta Falcons This entry was posted in Atlanta Falcons and tagged coach, head, hired, Jacksonville, Mularkey. Bookmark the permalink. ← Five Key Offseason Questions for the Carolina Panthers: Fan’s Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network) [...]
12 men in the huddle
January 11th, 2012
8:57 am
I, like many others on this blog…..am now firmly convinced that Mike Mularkey’s conservative play calling and offensive coordinating was a good chunk of the reason for the Falcons poor showing offensively this year. Yet can you BELIEVE what Jacksonville has just done?? “Everybody was ready for it to be done,” tight end Marcedes Lewis said. “For me, personally as an offensive guy, I feel like it’s a good hire. We’re going to get new schemes, a new offense and a fresh start.” Yeah, they’re going to get new schemes alright! How about 3 plays and a punt??? Do they honestly believe this guy can turn around the Jags offense? Unless Smith was making some of those offensive play calls (in which case he should be fired!) then Mularkey was at fault and needed to be replaced pronto! Whomever we get has got to have more imagination on the offensive side of the ball.
Section 322 Row 7
January 11th, 2012
9:00 am
2 Down… 1 to GO
Jaguars Hire Mike Mularkey To Work With Blaine Gabbert – SB Nation | myalicherif
January 11th, 2012
9:01 am
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution [...]
Section 322 Row 7
January 11th, 2012
9:01 am
Mike Smith will be gone @ 12 noon today. Hoooooooooooraaaay!!!!
LOL
January 11th, 2012
9:03 am
It’s true that the Falcons need an O line, but they also need a D line that can apply pressure on the opponent’s QB. So far we have not had that ability – and it makes things more difficult for the offense which always seems to have to play catch up!
LOL
January 11th, 2012
9:04 am
Mike Smith isn’t gone… keep smoking, Section 322 Row 7!
BIGDAWGFAN
January 11th, 2012
9:08 am
Mularkey gone lets all do the happy dance
BIGDAWGFAN
January 11th, 2012
9:10 am
now for Bobo at UGA ant gonna happy time
for the unhappy dance
BIGDAWGFAN
January 11th, 2012
9:10 am
oops happen
LOL
January 11th, 2012
9:24 am
Mularkey gone doesn’t address the problems… it requires a fundamental change of philosophy at Dimitroff/Smitty’s level!
Erf
January 11th, 2012
9:33 am
Mike Martz is an interesting choice, but his offenses often use the running back as a receiver and mostly use the tight end to block. In Atlanta, our RB isn’t much of a receiver and we have a HOF tight end. He seems like a good name, but I’m not sure his system fits with our personnel.
Phil McCrackin
January 11th, 2012
9:37 am
No thanks on Mike Martz…
Brandon W
January 11th, 2012
9:38 am
Why can’t the media and Falcons brass admit that Matt Ryan is a nice guy, but not a playoff type QB?
JSS
January 11th, 2012
9:47 am
@ Loserville…
Bartkowski was helped mightily by the stabilization of the O-Line. But, he did not “soar” until the 10th game of the 1980 season when won a shootout against the Cardinals. He was very inconsistent that year except for unlike Ryan, he threw TD passes when sniffed the “red zone!”
Threadkiller
January 11th, 2012
9:51 am
I am no expert..But here’s a thought..What do ya’ll think?
Now that MM is in Jacksonville, do you think we should try and make a trade for Jacksonvilles 7th pick in the draft? We need to get back into the first round!
What would it take to get Jacksonvilles 7th pick?
ATL Observer
January 11th, 2012
10:18 am
OK, who’s in charge of writing the thank you card to Jacksonville?
If Hue is over being part of the Petrino experiment, I would say bring him back at any cost.
invictus mon
January 11th, 2012
10:20 am
THANK YOU Jacksonville!!!! Jokes on you! MM IS A SERIOUSLY LUCK MAN!
invictus mon
January 11th, 2012
10:34 am
If you’re looking for a way too conservative OC, Mike Bobo is available! I’m sure dawg fans would retract every nasty thing they said about him the last 4 years if you’d take him off our hands! Poor Falcons if you do though. lol
True Falcon
January 11th, 2012
10:38 am
Now that Malarky is gone I can’t wait until next season to hear the next round of Matt Ryan excuses.