Jaguars part ways with GM Trent Baalke amid head coaching search

On By Littum

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 27: Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke speaks to the media during the NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on February 27, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Trent Baalke was set to enter the final year of his five-year deal with the Jaguars this fall. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

After all, Trent Baalke is out in Jacksonville.

The Jaguars announced Wednesday afternoon that they had parted ways with their general manager in a search for a new head coach.

“After several discussions with Trent Baalke this week, we have both come to the conclusion that it is in our mutual best interest to respectfully separate effective immediately,” owner Shad Khan said in a statement. “Trent leaves us with my deepest appreciation for his efforts over the past five seasons. Ethan Waugh will serve as interim general manager and play an important role with others as we continue the process of interviewing candidates to serve as our new head coach. I am deeply committed to building a winner here in Jacksonville and look forward to introducing a new head coach who will make that happen for our players and fans.

Waugh, who will serve as the team’s interim general manager for the time being, has been with the team since 2022.

Baalke has been with the Jaguars for the past four seasons. The team reached the playoffs just once under his watch, and they are coming off a 4-13 campaign. Baalke was hired ahead of the 2021 campaign, when coach Urban Meyer was fired after less than a year. The team then fired head coach Doug Pederson earlier this month. In all, Baalke compiled a 25-43 record in Jacksonville. The job marked his second as a general manager in the league, following a six-year run with the San Francisco 49ers – who reached a Super Bowl under his watch.

When the Jaguars fired Pederson at the end of the regular season, Khan said he would not fire Baalke as well. He didn’t want to completely overhaul the franchise, he said, as that would be “like shooting yourself in the foot.”

But in the following weeks, things have not gone well for the Jaguars. The reported favorite for the head coaching job, Liam Coen, chose to stay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He took himself out of the position in Jacksonville earlier Wednesday and instead negotiated a new contract with Tampa Bay that will make him one of the highest-paid coordinators in the league. The Jaguars are now back to the drawing board to find their next head coach, who will be the fourth since Baalke selected quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft. They have already interviewed several other candidates, including former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh, who will have another later this week, Todd Monken and Kellen Moore.

It took him a few extra weeks to get there, but it now looks like the full reset is what Khan is going for in Jacksonville. But based on how the Jaguars have fared in recent years, whoever he gets to replace both Pederson and Baalke will have a very tough job ahead of them.