This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The more Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan watched his team play, the more he realized one thing:
"We needed a rebuild from the ground up," Khan said.
So the Jaguars fired coach Mike Mularkey on Thursday after just one season, the worst in franchise history. The move came 10 days after Khan fired general manager Gene Smith.
Khan also introduced new GM David Caldwell on Thursday, and by parting ways with Mularkey, gave him a clean slate heading into 2013.
"I've always been a part of a winner," said Caldwell, who signed a five-year deal. "I've never been a part of a losing team."
But maybe the biggest news of the day came when Caldwell said New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow, a Jacksonville native who starred at nearly Florida, is not in the team's plans.
"I can't imagine a scenario in which he'll be a Jacksonville Jaguar — even if he's released," Caldwell said.
Mularkey, who went 2-14 this season, became the eighth head coach fired since the end of the regular season.
Around the league
Browns • Rob Chudzinski, who spent the past two seasons as Carolina's offensive coordinator, has been hired by Cleveland as its sixth full-time coach since 1999. Chudzinski has had two previous stints with the Browns as an assistant coach. He will be introduced at a news conference on Friday.
Steelers • Pittsburgh cut troubled 24-year-old running back Chris Rainey following his arrest on a battery charge in Gainesville, Fla., on Thursday, the latest in a series of off-the-field incidents that have threatened his career. Witnesses told detectives that Rainey slapped his girlfriend across the face and then chased her following an argument over Rainey's cellphone.
Bills • Newly hired coach Doug Marrone wasted little time filling the top two positions on his staff. The offensive-minded Marrone went with NFL experience in hiring Mike Pettine to be the defensive coordinator. And Marrone, the former Syracuse head coach, went with familiarity in having Orange assistant Nathaniel Hackett follow him to Buffalo to run the offense. Pettine has 12 seasons of NFL experience, and spent the past four years at the same position with the Jets.
49ers • David Akers is keeping his job as San Francisco's starting kicker for now. The 49ers signed Billy Cundiff on Jan. 1 to compete with Akers, a 15-year veteran who has struggled this season while making only 29 of 42 field-goal attempts.