Jacksonville fans want Spurrier, Jags owner says Coughlin still the man

Posted 5:48PM on Monday 7th January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - If Steve Spurrier were coaching in Jacksonville, the Jaguars might actually be fun again, not just laughable. At least that was the prevailing sentiment Monday in a city that just watched the Jaguars close their dismal 6-10 season in a sometimes-comical, sometimes-pathetic 33-13 loss to the Chicago Bears. Massive defensive lineman Keith Traylor's lumbering 67-yard interception return was the highlight of the game - maybe the season - and the Jaguars wound up looking like that guy who's always getting dunked on in the frame of all those Michael Jordan posters. Again. ``I did my job, I had to stop him from going and scoring a touchdown,'' said Jaguars receiver Keenan McCardell, who saw nothing funny about his sprint to chase down Traylor. If that had been the only embarrassment, maybe the aftermath wouldn't have seemed so bad. But there was plenty more. As they walked out of the stadium for the final time Monday, some players were still in shock over coach Tom Coughlin's decision to burn all three timeouts in the final two minutes of a 20-point game to get the ball back. The Bears simply wanted to kneel down and run out the clock. Defensive end Renaldo Wynn hurt his knee when the Bears started running the ball to counter Coughlin's decision. Mark Brunell took a wicked shot when the Jaguars went back on offense. ``For it to be a close call like it was, I was pretty ticked off,'' said the normally mild-mannered Wynn, whose injury wasn't severe. He said even the Bears were wondering why the Jaguars insisted on prolonging the game. Coughlin defended the decision Monday. ``If I would've let the clock run, the first question today would have been, `Why did you quit?''' Coughlin said. ``We're 6-9, we're going to go all out. It's a 60-minute game, not 58.'' Among the other indignities: Mike Hollis missed an extra point and had a 36-yard field goal blocked. That led Coughlin to take the unprecedented move of pulling Hollis in favor of kickoff specialist Jaret Holmes for the final extra point. Maybe it was Coughlin's form of payback to Hollis, who publicly ripped Coughlin last week for his long, confusing list of rules and the unfriendly atmosphere he creates for the team. Clearly, the fans aren't enamored with the Jaguars. Attendance has dropped by almost 10,000 a game over the last three seasons, as the Jaguars have gone from Super Bowl contenders to losers. TV ratings for Jaguars games are down by almost one-third. The Jaguars faced the first three blackouts in franchise history this season. It furthered the widely held belief that Jacksonville, at its core, will always be a college-football town. Indeed, Spurrier would be the perfect fit here. He has always loved Jacksonville, and the city - only 90 miles from Gainesville - is filled with Florida fans who have always adored him. Jacksonville is one of Florida's main recruiting bases, and it's the city where Florida plays Georgia every year in the game dubbed ``The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.'' ``A lot of people would love to see him here,'' said Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, formerly of Florida. ``But Coach Coughlin's our coach.'' Indeed, owner Wayne Weaver is unwilling to budge. Last week, he said Coughlin will get a contract extension and will be the coach that rebuilds the team. For as good a coach as Coughlin was in his first five years, he has also been a divisive figure, both in the city, and in the locker room. Now, his team has closed the season as the butt of a joke - the Washington Generals in shoulder pads. With Spurrier on the market, it's strange to think Weaver isn't interested. ``But sometimes you have to get out of fantasy world,'' Taylor said. ``If you stay in fantasy land too long, you get in trouble. You have to be realistic.''

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