Jaguars fire coach Doug Pederson, keep GM Trent Baalke after 4-13 season - ESPN

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars fired coach Doug Pederson but retained GM Trent Baalke on Monday, the team announced.

Pederson's firing comes after the team finished 4-13 this season; it has lost 18 of its past 23 games.

«I had the difficult task this morning of informing Doug Pederson of my intention to hire a new head coach to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars,» Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a statement. «Doug is an accomplished football man who will undoubtedly enjoy another chapter in his impressive NFL career, and I will be rooting for Doug and his wife Jeannie when that occasion arrives. As much as Doug and I both wish his experience here in Jacksonville would have ended better, I have an obligation first and foremost to serve the best interests of our team and especially our fans, who faithfully support our team and are overdue to be rewarded. In that spirit, the time to summon new leadership is now.

»I strongly believe it is possible next season to restore the winning environment we had here not long ago. I will collaborate with General Manager Trent Baalke and others, within and close to our organization, to hire a leader who shares my ambition and is ready to seize the extraordinary opportunity we will offer in Jacksonville."

Khan will now be searching for his sixth head coach since he purchased the team in November 2011 and assumed control in 2012. Baalke is entering the final year of his contract.

Khan had big expectations for 2024, telling the team the night before training camp began last July that this was the «best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars ever» and that he expected the team to make the playoffs. Those comments became public via an in-house documentary released in early