Jacksonville Jaguars in dispute with fired assistant coaches over terms reference of deals – NFL News
Jacksonville Jaguars have come into dispute with their former assistant coaches over terms' reference of their deals and payment of their dues as per their contracts.
Apparently, the dispute has been triggered by the wordings of the contracts, which according to their senior vice president, Paul Vance, were erroneous.
As of the latest, the dispute has cost Vance his job. He was fired by the team management on Monday, January 09, 2012.
Reports have pointed out that the dispute is around an amount of $3 million to $4 million, which the assistant coaches have demanded that they should be paid as per terms of their contracts.
The Jags fired seven co-ordinators since firing of their head coach, Del Rio, by their former owner, Wayne Weaver, in 2011.
All of them had signed their deal extensions in 2010.
According to the team management, all the deals were valid for two years, running through until end of the year 2011. However, the language of the deals it states that the contracts "shall terminate on the later of January 31, 2012 or the day after the Jaguars'
last football game of the 2012 season and playoffs."
While insisting on the wordings of their deals, the assistant coaches have demanded compensation from the Jags, saying that their respective deal terms make them eligible for the payout for the year 2012. The management is especially liable to pay those
coaches who are unable to get jobs elsewhere.
However, the senior VP Jags, Vance, said it was an error and that their contracts originally expire in 2011. Therefore, they did not need to pay any money to fired coaches. He said it was wrong reference. It should be read as "should have read the 2011 NFL
season."
Vance was vice president of football operations at the Jaguars. He joined the team in its expansion phase in 1994. The organization has promoted, Sashi Brown, as a general counsel. He was an assistant counsel, earlier.
Inspite of his firing the team will continue utilizing services of Vance as a consultant during the transition phase. He will have the support from their general manager, Gene Smith.
Smith is currently overseeing all management and administrative affairs at the Jaguars. He is also heading the team’s search for a head coach after firing of their fulltime coach in November last year (2011).
It is for the first that the new Jaguars owner Shad Khan faces a controversy at his team, since taking over the team, on January 04, 2012. Mr Khan bought the Jags in a $770 million deal he reached with the former owner, on November 29, 2011.
The team management has gone straight to reshuffling with full hiring firing. So far, they have released seven assistant coaches and a couple of players.
It is in addition to their ongoing hunt for a fulltime coach. The defensive co-ordinator, Mel Tucker, is currently in charge of the Jags coaching affairs.
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