Del Rio Becomes Jaguars’ Coach

The Jacksonville Jaguars were looking for a coach who could relate to the players and put fans back in the seats. They hired Jack Del Rio, a whirlwind of a guy who played linebacker in the NFL and sometimes looks as if he wishes he still did.

Jaguar owner Wayne Weaver made the Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator and former USC All-American the second coach in team history Thursday replacing the fired Tom Coughlin, team spokesman Dan Edwards said.

Del Rio, 39, becomes the second-youngest coach in the NFL behind Tampa Bay’s Jon Gruden.

Del Rio was a surprise candidate, but one Weaver couldn’t resist after a four-hour interview with him earlier this week, at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

“When you look a guy in the eye and the chemistry’s there, you know you’ve got your guy,” Weaver told WJXT-TV in Jacksonville.

In Del Rio’s single season as coordinator for the Panthers, he helped them improve from 31st in the league to second in defense.

So excited is Weaver about showing off his new coach, he decided to make Del Rio’s introductory news conference a public event. He’ll hold it today at the stadium in Jacksonville and is inviting fans to attend.

Del Rio becomes the fourth former USC player to become an NFL head coach, joining Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher, Seattle’s Mike Holmgren and the New York Giants’ Jim Fassel.

At USC, Del Rio was a first-team All-American in 1984 and won the Pop Warner Award as the top senior on the West Coast. Del Rio also was runner-up for the Lombardi Award as the nation’s best linebacker and was the starting catcher for the 1984 Trojan baseball team that featured Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson.

In the NFL, Del Rio played 11 seasons with New Orleans, Kansas City, Dallas and Minnesota, and made the Pro Bowl in 1994.

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Former San Francisco 49er coach Steve Mariucci said that his firing Wednesday came as a surprise, and rejected talk that he already has made plans to become a TV commentator.

“I don’t have a clue right now what I’m going to do or what I want to do,” he said. “Will I coach again? I suppose so.”

But his answers to the questions still surrounding his firing didn’t exactly clear up the convoluted circumstances. In fact, most of what Mariucci said was nearly the opposite of the party line from owner John York and the team brass.

Mariucci said he did not demand powers above and beyond his coaching duties, that he respected the 49ers’ organizational flow chart, as York described it, and that he didn’t have any interest in the Jacksonville vacancy or any other job.

Mariucci also said it was news to him when York cited philosophical differences -- not the team’s performance -- as the reason for his dismissal.

“I’m not sure exactly what that means,” Mariucci said of York’s description of the events. “When he talked to me the other day, it was about seeing different colors or something. He said that. He’d have to explain that to you.”

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The Goodyear blimp won’t be allowed near the upcoming Super Bowl.

No blimps, banner-tow planes or other aircraft will be allowed within seven miles of Qualcomm Stadium for most of Super Bowl Sunday on Jan. 26, city officials said.

The no-fly zone, which extends 18,000 feet above the stadium, will be enforced by U.S. military planes and the Customs Service.

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The NFL barred teams from trading draft picks for the right to sign a coach, the type of swap that allowed Tampa Bay to get Jon Gruden.

The new policy was announced in a memo to all 32 teams by Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, league spokesman Greg Aiello said.

The NFL’s competition committee was worried that such trades might be undermining the purpose of the draft.

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Former Cleveland Brown running back Errict Rhett is suing the team doctor and the Cleveland Clinic for what he believes was a misdiagnosis of the foot injury that ended his career.