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Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio and team owner Wayne Weaver
are scheduled to meet to discuss the coach's future with the
franchise.
The Tuesday morning meeting comes amid reports that Del Rio,
a Southern California alumnus, is the leading candidate to succeed
Pete Carroll as coach at USC. Carroll left the Trojans to coach the
Seattle Seahawks.
The L.A. Daily News reported Tuesday that USC sent Del Rio a
contract Monday night. The newspaper said Del Rio hasn't accepted
the job yet because his NFL contract could be a stumbling block.
"That's all speculation and hype," Del Rio told WJXT-TV as he
arrived for work Tuesday morning. "I'm getting ready to go in,
we're working on our offseason plan right now. Met with my coaching
staff yesterday, (general manager) Gene Smith yesterday, gonna meet
with Mr. Weaver later. Got our player evaluations taking place
tomorrow. It's business as usual in terms of going through our
offseason, making plans for building this team stronger going
forward."
Del Rio also denied USC gave him a contract.
"All of those things are manufactured," he said. "Only thing
I can tell you is I've been busy working on the Jaguars for 2010,
meeting with my staff, meeting with Gene Smith, we're going to meet
with Mr. Weaver. We're busy at work, trying to build this team
strong.
"All of those other things are a figment of other people's
imaginations."
The Jaguars ended the season on a four-game losing streak and
faded out of playoff contention. If Weaver fires Del Rio, he would
be owed more than $15 million.
Weaver declined to speculate on Del Rio's future.
"Look, you know I'm not going to get into those things," he
said. "Jack Del Rio is our coach right now."
