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According to an AP report, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive line coach Joe Cullen turned down an offer to leave the Jags and become the next defensive coordinator at Boston College. A move to the Heights would have reunited Cullen with new coach Steve Addazio. Both coaches served on the Indiana Hoosiers staff from 2002-04 -- Addazio as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach and Cullen as defensive assistant coach and defensive coordinator in 2004.
The move would have also taken Cullen closer to where he grew up. Cullen is a 1990 graduate of UMass, having played nose guard for the Minutemen from 1986-89. While Cullen is a longtime college assistant, he has spent six of the last seven years in the NFL and has been with the Jaguars since 2010.
"Steve (Addazio) and I talked," Cullen said. "Obviously, for me, it wasn't the right timing. I love Jacksonville, love the Jaguars, really enjoy the people I work with. No matter what happens, I'm going to coach somewhere, whether it's Pop Warner or somewhere else. With the timing of everything, it was best for me to stay in the NFL and help the Jaguars get to where I know we can get."
The Jaguars are 2-13 and rank 31st in the NFL in total defense allowing 391.1 yards per game.
Personally I'm happy with the way things worked out. Instead of working out a deal with Cullen, Addazio landed a college DC who has had significant success turning around the defenses at his previous two college coaching stops -- Connecticut and Maryland. Don Brown also has ties to New England and isn't making the transition back to the college game. Plus who doesn't enjoy a little UConn schadenfreude now and then?
To me this sounds like a situation where the first choice may not have been the best one, and that Cullen passing on the BC opportunity is a win-win. Cullen can continue his work rebuilding the Jaguars D while the Eagles get a proven college coordinator who's intimately familiar with New England and the program.