Jaguars Owner Shahid Khan dismissed General Counsel & Senior VP/Football Operations Paul Vance on Thursday, indicating Khan is “determined to bring a new energy and direction to the franchise,” according to Tania Ganguli of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. Vance had been with the organization since its inception, having “worked closely with former Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver.” Vance said, “I had said to Shad all through the transaction that it was going to be his team. I think when someone buys something like a team and stuff like that it’s his decision what he wants to do.” Khan promoted Assistant General Counsel Sashi Brown to General Counsel. Brown has been with the organization since before the '05 season, having joined the Jaguars “three years after graduating from Harvard Law School.” Vance’s duties included “negotiating player contracts and forming the organization’s salary cap strategy, responsibilities he assumed in 2001.” He was “heavily involved in the coaching search in 2003 that led to the hiring of Jack Del Rio,” but was “not involved in this year’s coaching search.” Sources said that “contrary to reports, the decision to remove Vance was not related to a dispute that arose last week between the Jaguars and their assistant coaches.” Khan made his decision on Vance “before coaches notified the organization of a discrepancy in the contracts” (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/10). However, ESPN.com’s Mortensen & Schefter cited league sources as saying that “a dispute over contract language that affects seven fired Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coaches for more than $3 million in salary may have been one of the factors" that led to Vance's dismissal. The seven assistants had signed extensions in '10 and the club “believed it was for two years that would expire at the end of the 2011 season.” However, the applicable clause in dispute states, "shall terminate on the later of January 31, 2012 or the day after the Jaguars' last football game of the 2012 season and playoffs." Consequently, the assistant coaches “want to be compensated for the 2012 season, especially if they remain unemployed” (ESPN.com, 1/9).
