The Jacksonville Jaguars are looking for an offensive-minded coach, and the man who turned around the Carolina Panthers' offense is on the list.
The Panthers have granted the Jaguars permission to talk to offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski about Jacksonville's head-coaching vacancy, league sources said Monday.
Panthers first-year coach Ron Rivera confirmed a team contacted the Panthers about Chudzinski but would not identify the team.
Chudzinski, 43, led the Panthers to the most prolific offensive season in their 17-year history. With rookie quarterback Cam Newton directing Chudzinski's diverse attack, featuring option runs and downfield passes, Carolina finished with a franchise-record 6,237 yards.
The Panthers (6-10) were seventh in total offense (389.8 yards a game) after finishing last in the league in John Fox's final season in 2010. General manager Marty Hurney would not talk about any teams' interest in Chudzinski but said the Panthers would be prepared for any scenario.
"You just wait and see what happens," Hurney said. "Obviously, our offense made a huge leap from last year to being at the bottom of the league to this year being able to score points every week. This is a league that you have to score points to win."
Chudzinski was unavailable to the media Monday.
According to reports, the Jags also plan to talk to three other offensive coordinators - Atlanta's Mike Mularkey, the New York Jets' Brian Schottenheimer and Denver's Mike McCoy, the former Panthers assistant who is with Fox in Denver.
The Jags are replacing Jack Del Rio, who was fired in November after a 3-8 start.
Del Rio was the Panthers' defensive coordinator in Fox's first season before the Jags hired him in 2003. Del Rio had a 69-73 record in nine seasons in Jacksonville. The Jaguars made only two playoff appearances - both times as a wild card - under Del Rio.
Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver is selling the team to businessman Shahid Khan. Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker was the interim coach for the Jags, who finished 5-11 after beating Indianapolis on Sunday.
Chudzinski came with Rivera from San Diego, where he was the Chargers' tight ends coach. Chudzinski was Cleveland's offensive coordinator for two years before joining Norv Turner's staff in San Diego.
Panthers tight end Greg Olsen, who played for Chudzinski at the University of Miami, called his former position coach one of the top offensive minds in the game.
"Anytime you're that good, your name's going to come up for jobs. And that's the way it goes," Olsen said. "If he takes a head-coaching job tomorrow, all of us would say congrats. If you're not in this game to try to get to the highest level, you're probably not going to be real successful."
Chudzinski designed an offense tailored to utilize Newton's skill set, mixing the read option that Newton ran at Auburn with a vertical passing attack. Newton finished with 4,051 yards to break Peyton Manning's rookie passing record, and also set a record among quarterbacks with 14 rushing touchdowns.
Panthers receiver Steve Smith, who is headed to the Pro Bowl, praised Chudzinski for finding innovative ways to get the ball to the team's play-makers. Smith said he hopes Chudzinski is back in Charlotte next season.
"You don't want to hold a guy back. You don't want to lose him, either," Smith said. "We've got something good that we can possibly build on. Hopefully in a year or two, we win the Super Bowl and then he goes off and I retire."
Center Ryan Kalil said players have let Chudzinski know what they think about him.
"We've tried to make it as awkward as we can to make sure he stays," Kalil said. "He's a heck of a coach. I think he's going to be a great head coach, just hopefully not any time soon. It's been very fun playing in his offense. The guy works his butt off. He brings a lot to the table and he brings out a lot of good in us and what we can do."
"I wouldn't be surprised if somebody did pick him up because he's a great coach," Kalil added. "But I'm hoping that's not the case for selfish reasons."
