JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The fan-led push to fire the Jacksonville Jaguars general manager is picking up steam.
Fans on social media have been outraged following a report that Jaguars owner Shad Khan plans to retain general manager Trent Baalke next season.
The blowback started Tuesday when hundreds of Jaguars fans on Twitter changed their avatars to a clown emoji with a mustache, a clear shot at Khan and his signature mustache.
Email your tickets reps, call the stadium, make it known retaining Baalke isn’t acceptable. Don’t just talk about it, be about it. We have the power to create a large noise, we just have to band together
— . (@gold_jag5) December 28, 2021
Fans who are sick of back-to-back awful seasons want Khan to fire Baalke and bring in someone else to pair with a new head coach after the firing of embattled former head coach Urban Meyer.
Now there is a new petition that calls for Baalke to be fired.
Jaguars fan Austin Murad started it, and it now has more than 1,100 signatures.
“Trent Baalke has to be let go this off-season. He is not the solution, he is a part of the problem...I along with thousands of other fans believe Shad Khan can and will do the right thing so that we can finally get this organization turned around for the better,” the petition reads.
1010XL radio host Ryan “Hacker” Green said the Baalke report was the last straw.
”As far as the fan base goes, they’re fed up, they’re angry, they’re tired of losing,” Green said. “But the good thing about all this, Travis, is that they care, there is still a care in this city about this awful organization or the awful record this organization has had. And I think that’s a good thing that apathy hasn’t set in. They’re angry, but it means they care.”
He said outside of not buying tickets, taking to social media is the best way they know how to voice their displeasure with the direction of the franchise. It remains to be seen if it will make a difference.
“You cannot tell me that people inside that stadium, haven’t seen what’s going on on Twitter,” Green said. “Will it make a difference? I don’t know. I think if nothing else, their voices have been heard — or their Twitter avatars have been heard — and I know that the Jags organization realizes now that there’s a lot of pent-up frustration in the city.”
The Jaguars have yet to comment publicly on the future of Baalke, who helped build a Jaguars team that is 2-13 this season.
Baalke is said to be actively involved in the search for a new head coach which kicked off this week.