Doug Marrone's decision to leave the Bills still baffling more than a decade later
Former Bills head coach Doug Marrone infamously quit on New Year’s Eve after the 2014 season. Speaking Wednesday, Marrone, now offensive line coach for the Patriots, didn’t shed much light on the decision more than a decade later.
The player rosters for the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks heading into Super Bowl LX are not loaded with former Buffalo Bills.
On the Patriots’ side, it’s just wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins who previously appeared in at least one game for the Bills.
On the Seahawks’ side, they don’t have a single player to ever appear in a game for the Bills.
Things are different on the coaching rosters, though. A total of five coaches in Sunday’s game previously served in some capacity with the Bills.
Doug Marrone quit as head coach of the Buffalo Bills after two seasons on the job and a 15-17 record.
Buffalo News file photo
For New England, that list starts with offensive line coach Doug Marrone, who served as the Bills’ head coach for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. Infamously, Marrone quit on New Year’s Eve after the 2014 season, taking advantage of a three-day out clause in his contract that was built in in case of an ownership change, which came when Terry Pegula bought the team from the Wilson family.
What would possess Marrone from giving up one of the 32 most coveted jobs in professional sports has been somewhat of an enduring mystery. Speaking Wednesday at the Santa Clara Marriott ahead of practice, he didn’t shed much light on it now more than a decade later.
“There is a lot of things I wish I would have done different,” he said. “That'll be something I'll have with me for a long time. You can't go back and fix those things, unfortunately. It is what it is, I guess is the best way to say it, and then you move on.
“You have to make decisions all the time. Some of them I look back on and I wish I would have made other decisions. I think you learn from it and go. I think I've become better. I've definitely become a better coach by going through all those things.”
Marrone went to Jacksonville from Buffalo and led the Jaguars to a playoff win over the Bills in Sean McDermott’s first season in 2017. From Jacksonville, he spent a year at the college level as Alabama’s offensive line coach, then two seasons back in the NFL with the Saints as the offensive line coach from 2022-23 before going to the Patriots in his current role.
He sympathized with McDermott, who was fired last month after nine years on the job.
“I have the utmost respect for Sean. We've competed against him a ton,” Marrone said. “I think he's a heck of a coach. I'm not in a position to make decisions on … should they have done it, shouldn't they have done it? Right now, my focus is just ‘hey, what can I do today?’ We're going to go out there and practice. How can I get these guys better?”
Elsewhere on the Patriots’ side, wide receivers coach Todd Downing served as the Bills’ quarterbacks coach under Marrone in 2014. New England safeties coach Scott Booker was most recently with the Bills, spending the 2024 season as the nickels coach/senior defensive assistant under McDermott.