By: Mike Rifkin and Bill Murphy
Urban Meyer is one of the best coaches in the history of College Football. The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Meyer this offseason to lead their franchise. It was a failure from the start. The Jags have fired Meyer after 13 games. Meyer’s firing was the first time since 2007 the first time a non interim head coach was fired before the season was over, the last one being Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Bobby Petrino who was fired at 3-10 . According to Tom Pellisero of NFL Network tensions are boiling over in Jacksonville. This is just the latest in a troubled 2021 for Meyer.
Chris Doyle was hired by Meyer to be director of sports performance. Doyle was the strength and conditioning coach at the University of Iowa for 20 seasons before a separation agreement was made. The agreement came after former players accused Doyle of racist remarks. Doyle resigned a day or so later. Urban said “Chris Doyle came to us this evening to submit his resignation and we have accepted. Chris did not want to be a distraction to what we are building in Jacksonville. We are responsible for all aspects of our program and, in retrospect, should have given greater consideration to how his appointment may have affected all involved. We wish him the best as he moves forward in his career.” Urban Meyer also said he and Doyle had “great relationship and he vetted him thoroughly with Trent Balkee and Shad Khan.” He didn’t otherwise he wouldn’t have made the hire in the first place.
Then there is the Tim Tebow signing. He played quarterback for Meyer at the University of Florida and they won two National Championships together. Tebow had been out of Football for six years and tried to play minor league Baseball. But his old college coach signed him in May but not as a quarterback, as a Tight End, a position Tebow hadn’t played at the NFL level. It got a lot of media scrutiny and rightfully so, Tebow was cut in August but if Urban Meyer wasn’t the coach would Tebow have even gotten this chance?
After a Week 4 loss to the Bengals Meyer stayed in Ohio to spend time with his family instead of going back with his team. Then a viral video started making the rounds of Meyer getting grinded on by a young woman. Urban later apologized to his team, but why could he not fly back to Jacksonville? It was a Thursday Night game. Just go back and fly back to Ohio on Friday, a coach is supposed to lead and Urban Meyer has not led by example. Jacksonville’s management after the incident said that Meyer needs to regain their trust. Not only did Meyer lose faith from the front office , there was also lack of faith from the players, at the end of one practice when the team broke they yelled “ grinder “ at the end of the huddle.
Now there is this report from Tom Pellisero that Meyer got into an argument with veteran receiver Marvin Jones, one of the locker room leaders. It got so bad Jones left the facility only to be called back by assistant coaches. Meyer also has reportedly called his assistants losers and has them defend their resumes. HE HIRED HIS ASSISTANTS so why are you challenging, when it is you who should be challenged. Urban is a great college coach but this is a whole different ball game. In a 37-7 loss to the Rams Meyer benched running back James Robinson after a fumble. He had one of his assistants to stop Robinson from coming back in. Rookie Quarterback Trevor Lawrence questioned Meyer on the sideline and eventually Robinson came back in. Lawrence said “ Bottom line James is one of our best players and he’s got to be on the field and we addressed it and I feel like we’re in a good spot and the whole team we’re good.” No Trevor you aren’t in a good spot because leaks like this don’t come from good teams. The Jaguars aren’t competitive in a lot of games and if they were this stuff wouldn’t happen.
Meyer was asked on Monday if defensive back Andre Cisco would get more playing time with four games left in the season. Meyer’s response was “Cisco is playing a little bit more, I believe. I don’t have his numbers in front of me, but that’s a conversation.” On Sunday against the Titans Cisco played a grand total of 0 snaps on defense, but did force a fumble on Special Teams. If you don’t know how many snaps a guy played just say that, instead Meyer continues to look clueless. Then on Wednesday former Jags kicker Josh Lambo accused Meyer of kicking him before a game. Lambo said “ I’m in a lunge position. Left leg forward, right leg back. Urban Meyer while he is in the stretch says “Hey dips-t make your f-ing kicks tonight and kicks me in the leg.” When Lambo told him to stop kicking him , Meyer responded with “I am the F***king head coach, I’ll Kick you all I F***k want .
Lambo said Meyer didn’t bother to call the Special Teams Players by their names. It was “ Kicker, Punter, Long Snapper or S-Bag, Dips-t, or whatever the hell it was.” This is not a way you treat your players. Coaches are supposed to show their players respect and believe in them.
Urban Meyer is not a leader. Urban Meyer wanted to blame everyone else, but the person who was the ultimate problem. The ultimate problem is Urban Meyer is a greedy, selfish individual who will never get a second chance in the NFL. And if I am being honest I don’t know if he will ever get another major college opportunity.
Link to Tom Pellisero article:
https://www.nfl.com/news/tension-boiling-over-between-coach-urban-meyer-jaguars-players-staff
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