Urban Meyer may have been an Urban legend at Florida and Ohio State, where he won three national championships.
But he was clearly over his head with the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars and brought nothing to the franchise during his brief 13 game stay. Owner Shab Kahn finally had enough this week when he pulled the plug on 2-11 train wreck that left the franchise in a state of total dysfunction.
Meyer’s final game, a 20-0 loss to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, was the team’s fifth straight loss and the fifth time in seven games the Jags had scored 10 or fewer points. After the game, Meyer took a pass on shaking hands with Titans’ coach Mike Vrabel—his former assistant at Ohio State and then failed to realize that rookie safety Andre Cisco did not play a snap against the Titans.
But the final blow, the capper to a season marked with friction with assistants and players and his own embarrassing off the field behavior, was a report from the Tampa Bay Times Monday that reported claims from former kicker Josh Lambo that Meyer kicked him during warmups in an August practice.
“I’m in a lunge position. Left leg forward, right leg back,’’ Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times. “When I’m in that stretch position and Meyer comes up to me and says, ‘Dip… t, make your bleeping kicks. And kicks me in the leg.’’
After that, Lambo said he responded to Meyer, “Don’t you ever bleeping kick me again.’’
To which Lambo says Meyer said, “I’m the head ball coach. I’ll kick you whenever the bleep I want.’’
Nice. At first Kahn seemed inclined to let Meyer finish the season. But the baggage kept piling up. The backlash was swift and damaging when NFL media cited unnamed sources accusing Meyer of berating players and calling his assistants losers after the Titans’ loss and a story that said Meyer denied the content and said he would fire anyone who leaked information.
Two days later, Kahn had no choice but to make a change or becoming a punching bag himself.
Meyer won big in college, but he was dogged by hints of scandal and stress- and health- related issues that forced him to retire three times. Thirty- one of his players at Florida were arrested during his time at the SEC school while at Ohio State he protected an assistant coach with a history of domestic abuse.
But no one in those two schools ever thought to discipline Meyer, and he continued his questionable behavior after signing with Jacksonville when he hired a director of sports performance Chris Doyle who was forced to resign in February amidst accusations that he made racist remarks and bullied people when he was the strength and conditioning coach at Iowa.
The NFL fined Meyer and the team in July for violating the league’s no contact rules for off-season practices and the Jags were ordered forfeit two team activity sessions in 2022. The NFL opened an investigation last summer when Meyer indicated his used vaccination to pare down his roster.
Week 4, after an overtime loss to Cincinnati Meyer did not travel with the team saying he wanted to spend time with his grandchildren in Columbus. That weekend, a videotape surfaced of a woman who was not his wife dancing near his lap in a bar. The incident embarrassed the team but Khan declined to fire Meyer on the spot calling his behavior inexcusable and saying Meyer must regain the trust of his players.
The unnecessary drama should have been allowed to continue. Khan should have seen rock bottom coming, but he had blinders. Since his first season as owner, no team has a worst record than the Jags, who are 41-116. He guessed wrong with Meyer and now he is paying the price.
Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell has been hired on an interim basis to pick up the pieces. He has a chance to match or exceed Meyer’s win total, but he will have to work to develop rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, year’s No. 1 pick in the draft, who had thrown 14 interceptions and will likely need to adjust to a new system with a new head coach.
This will be the fifth head coach on Khan’s watch, the seventh in you consider two interims. The Jags only have one winning season in 10 full years. And Meyer is now part of their brutal legacy.
