The turbulent tenure of Urban Meyer’s head coaching stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars came to an unceremonious end earlier this week when he was fired before finishing his first season in the NFL.
The 57-year-old spoke with Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network about his firing, which came on the heels of more negative headlines amid a 2-11 season.
“I just apologize to Jacksonville,” he said. “I love Jacksonville. It’s one of the reasons I took the job. I still think Shad’s a great owner. It’s heart-breaking. I just had a dream of becoming a destination place with a new facility he agreed to build and some day to walk into that stadium where it’s standing room only. Because I know how bad the people of Jacksonville want it.
“So, I’m just heartbroken that we weren’t able to do that. I still believe it’s going to be done. It’s too good of a place.”
Meyer was reportedly fire with cause, meaning he will not be paid out the final four years of his contract. A source told the Associated Press he was not fired for any one incident during his 11-month tenure.
There were several incidents, both on and off the field, with the most recent in the Tampa Bay Times from former kicker Josh Lambo, who accused Meyer of kicking him during a practice.
But a spokesman for Jaguars owner Shad Khan told the AP that the decision was made to move on from Meyer after the team lost to the Titans, 20-0, last Sunday, although he was not officially dismissed until late Thursday night.
Meyer, on his call with Rapoport, denied the accusations about him in recent days and declined to comment about any ongoing discussion involving his contract with the Jaguars.
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Meyer did talk about how it was a struggle to handle losing games, something he was not accustom to as a wildly successful college coach who won national titles with Florida and Ohio State.
“Losing eats away at your soul,” he said. “Once you start losing, it’s hard on everybody. I thought at one point, when we won two of three, there was some momentum, great energy, the defense was really playing well. We were running the ball and then when that dried up on us, then we started turning the ball over. We had that bye week and then James Robinson gets hurt.”
Robinson’s benching was among the on-field issues that plagued Meyer as well, which he tried to clarify.
“We discussed it as a staff,” he said. “’When you see someone lose the ball or even see them be loose with the ball, get them out of the game, get their mind right and then get them back in.’ When he fumbled, I said, ‘Take him out.’ We took him out and then we had lack of communication about when to put him back in.”
Meyer said he spoke to Robinson after his firing via text and described his relationship with the running back as “great.”
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