Urban Meyer’s first—and almost certainly final—NFL head-coaching assignment lasted all of 13 games. But that’s all it took for Meyer to lose everything, setting fire to his reputation in one fell swoop. A new profile (which Meyer and his legal representation declined comment for) published by Mike Sando and Jayson Jenks of The Athletic delves deeper into Meyer’s doomed Jaguars tenure, detailing the disgraced coach’s fall from grace, with one legacy-destroying anecdote after another.
Multiple accounts claim the short-lived Jaguars coach carried himself like a tyrant, using fear and intimidation to get his point across while routinely humiliating players and insulting their intelligence. On one occasion, Meyer embarrassed wide receiver John Brown for running the wrong route, telling quarterback Trevor Lawrence in front of the entire team, “You’ve got to slow it down for him. These boys from the South, their transcripts ain’t right.” While threatening to cut players for a mistake that led to a blown play during a preseason game, Meyer taunted them by asking what they’d do for a career outside of football, suggesting none could work jobs paying more than “$15 an hour.”
Beyond creating a hostile work environment described by one player as “the most toxic I’ve ever been a part of,” Meyer seemed wholly unprepared to make the transition from college to the NFL, showing unfamiliarity with stars such as Deebo Samuel, Jamal Adams and, most damningly, three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald. “Who’s this 99 guy on the Rams?” he reportedly asked at one point. “I’m hearing he might be a problem for us.”
Among other damaging revelations, Meyer berated a player to the point of tears (leaving others to console him), openly expressed his disdain for scouts (often to their faces) and feigned ignorance after benching James Robinson for a fumble in Week 13, denying responsibility while throwing his position coach Bernie Parmalee under the bus. “I’m surprised he lasted that long, to be honest,” remarked D.J. Chark, now of the Detroit Lions. “If the receivers weren’t doing [well], he wasn’t going to fire us, he was going to fire our coach. He would usually say that when the coach was around.”
Meyer was fined $100,000 for violating the league’s collectively-bargained non-contact rules during offseason workouts. This practice carried over into training camp when Meyer demanded Chark log extra blocking reps, resulting in a broken finger that cost him the entire preseason. “The way he was running the ship, it was impossible to succeed,” said Chark, who left the Jaguars as a free agent this offseason. “I feel like he put us in very bad positions and, when the questions came, he deferred the responsibility, which made it look like we were just out there being the worst team in the league.”
It all paints the picture of an unhinged coach on his last nerve, deflecting blame while taking his frustrations out on anyone he could pin as a potential scapegoat. Meyer’s pedigree as one of the most successful college coaches of his era (three national championships) could get him another job at some point, though after watching his epic self-destruction in Jacksonville, it may take years for the stink to wear off.
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