Category: Urban Meyer

Keegan-Michael Key opens NFL Honors with a roast of former Jags coach Urban Meyer

“That room was emptier than Urban Meyer’s playbook,” Key said of last season’s show, which didn’t have an audience due to COVID-19.

Thursday night’s NFL Honors ended up being a big occasion for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Though the 3-14 squad didn’t have any players selected for postseason awards, it finally managed to get a former player into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in former star offensive tackle Tony Boselli.

The night may have ended on a high note, but it began with a roast of former Jaguars’ coach Urban Meyer at the hands of comedian Keegan-Michael Key, who has hosted the show the last two years.

“I am so excited to be hosting this show again, and in front of people, by the way,” Key said. “This is so much better than what they had to do last year… There were no football players and no audience, I’m telling you, that room was emptier than Urban Meyer’s playbook.”

Ouch.

Meyer has certainly been a common target for jokes since his tenure in Jacksonville ended unceremoniously just 13 games into his first season, and the postseason awards show was no different.

The Jags will hope for a return to normalcy under new coach Doug Pederson, who hopefully won’t have any gags made at his expense during next year’s ceremony.

Former Jaguars coach Urban Meyer goes on the record about failed NFL tenure

“It was the worst experience I’ve had in my professional life,” Meyer said of his time in Jacksonville.

This time last year, there was a lot of uncertainty about what to expect from the Jacksonville Jaguars in Year 1 under Urban Meyer with a rookie quarterback under center in Trevor Lawrence. But no one expected that the team would be searching for a new head coach just one year later.

Meyer’s time with the Jags was nothing short of a disaster. It began with the legendary college coach hiring Chris Doyle, who had been fired from Iowa after allegations of racism toward players came to light, as his strength coach. Doyle turned in his resignation shortly after the franchise received massive backlash, but the negative headlines continued into the season.

After a loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati in Week 4, Meyer became the center of attention after a video at a bar in Columbus showed him inappropriately touching a woman who was not his wife. Meyer had stayed behind while the team flew back to Jacksonville.

Later in the season, allegations emerged of mistreatment of players and staff, culminating with a Tampa Bay Times report stating that Meyer had kicked placekicker Josh Lambo during warmups in a preseason game. He was dismissed the night that story dropped.

For the first time since his firing, Meyer went on the record about his time in the NFL in an appearance on OutKick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich.” What he said was interesting, to say the least. He started by discussing the differences between the college and NFL games.

“Well, I certainly didn’t help it,” Meyer said in reference to the trope of star college coaches failing in the NFL. “I’ll tell you, Dan, it is a lot different. It is different. Just the amount of time you get with your quarterback. Just the amount of time you get with your team. The roster management. How you practice.

“You know, the amount of reps you get before you go play a game, to me, was shockingly low. For example, we would practice, you maybe get one or two reps at something, next thing you know you’re calling it in the game. In college, you never do that. In college, you’re gonna get at least a dozen opportunities to practice that before you ask a player to go do it in the game. So there are a lot of differences.”

Meyer went further in-depth on those differences, emphasizing that the lack of roster-building through recruiting made things a lot more challenging.

“Used to be in college,  the reality is you spend 75 percent of your time recruiting,” said Meyer. “In professional football, there’s no recruiting. So it’s all scheme and it’s all roster management. You’re getting guys rolling in on your organization on a Tuesday and they’re gonna play for you on a Sunday. So there is some obvious differences to the two games.”

Setting aside what reads like a self-indictment of Meyer’s scheme, it illustrates why so many college coaches find the transition to the NFL to be such a challenge. As a coach in the league, you have a lot less control over the composition of your roster, and you have to compete with other teams that have relatively equal resources to land talent.

All in all, Meyer’s discussion of his time in Jacksonville sounds like a man recalling a nightmare.

“It was the worst experience I’ve had in my professional lifetime,” Meyer said. “What really got me, I almost don’t want to say people accept it, I mean, you lose a game, and you just keep…I would seriously have self-talk. I went through that whole depression thing too where I’d stare at the ceilings and [think] ‘are we doing everything possible’ because I really believed we had a roster that was good enough to win games. I just don’t think we did a great job.

“It eats away at your soul. I tried to train myself to say ‘okay, it happens in the NFL. At one point, the Jaguars lost 20 in a row. Think about that. 20 games where you’re leaving the field where you lost. And we lost five in a row at one point and I remember I…just couldn’t function. I was trying to rally myself up, I was in charge of the team, obviously, and then we won two out of three, and I really felt like we flipped that thing.

“You know, our defense was playing excellent. At one point our defense was No. 1 in the league. We held Josh Allen to six points. Two field goals. And playing high-level football. Offense, we were really coming, and then quit scoring points. We just really struggled offensively and that’s when we went on another losing streak…I really struggled with that.”

This interview doesn’t exactly do a lot to resuscitate Meyer’s image, but it does illustrate that the coach was out of his depth from the get-go. It emphasizes how important it is that a coach understand the expectations and challenges in the NFL, and that’s a lesson the Jags need to take to heart as they approach this next search, which they really can’t afford to get wrong.

Jimmy Johnson defends Urban Meyer, says there was ‘backstabbing’ in Jags organization

The former Super Bowl-winning coach said that Meyer wasn’t able to get “his people” in Jacksonville.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars fired Urban Meyer a week ago, it felt like a long time coming. Meyer had embarrassed the team with his viral bar video in October, and he reportedly alienated his players and coaches with his managerial style. By the time the Tampa Bay Times released its report about Meyer kicking Josh Lambo during warmups in August, defenders of the national championship-winning coach were few and far between.

However, Meyer has found one relatively unsurprising ally in former Miami Hurricanes and Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson. The two were colleagues and friends at Fox Sports, and like Meyer, Johnson attempted to navigate the NFL after a national championship college stint. Johnson was much more successful, though, winning two Super Bowls and eventually being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He came to Meyer’s defense, arguing that the coach wasn’t able to surround himself with “his people” in Jacksonville.

“Going to Jacksonville, just like when I went to Dallas, you knew you were gonna lose, you’re gonna have adversity,” Johnson told Pro Football Talk. “The difference is, in Dallas, I had my entire coaching staff from college. I had my administrative assistant, I had my P.R. director, I had my trainer. We were all on the same page when we had adversity. He didn’t have that in Jacksonville. There was a lot of backstabbing, one thing or the other, because he didn’t have his people.”

This is an interesting bone to pick considering the fact that Meyer selected his staff personally. If he was unhappy with the coaches and staffers surrounding him, he only has himself to blame. It’s not like the decision to hire a first-time defensive coordinator in Joe Cullen or an offensive coordinator with a hit-or-miss track record in Darrell Bevell wasn’t criticized at the time.

Besides, if the reports are true, the biggest problem wasn’t the people around Meyer. Instead, it was Meyer himself and the lack of respect with which he treated those who worked for him. It’s hard to read Johnson’s comments as anything other than defending his old friend from damning reports that no one involved in the situation except Meyer has denied.

Former NFL coach Rex Ryan eviscerates Urban Meyer’s NFL tenure

“He didn’t listen,” Ryan said. “I knew he wouldn’t listen… Go back to college where you belong.”

After the latest string of controversies surrounding first-year Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, the former Florida and Ohio State coach was fired by owner Shad Khan last week. Reports on the toxic culture in the Jags’ locker room painted the picture of a coach who couldn’t handle dealing with professionals who are at the top of their game as opposed to college students, and he wasn’t used to being challenged by players with a lot more individual agency.

On Sunday NFL Countdown, former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan went after Meyer, arguing that the coach was not ready to lead professionals at the highest level of football in the world.

“This is the best of the best,” Ryan said. “It’s not just the best players. It’s the best coaches in the country. There’s only 32 of these jobs. Don’t come into this league — you’re gonna get crushed.

“That’s what happens to these college guys. It’s funny. I talked with Urban Meyer when he got the job. He said ‘Explain it, why [is it so hard]?’ I told him it’s the grind. It’s the work you gotta put in. That’s what they’re putting in going across you. It’s not just that you’re playing Alabama every week, which is the case. He didn’t listen. I knew he wouldn’t listen.”

He said that one of the red flags in his conversation with Meyer was when the three-time national champion brought up recruiting.

“He told me about recruiting,” Ryan said. “I told him, ‘Recruiting? That’s a picnic. You’re gonna go and talk to a kid and their families and have a meal, great.’ I’m talking about the grind. Your job as an NFL coach is to put your players in the best position possible to be successful. That’s your job. You want to see what a players coach is? That’s a players coach. They respect your work ethic. You’re there in the office 3-4 times a week, not taking a phone call from some kid and thinking that’s work. I knew he’d get outcoached. He did.

“Go back to college where you belong. I respect him as a college football coach, but I knew this was gonna happen. Guess what, I was right again. Why? Because I’ve been around this game all my life. Those are the guys you ought to be looking at if you’re an owner. Hire somebody that’s been around this game all his life, someone that can relate to motivating a man instead of a young man. There’s a huge difference. I’m not shocked by this whatsoever.”

It’s certainly harsh criticism, but it seems to ring true, seeing how Meyer’s tenure in Jacksonville played out. The coach just didn’t seem prepared to coach in the NFL, though given the way he reportedly treated professional athletes, one has to wonder about his fitness coaching 18 to 22-year-old college athletes.

Someone at the college level may give Meyer another try, but after being fired for cause just 13 games into his NFL career, it seems safe to say that the veteran coach’s days of working in the league have come to an end.

Urban Meyer apologizes to Jacksonville in first public comments since his firing

Meyer went on the record with Ian Rapoport to talk about his firing in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville will play its first game of the 2021 season without head coach Urban Meyer on Sunday, as the first-year coach was fired early Thursday morning after a week of reports on the toxic environment he cultivated in the locker room. Meyer reportedly alienated both players and staff, and after former kicker Josh Lambo went public with his allegation that Meyer had kicked him during warmups in August, the mounting pressure on owner Shad Khan became too much.

In his first public statements since being terminated, Meyer apologized to the city of Jacksonville, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

“I just apologize to Jacksonville,” Meyer 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 it 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 inherited a team that went 1-15 in 2020, and this year’s squad currently sits at 2-11 heading into Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans. In one season in Jacksonville, Meyer lost two more games than he did in his seven-year tenure at Ohio State.

He told Rapoport that he doesn’t handle losing well, and the losses this season began to “eat away” at him.

“I tell people, losing eats away at your soul,” Meyer said. “Once you start losing, it’s hard on everybody. I thought at one point, when we won two out 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.

“Someone asked me about Vrabel’s [handshake], we’re really close. That had nothing to do with him. That’s probably one of my issues why I’ve thought some of the things I said: I can’t take losing. I try to accept it, it just eats away at my soul. And I believe our players deserve better.”

Despite the apologetic tone, Meyer continues to deny that any of the allegations made against him were true, including that he called his assistant coaches “losers,” had a verbal altercation with Marvin Jones Jr., and had a physical one with Lambo.

He does, however, tacitly admit that he lied regarding the usage of James Robinson. Though Meyer initially claimed that the decision was made by running backs coach Bernie Parmelee, the damning report from Tom Pelissero that ultimately led to his firing stated that the decision was Meyer’s.

The former Jags coach explained the decision to bench Robinson but does confirm that it was his choice.

“We discussed it as a staff,” Meyer 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.”

One of the more interesting lines from Rapoport’s 23-minute conversation with Meyer came when the coach discussed how the game has changed, especially at the college level. He said that football has become a “fragile” profession, an interesting choice of words for a coach who was fired for borderline abusive behavior.

“I think college has changed quite a bit, too,” Meyer said. “Just society has changed. You think how hard you pushed. … I believe there is greatness in everybody and it’s the coach’s job to find that greatness however you do that. Positive encouragement. Pushing them to be greater, making them work harder, identifying flaws and trying to fix [them]. I think everything is so fragile right now. And that includes coaching staffs. When I got into coaching, coaches weren’t making this kind of money and they didn’t have agents. Everything is so fragile where it used to be team, team, team. I remember talking about it in a staff meeting three days ago. I got into this profession because I had the greatest high school coach and it was all about team. All about the huddle.”

Meyer interestingly outlines here why college programs may not be trampling over each other to land his services this time around. Even if Meyer wanted to return to college coaching, it’s clear that his approach comes from a bygone era, and he wasn’t able to adjust his style well to the NFL.

With name, image and likeness and expanded transfer rights, college football players have more agency than ever before, and based on the way things played out in Jacksonville, it seems fair to say that Meyer does not handle players with agency very well.

The Jags are moving on now and will look to rebuild from scratch twice in two years. Whoever the next coach is will inherit a talented quarterback in Trevor Lawrence and a lot of cap space, so it’s still an attractive opening in many ways. But for now, the Jags will try to find anything to build on in these final four games under interim coach Darrell Bevell.

Shad Khan’s spokesman says Urban Meyer was fired after Titans game, Jags delayed announcement

Per Shad Khan’s spokesman, Jim Woodcock, Urban Meyer was fired after the Titans game instead of when it was reported days later.

On Thursday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news that coach Urban Meyer had been fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars, which is a move many had been anticipating. However, Shad Khan’s spokesperson, Jim Woodcock, alleges that the firing had already taken place days later and that Khan fired Meyer on Sunday following the game against Tennessee.

According to the Associated Press, Khan spoke with Meyer in the locker room following the 20-0 loss in Nashville. In that conversation, Meyer allegedly had few answers for the 2-11 Jags’ struggles and how to fix them. According to Woodcock, that conversation sealed the decision which Khan had been contemplating for weeks.

“It was determined to wait until the conclusion of previously scheduled appointments that week to make the announcement,” Woodcock said. “Those appointments included an employee staff luncheon and meeting with Jacksonville media, both to recognize the 10th anniversary of Shad’s purchase of the Jaguars, on Monday as well as NFL meetings in Dallas on December 14 and 15.”

In the aforementioned anniversary celebration on Monday, Khan told the media that he wouldn’t make an abrupt decision on Meyer’s future. However, Schefter broke the news of Meyer’s firing days later on Thursday at 12:35 a.m. EST.

The announcement by Schefter came after a report from the Tampa Bay Times was released late Wednesday afternoon where former Jags kicker Josh Lambo alleged that Meyer kicked him in warmups in the Jags’ third preseason game on Aug. 29. But with this release from Khan’s camp coming out, the Jags are claiming that Lambo’s story coincidentally came out after the time Woodcock says Meyer was fired instead of before.

“The announcement was made at 12:35 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, December 16, to provide coaches and staff alike a fresh start upon reporting to the stadium that morning,” Woodcock added. “Contrary to incorrect assumptions and widespread egregious reporting, the dismissal was not triggered by a single newspaper report late Wednesday afternoon related to a claim made by a former player.

“To repeat from Shad’s official statement, the decision was reached ‘after deliberation over many weeks and a thorough analysis of the entirety of Urban’s tenure with our team.'”

Regardless of when it happened, fans are simply relieved that the franchise can move on from Meyer and build a proper unit around quarterback Trevor Lawrence. And with Meyer gone, they can begin their head coaching search two days after their game against the New York Jets next Sunday.

Report: Jags to claim Urban Meyer was fired for cause, don’t intend to pay remaining contract

The Jags and Urban Meyer seem to be heading towards a legal situation about his contract payout, according to ESPN.

The Jacksonville Jaguars fired coach Urban Meyer on Thursday according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (though Shad Khan’s camp claims it happened earlier), and now Schefter is reporting that they will claim it was for cause. As a result, the Jags intend to not pay Meyer for the remainder of his contract, which was a five-year deal in total.

The report, which ESPN’s Jeff Darlington is also contributing to, claims that the Jags’ reason for withholding the guaranteed money left on the contract isn’t tied to a single incident, but multiple ones. With that being the case, the Jags believe that Meyer’s early firing was justified.

Meyer had his share of incidents while in the NFL starting with the hiring of Chris Doyle to lead the Jags strength and conditioning program, who previously dealt with allegations of racist behavior and bullying at the University of Iowa. However, when considering Khan allegedly was involved with the hiring process, it would seem that particular incident may not be one the Jags use against Meyer — if at all.

However, other situations took place afterward like Meyer getting himself and the team fined by the NFLPA for organized team activity violations. There was also an Ohio bar incident where Meyer was caught with a woman dancing on him that wasn’t his wife while touching her below the waist. A big deal was made about the situation because he didn’t fly home with his team afterward as they lost a Thursday night game against Cincinnati.

There is also an NFL Network report that has surfaced about him challenging his assistants while calling them “losers,” and arguing with players such as receivers Marvin Jones Jr., who didn’t appreciate Meyer’s criticisms of the pass-catchers.

Then, just this week, a report came out from the Tampa Bay Times where former kicker Josh Lambo came out to say Meyer kicked him and called him out of his name. Following that report, Lambo also told First Coast News that Meyer wasn’t fit to be the Jags leader and that he didn’t like how he treated other players.

As pointed out by ESPN, the Jags’ decision to claim Meyer was fired for cause could start a negotiation period by both sides to settle on a figure. This would allow the lawyers of the Jags and Meyer to meet each other in the middle (or close to it) and avoid a legal situation that drags out.

Former Jags kicker Josh Lambo elaborates on decision to go public with accusations that Urban Meyer kicked him

Lambo explained his decision to go public with the alleged Urban Meyer kicking incident shortly before the coach was dismissed.

After just 13 games, the Jacksonville Jaguars decided to fire first-year coach Urban Meyer early on Thursday morning. Meyer’s tenure in Jacksonville was marred with incident after incident, but things ramped up over the last week when reports surfaced detailing Meyer’s treatment of both his players and assistant coaches, painting a picture of an organization that was fed up with his actions at all levels.

However, the most damning story to come up (and the one that ultimately proved to be the finishing blow to Meyer’s time with the Jaguars) was reported on Wednesday by the Tampa Bay Times just hours before Meyer’s dismissal. Former Jags kicker Josh Lambo told the newspaper that when he was with the team, Meyer approached him in warm-ups, called him a “dips—” and told him to “make his f—ing kicks” before kicking him in the hamstring.

Lambo allegedly told Meyer to never kick him again, and Meyer’s response was “I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the f–k I want.”

In an interview with First Coast News on Wednesday night, Lambo elaborated on the incident, explaining why he chose to go public now. The interview was conducted before Meyer’s dismissal.

“He said if there is a source, that person is out of a job,” Lambo said. “I don’t remember the quote, but that is in essence was what he said. I don’t think he can deny that, and that’s what he did to me in August. It’s just unacceptable to intimate people into your narrative.

“He’s trying to shut everybody else up and he tried to shut me up once. I want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“Truthfully, I wanted to get it on record and see what happens, honestly. I’m not suing the Jaguars right now. I’m not trying to be negative toward the Jaguars at all. Again, I have a deep-felt appreciation for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the community.”

Though Lambo isn’t suing the Jaguars, he did reach out to the team’s legal counsel regarding the incident. He claims he never heard back from them, and the team disputed that.

“Jaguars legal counsel indeed acknowledged and responded immediately to the query made by Josh Lambo’s agent Friday, August 27, 2021,” the Jaguars said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times. “Counsel offered to speak with Josh, or to assist Josh in speaking with coaching or any other football personnel, if he was comfortable with her sharing the information. Any suggestion otherwise is blatantly false.”

The fact that the team has been aware of these allegations since August but didn’t act on them until they were made public raises a lot of questions about the decision-making from those above Meyer, and this likely isn’t the last we’ve heard of this story.

Lambo says he didn’t speak out at the team out of fear of reprisal, as Meyer threatened to release him if he challenged him again. He said he believes the coach is unfit for an NFL job.

“My observation of it was he couldn’t stand being challenged,” Lambo said. “His manhood, his pride and his ego were challenged, and so he threatened me. He threatened my job, my livelihood so how was I supposed to come out and say that in preseason? I still need to make my money, make my living and I didn’t feel I could say that and keep my job.

“For me, I would say completely unfit and that is my observation from what I saw day in and day out for a lot of months this year. The way that he treats the guys in the locker room, there’s this pompous nature that he has that he can get away with anything. You know, I see myself as a Jaguar. And I certainly don’t see him that way.”

Lambo again reiterated that his going public with the story wasn’t intended to hurt the franchise but rather shed light on misbehavior from a coach he didn’t believe had the players’ best interests in mind.

“I feel like I’ve embodied the Jacksonville Jaguars DNA since I’ve been here,” he said. “I hope the fans have seen that, people in the community have seen that. I’m not trying to start a war with anybody. I’m not trying to pick a fight. But if someone’s going to pick a fight with my people, I’m not going to back down. And that’s why I feel that what I’m doing is not only acceptable, but important. I want the Jaguars to do well. I want that franchise to do well. As far as I’m concerned, they deserve a lot better.”

Meyer denies that the kicking incident occurred as described, and he claimed there were multiple eyewitnesses to refute Lambo’s account of events in a statement given to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Josh’s characterization of me and this incident is completely inaccurate, and there are eyewitnesses to refute his account,” Meyer said. “(General manager) Trent (Baalke) and I met with him on multiple occasions to encourage his performance, and this was never brought up. I was fully supportive of Josh during his time with the team and wish him nothing but the best.”

With Meyer gone, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will take over as interim head coach, and the Jags will look to put one of the most disastrous chapters — even for a franchise that has had a lot of them — in their history behind them.

Jags owner Shad Khan releases a statement on Urban Meyer’s firing

In his statement on his decision to fire Urban Meyer, Jags owner Shad Khan was hoping his hand-picked HC would get his act together and it never happened.

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan met his breaking point with coach Urban Meyer and fired him Thursday, likely ending his NFL career at just 13 games. Meyer’s career in the NFL was one full of controversial moments from the start, and he never could steer away from being in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

However, it appears a report from the Tampa Bay Times was the last straw, as former Jags kicker Josh Lambo claimed that Meyer kicked him and called him out of his name in the Jags’ Week 3 preseason game in Dallas. It seems as if it was a tactic to make Lambo perform better, however, the veteran let Meyer know he didn’t appreciate being kicked, and the first-year head coach told him that he could do whatever he wanted.

The story of course went viral on the web and garnered many eyes, which made Khan speed up a firing process that was bound to happen anyway. With such an important decision being made, Khan released a statement afterward on the situation, which stated that offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell would be the interim coach to finish the season.

Darrell Bevell will serve as interim head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars for the balance of the 2021 season.  Darrell succeeds Urban Meyer.  After deliberation over many weeks and a thorough analysis of the entirety of Urban’s tenure with our team, I am bitterly disappointed to arrive at the conclusion that an immediate change is imperative for everyone.  I informed Urban of the change this evening.  As I stated in October, regaining our trust and respect was essential.  Regrettably, it did not happen.

Trent Baalke continues as our general manager and will work with Darrell to ensure that our team will be inspired and competitive while representing Jacksonville proudly over our final four games of the season.  In the spirit of closure and recharging our players, staff and fan base, I will not comment further until some point following the conclusion of the NFL season.

As Khan mentioned, Meyer was tasked with earning the organization’s trust back in October after a video of him with a woman that wasn’t his wife dancing on his lap went viral. The video, where Meyer was seen touching her below the waist, surfaced after Meyer lost his fourth straight game in Cincinnati and didn’t fly back home with the team.

However, Meyer never got it together, and a report from NFL Network claimed that he was the key figure behind a dysfunctional work environment where he wasn’t getting along with players or his staff. The report mentioned an awkward meeting where Meyer challenged his assistants to defend their résumés while calling them “losers” and mentioned an argument with receiver Marvin Jones Jr., who didn’t appreciate criticisms Meyer placed on the receivers.

Of course, there were many other incidents, too, that brought it to this point and now the Jags are on the coaching market for the second consecutive season. Only time will tell what direction they go from here, but for now, the team is Bevell’s to lead.

Twitter reacts to the Jags decision to fire Urban Meyer

Twitter has been a vocal place against Urban Meyer and his firing, of course, came with many interesting reactions. #Jaguars

It didn’t take a full season for the Jacksonville Jaguars to realize they made a mistake by hiring Urban Meyer, and after a year full of controversy under him, they fired him Thursday.

The decision came after several reports came out within the last few days on Meyer in addition to other incidents that occurred in 2021. The first of the recent reports was one from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, which claimed Meyer challenged his assistants to defend their résumés while calling them “losers.” The report also mentioned an altercation with veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr. where Jones let it be known that he didn’t appreciate Meyer’s criticisms of the receivers.

Then on Wednesday, there was a report from the Tampa Bay Times, where former kicker Josh Lambo claimed that Meyer kicked him during pregame warm-ups (in the preseason game against Dallas). Lambo then expressed to Meyer to not do it again, and the first-year coach then told him that he could do what he wanted.

Of course, the decision to fire Meyer caused several reactions on Twitter. Here are some of several as the Jags seemingly decided to start their head coaching search early:

Meyer’s career in the NFL only lasted for 13 regular season games. He registered a 2-11 season in the process with his only two victories coming against the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills.