A day after announcing his hiring, Chris Doyle has turned in his resignation papers to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the team has accepted. As a result, the status of their director of sports performance role is now vacant if the team wishes to keep it.
Coach Urban Meyer released the following statement Friday night stating that Doyle didn’t want to be a distraction and that his hiring was one the organization wishes they considered a little more heavily for everyone involved.
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.
Doyle’s hiring came with a lot of backlash as he was about eight months removed from leaving Iowa University, where he was a strength and conditioning coach, last June due to allegations of bullying and racism. However, after the announcement of Doyle’s return to football, it was clear many in the football community questioned the decision.
Hours later Meyer was asked about the hiring and said he “vetted” Doyle thoroughly alongside general manager Trent Baalke and owner Shad Khan.
“I’ve known Chris for close to 20 years,” Meyer said Thursday via Zoom. “Our relationship goes back to when I was at Utah and he was the No. 1 strength coach. I vetted him thoroughly along with our general manager and owner. I feel great about the hire, about his expertise at that position. We vetted him thoroughly, and sports performance is going to be a high, high priority.”
Late Friday afternoon, The Fritz Pollard Alliance joined the mix of several voices to question the Jags’ decision and pointed out that it was a “failure in leadership”. The organization’s director, Rod Graves, also called the move unacceptable in a statement.
“At a time when the NFL has failed to solve its problem with racial hiring practices, it is simply unacceptable to welcome Chris Doyle into the ranks of NFL coaches,” Graves said Friday afternoon. “Doyle’s departure from the University of Iowa reflected a tenure riddled with poor judgment and mistreatment of Black players. His conduct should be as disqualifying for the NFL as it was for the University of Iowa. Urban Meyer’s statement, ‘I’ve known Chris for close to 20 years,’ reflects the good ol’ boy network that is precisely the reason there is such a disparity in employment opportunities for Black coaches.”
According to reports, the allegations against Doyle resulted in an investigation at Iowa last summer. The results revealed that various Black players felt they were victims of systematic racism and mistreatment during their time with the program.
“In sum, the program’s rules perpetuated racial or cultural biases and diminished the value of cultural diversity,” the report states. “The program over-monitored players to the point that they experienced heightened anxiety and maintained a culture that allowed a small group of coaches to demean players.”
Multiple players took to social media to call Doyle and Iowa’s program out around the time of his investigation. In early June, he was placed on administrative leave while the investigation resumed. Eventually, both sides decided to mutually part ways and reached a settlement worth $1.1 million. The settlement also included no admission of wrongdoing.