When the Jacksonville Jaguars 2020 season concludes Sunday, owner Shad Khan will have a busy offseason on his hands as he’ll have to fill the team’s general manager spot and decide on the status of Doug Marrone. Per NFL insider Ian Rapoport, it appears the plan heading forward will be to move on, though a concrete decision hasn’t been made.
One candidate who has been heavily discussed is former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who is currently retired. However, it appears the Jags will be giving him a lot to think about in the coming weeks as it’s believed he’ll be their top candidate, according to Rapoport.
If Urban Meyer decides to stay retired… Ohio St coach Ryan Day is a potential target, sources say. https://t.co/Rw6D14iOaw
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 2, 2021
Meyer is a name many fans of the Jacksonville area will remember from his days as the head coach of the Florida Gators’ football program (2005-10). While with them, he won national titles in 2006 and 2008 and eventually retired at the end of the 2010 season. Two years later, he returned to the collegiate ranks as the head coach with Ohio State and was able to win another title in 2014 before retiring again in December of 2018.
Since his most recent retirement, Meyer has worked as a college football analyst with Fox Sports.
Many have mentioned Meyer as a fit for the Jags because of his ability to build up programs and his winning track record. He’s currently 219-187 in the regular season and 12-3 in bowl games. However, the issue many fans will have with his potential acquisition is that he’s never coached in the NFL.
Another issue with Meyer is the reported health issues he’s had during coaching. Back in 2018, he dealt with an enlarged congenital arachnoid cyst on his brain. Stress-related issues also were a problem for him while with the Gators, so Khan will have to thoroughly evaluate if Meyer would be a wise choice to replace Marrone.