Whenever a blue-blood college football job opens up, you can bet that without fail, Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer’s name will come up for the opening. And in this case, there’s more reason for that than usual.
On Monday night, it was announced that Brian Kelly would be leaving Notre Dame after 12 seasons to become the head coach at Louisiana State. It was a move that sent shockwaves throughout the college football world and considering it’s a position that Meyer has described as a dream job, it should come as no surprise that he’s being discussed for the opening.
A report on Tuesday from ESPN’s Mike DiRocco said that Meyer wasn’t interested in college openings, and later that day, Meyer himself explicitly stated that he is not looking to leave Jacksonville.
“I’m not a candidate,” Meyer said, per Greg Beacham of the Associated Press. “Obviously I spent six years of my life there, so great respect for Notre Dame, and as I do USC, UCLA, like we talked about. But I’m committed to the Jaguars and doing the best we can to turn this thing around.”
Given the fact that Meyer has now “retired” from coaching twice just to accept another job, it’s understandable that some may not be too keen to take him at his word. With that being said, Meyer struggled to handle the stress that comes with a big-time college football job, and he seems to be enjoying the relatively laid-back style of being an NFL coach (which doesn’t require year-round recruiting).
This will be a story to monitor, and it’s unlikely that Meyer will shake the speculation until the job is filled, but it seems unlikely he would jump ship from the NFL after a season that was widely expected to be a rebuilding year.