One of the primary criticisms the Jacksonville Jaguars have faced for hiring Urban Meyer as their head coach is his track record for not sticking around. His two-year stints as the head coach at Bowling Green State and Utah are understandable, as he received better jobs at the end of those tenures, but he left his post at Florida just two years removed from a national title for health reasons before returning to the coaching scene after just one season away from it.
He spent seven seasons at Ohio State after that, but he retired from coaching following the 2018 season. Now, not only is Meyer unretired, but he’s trying his hand at the professional ranks with no prior experience as even an assistant at the professional level.
Because of this, it’s not exactly unfair to question whether Meyer’s in it for the long haul. In his 30-minute-plus interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King, Meyer addressed a wide variety of topics (including the team’s plans with the first overall pick), but he also tackled these concerns head-on.
Specifically, King asked him about Alabama coach Nick Saban’s experience coaching in the NFL. After winning a national title as the head coach at LSU, Saban took the Miami Dolphins coaching job, a post he held for just two seasons before returning to the college ranks with the Crimson Tide.
However, Meyer quickly dismissed the possibility of him darting back to the college game so soon.
“Zero chance of that happening,” Meyer said. “What coach Saban went through, I don’t know. That’s coach Saban’s business. It’s completely different, my mind is set. There’s going to be some losses show up here that we’re not used to, and to say that’s going to be easy, no, that’s going to be miserable. I hate losing, and we all do. But the reality is that you’re going to lose. Hopefully, you win more than you lose, but that’s something that’s going to be new to me. I have to get my mind right, and I’m working on that.”
While Meyer likely didn’t plan to leave his previous jobs before he did, it should be at least slightly encouraging for Jags fans to see that he seems to know what he’s getting himself into. And though no transcendent college coach since Saban has attempted the foray into the NFL, Meyer hopes that he can set a new standard for college coaches translating to the professional game.