This just in. Urban fired
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Urban Meyer's tumultuous NFL tenure ended after just 13 games — and two victories — when the Jacksonville Jaguars fired him early Thursday because of an accumulation of missteps.
Owner Shad Khan made the move hours after former Jaguars player Josh Lambo told a Florida newspaper Meyer kicked him during practice in August. It was the latest black eye — adding to an already lengthy list of embarrassments — for the three-time national championship-winning college coach who failed miserably to make the transition to the NFL.
Meyer joins former Atlanta Falcons coach Bobby Petrino as college coaches whose NFL careers flamed out in stunningly swift fashion. Petrino resigned in December 2007 to take over at Arkansas. He was 3-10 at the time.
Meyer went 2-11 in his partial season, and the Jaguars really started to unravel on the offensive side of the ball following the team’s bye week. They averaged a measly 9.1 points in Meyer’s final seven games, which ended with a five-game skid.
Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will serve as Jacksonville's interim head coach for the final four games, beginning Sunday against Houston (2-11).
“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,” Khan said in a statement. “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.”
Meyer’s biggest issues came off the field, where he tried to handle a professional team like he was on a college campus. He splashed slogans and catchphrases around the facility, instilled gimmicks in practice and repeated his misguided belief that coaches coach for players and players play for coaches. He brought in motivational speakers and kept blaming assistants for the team's mounting losses instead of the grown men actually on the field.
One of Meyer’s most damning decisions came following a Thursday night game at Cincinnati in late September. He chose to stay behind with family instead of flying home with his team and then got caught on video the following night behaving inappropriately with a woman at a bar in Columbus, Ohio. Khan publicly reprimanded Meyer then, saying he needed to regain the owner's trust and respect.
Bailing on his players showed just how out of touch Meyer was with NFL norms. And it was just one of many head-scratching choices for the 57-year-old coach who found success at every college stop: Bowling Green (2001-02), Utah (2003-04), Florida (2005-10) and Ohio State (2012-18).
Meyer simply never made the proper adjustments to the pro level.
Lambo’s claim seemingly proved too much for Khan, who two days earlier said he didn’t want to make an impulsive decision on the coach’s future.
“What’s different about this thing is you have losses and you have drama,” Khan said then.
The Jags had way more drama than victories.
Lambo provided the latest when he told the Tampa Bay Times that Meyer kicked him while he was stretching at the start of a practice. Lambo, the team’s place-kicker to open the season, said he told Meyer “don’t you ever (expletive) kick me again” and said the coach responded, “I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the (expletive) I want.”
Meyer released a statement through the team denying the incident happened the way Lambo described it.
“Josh’s characterization of me and this incident is completely inaccurate, and there are eyewitnesses to refute his account,” Meyer said.
Lambo said he reported the kick to his agent, who contacted the Jaguars’ legal counsel the following day.
“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. “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.”
Lambo was released after he missed his first three field-goal attempts to start the season.
Lambo’s allegation came on the heels of an NFL Network report which said Meyer created tension with multiple run-ins with players as well as assistants he allegedly called “losers.” Citing unidentified sources, the report detailed a heated exchange between Meyer and veteran receiver Marvin Jones that stemmed from Meyer criticizing receivers by saying they weren’t winning enough one-on-one matchups or getting enough separation.
“I would just say this: There was something that was brought to my attention that I didn’t like too well,” Jones said Wednesday, his first public comments since the report was published Saturday. “I approached him about it and we talked and we handled it like grown men. And that’s all I have to say about that.”
Jones denied threatening to leave practice over the argument.
“I mean, shoot, when you lose, you’re always going to be the center of attention in a negative way,” Jones said. “That just is what it is. That’s all I have to say.”
Other issues for Meyer:
— He hired strength coach Chris Doyle in February despite accusations of racist behavior and then had to let him go a day later because of a pending lawsuit.
— Jacksonville was fined $200,000 and Meyer docked $100,000 on July 1, a punishment that stemmed from an early June practice in which the league deemed receivers and defensive backs had too much contact during 11-on-11 drills.
— Meyer signed 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow to play tight end, an experiment that ended with Tebow looking lost in the preseason opener against Cleveland.
— Meyer held a fake QB competition between Trevor Lawrence, a generational prospect, and Gardner Minshew in training camp. Meyer and general manager Trent Baalke traded Minshew to Philadelphia, where he’s a backup to Jalen Hurts.
— The NFL Players Association launched an investigation after Meyer said vaccination status factored into the team’s roster decisions.
— He repeatedly mishandled running back James Robinson, allowing the team’s most consistent offensive player to get benched twice following fumbles and botched trying to explain why Robinson got pulled and how long he remained on the sideline.
All the drama became too much for Lawrence.
“I do think that has to change and that’s something that we need to work on for sure,” Lawrence said Wednesday. “You can’t always be in the headlines. You just got to go play football, and that’s where we’re trying to get, and I have no doubt we’ll get there.”
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Comments
Good riddance. He doesn't have the fortitude, character or ability to succeed at the pro level~on or off the field.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Bobby Knight was let go-picked up-let go. But this was a while ago.
After the abuse allegations perhaps he never makes into a university these days for a chat.
Urban Meyer was just one big distraction this year, it was one thing after another with him. I figured this was coming.
The one thing that stands out and makes perfect sense is “There was losses and there was drama”. If it was just losses and no drama or winning and drama he would have been ok. Can’t have both
What an utter disaster this guy was!
Khan really had no choice. As a business man with a lot invested, he couldn't have this clown strutting around like he was God's gift to the NFL. His missteps were monumental, they just kept adding up, one disaster after another. I say good riddance to this bozo. This was an easy call, really. His ego and attitude were his biggest problems, I can't imagine what it was like as a first year college freshman under his regime back when. Then, to treat professionals as he is rumored to have done, was just a ticking bomb waiting to explode.
Merry Christmas Urban!! Well, there's always that chick in Ohio, you know the one.
Ho, Ho, Ho
https://www.yahoo.com/now/urban-meyer-finally-fired-head-122444823.html
I sure am going to miss roasting Urban Meyer, I'll be lost without my Urban Meyer jokes, how do I go on?
TV analyst or Collège Coach in 3 2 1 .....
He will Coach again, NCAA football 100-% in my opinion
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It will be interesting to see how he goes about admitting to, and correcting, his previous mistakes.
Well he was successful at the college level so I’m sure in his mind it’s the NFL that’s the problem lol
He will no doubt be back in the coaching game.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I think he is 99% done with coaching. He was in the booth before the Jags lured him out. I think the only possible job left for him is back with Fox. Even then he maybe to embarrassed. His legacy took a huge hit. He is radioactive. It would be hard to take anything he says seriously.
I really can't imagine too many universities that would want to be associated with Meyers now. Hide the cheerleaders. But, I guess it only takes one desperate one. Maybe a cellar dweller in the SEC.
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Does he seem like a sincere guy to you? He seems like a guy who deflects and blames others for his actions
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
😂
One of Urban Meyer's problems is he doesn't know how to handle losing. You have to be able to handle losing in the NFL, you have to be patient and keep working at it, the NFL is a different animal than college.
I am a bit emotional today, I covered Urban Meyer for a long time, I remember starting threads about rumors of him wanting to coach in the NFL, all the way up to the last days of his coaching presidency. I remember the days when I was just a young reporter, the long nights, the tireless work of covering the Jaguars beat, living in my news van, the smell of coffee and cheap cologne. I remember the secret meetings with Lapthroat in underground garages at strange hours during the Bootygate scandal.
does anyone honestly believe he kicked the kicker??
let's face it, he's a joke. not only as an HC in the NFL, but also as a man. talk about brazen effrontery. yeah, tonight i think i'm gonna cruise into my own public establishment, find a hottie who is not my wife, allow her to give me veritable lap dance, then play hide and seek with my hand. he didn't care who saw what, and clearly he never once considered the fallout.
when Shahid Khan caught wind of what happened and saw the pictures, he must have been thinking to himself, "wtf was i thinking hiring this douchebag"
Amen brother
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
If he wants to, he'll coach college again. Major success at four schools. I would bet the list of schools that WOULDN'T hire him has less than 20 names on it.
I believe he kicked the kicker
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
And don't let that door.........
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Damn, Urban Meyer is looking rough after being fired.
DD, beware of the kraken.
Gigi Meyer, who according to her Instagram account is the CEO of GFIT, compared the firing of her father to a declaration of war in one post.
"The spirit of the enemy is in full force battle mode in this world & in people," she posted. "This is war. But like I said... We all know who wins in the end.” She added prayer and cross emojis.
“The enemy (aka the world) REALLY doesn't wanna see good people win. & you can argue whether my dad is a ‘good person‘ or not based on what you see in the media (a super reliable source of info as we know. Anyone who truly knows us knows how incredible he is as a person. & the world hates any platform we have, so he's going to create chaos to destroy it. Little does he know he's making it stronger it's not over. Keep watching.”
She added that in defending her father, she was releasing "the kraken in me."
So she is a nut job too. That acorn certainly didn't fall from the tree. Plays the blame game as well as her dad
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Looks like the Jags don't plan on paying him. Still no mention of how much his salary was but you gotta think that his final four years has to be in the 30-40M range.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32894745/sources-jacksonville-jaguars-say-football-coach-urban-meyer-fired-cause-intend-pay-rest-contract
Eric
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Yes fired with cause. Odds are he sues and Jax settles for a number more then a dollar
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Source Yahoo Sports.
Still, Meyer said he was “devastated” by the result.
"I just apologize to Jacksonville," Meyer said Friday, via the NFL Network. "I love Jacksonville. It's one of the reasons I took the job. I still think Shad's a great owner. It's heartbreaking. 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."