There were numerous mistakes on and off the field during Urban Meyer’s brief era as the Jaguars coach.
Perhaps none was more memorable or publicized, though, than when the now-former Jaguars coach was pictured dancing with a young woman who was not his wife at a bar in Columbus, Ohio.
It drew a double dose of scrutiny, from those questioning the brutal optics that the leaked video and photos displayed to the NFL community questioning Meyer’s decision to not fly home with his team after a Thursday night loss to the Bengals.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan called on Meyer to “regain the trust” of the franchise after the story broke, and he did little to accomplish that before he was ultimately fired early Thursday morning.
Meyer’s arrival turned the franchise into a national storyline week in and week out.
“In the past it was like you were, quote, it’s like the lowly Jaguars, and everyone left you alone. Now the scrutiny we have is really something different. How much of that is we’re bringing it upon ourselves, or how much of that is deserved?” Khan said before he opted to fire Meyer.
“Urban, he won wherever he was. This is something he’s never dealt with. And when you win in football you create enemies, OK, and the only way you can really deal with that is you’ve got to win again.”
Here are some of Meyer’s other mistakes since coming out of retirement to take a shot at the NFL after years of dominating in college football:
Hiring Chris Doyle
Meyer’s tenure with the Jaguars immediately got off to a rocky start, as he hired former University of Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle as director of sport performance. In the past, Doyle had been accused of bullying and making racist remarks toward black players. Due to severe backlash, Doyle resigned the day after he was hired.
Violation of no-contact rule
The Jaguars were disciplined by the NFL in July for violating the league’s no-contact rule during OTA practices. Meyer himself was fined $100,000, and the team was docked two future OTAs for 2022 — now, an issue for the next coach.
Signing Tim Tebow
Nearly a decade since he had played in his last regular-season NFL game, Meyer decided to give his former quarterback at Florida, Tim Tebow, another chance — not as a signal-caller, but as a tight end. It did not go well. Tebow made it through one preseason game, where his blocking was exposed and he failed to record a catch. It was largely a distraction for the team, and he was released in the first round of cuts.
Splitting Trevor Lawrence’s training camp reps
The Jaguars selected Trevor Lawrence first overall in the 2021 draft, considered by many to be the best quarterback prospect in years. Everyone knew he was going to be the starter — but Meyer decided to split first-team reps in training camp with incumbent quarterback Gardner Minshew. Predictably, Minshew was traded to the Eagles near the end of camp, and Lawrence missed out on valuable reps. He has struggled in his first season in Jacksonville, throwing just nine touchdowns to 14 interceptions with a passer rating of 68.9.
The Columbus bar incident
If you’ve paid any attention to sports this year, you’ve probably seen the video of a young woman grinding on Meyer’s lap while at a bar in Columbus, Ohio. Meyer became a national laughingstock, and reportedly held a number of meetings with players and team staff — none of which were taken seriously.
“Benching” James Robinson
Star running back James Robinson fumbled in their blowout loss to the Rams, and was benched for several series for an ineffective Carlos Hyde. When asked after the game, Meyer said it had to do with Robinson’s injury and passed the buck to running backs coach Bernie Parmalee, saying he made the decision. But Robinson came back into the game — and actually took the team’s final snaps, when they were down by 30. Robinson publicly questioned the decision during a radio interview, and Meyer later admitted it was a bad idea.
The NFL.com report
On the Saturday morning before Meyer was fired, a scathing report was published on the NFL’s own website with a variety of allegations against the head coach. Among them were that he got into a heated argument with respected veteran Marvin Jones, and that he called his assistant coaches “losers” and demanded they individually defend their resumes during a meeting. Meyer denied the Jones allegation but said he’s “hard” on his coaches.
Kicking Josh Lambo
The kicker, so to speak, came in the form of a Tampa Bay Times report alleging that Meyer physically kicked Josh Lambo during an August practice. “Hey dips–t, make your f–king kicks!” Meyer reportedly said before committing the act and allegedly showed no remorse when Lambo discussed the incident with him. Perhaps it was the last straw, as Meyer was fired early on Dec. 16 after the report came out.