9 votes

Jacksonville Jaguars hire Urban Meyer to be Head Coach

4 comments

  1. [4]
    Ellimist
    (edited )
    Link
    Pretty big news for the NFL today. The Jacksonville Jaguars hired college football legend Urban Meyer to be their head coach. For some quick background.....Meyer already has ties to the...

    Pretty big news for the NFL today.

    The Jacksonville Jaguars hired college football legend Urban Meyer to be their head coach.

    For some quick background.....Meyer already has ties to the Jacksonville area having coached the University of Florida Gators from 2005-2010 before going to Ohio State. For his college head coaching career, Meyer has a Win-Loss record of 187-32 and three National Championship titles, two with Florida and one with Ohio State. Meyer is, arguably, one of the best college coaches in CFB history.

    Despite his success as a coach, Meyer has some baggage.

    Health problems forced him to retire from Florida and Ohio State leading many Jags concerned as to whether or not Meyer can handle the rigors of the NFL. Some fans have gone so far as to imply that Meyer used the health problems as an excuse to get out of his contracts with Florida and Ohio State.

    Both Florida and Ohio State had some issues with player and coach conduct as well leading some to believe that Meyer is a bit more scummy than his reputation suggests.

    At Florida, it's claimed that Meyer was so focused on winning that he recruited players with character issues and turned a blind eye to transgressions. Two National Championships will give any coach a long leash but Meyer was aided by having well known Christian Tim Tebow as the quarterback who was known to counsel some of the troubled Gator players. Perhaps most damning of those players was Aaron Hernandez, an immensely talented player who would become part of the New England Patriots twin headed tight end dragon with future Hall of Famer, Rob Gronkowski. Hernandez would be accused, and found guilty, of murdering Odin Lloyd, the fiancee of Hernandez's sister, in 2013. Hernandez would commit suicide in prison in 2015.

    https://www.tampabay.com/sports/2018/08/05/on-leave-at-ohio-state-urban-meyer-had-a-mess-as-gators-coach-too/

    At Ohio State, Meyer would be suspended for 3 games over his handling, or lack thereof, of Zach Smith, a wide receiver coach Meyer had employed previously at Florida and hired again at Ohio State. Smith, however, had a history of domestic violence allegations going back to 2009. Ohio States investigation in to the matter concluded that Meyer knew enough of what was going to report it but failed to do so.

    https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2018/8/1/17639616/urban-meyer-ohio-state-decision-suspension

    While many Jaguars fans are ecstatic about the Meyer hiring, these issues, specifically Meyers failure to adequately handle the domestic violence of one of his coaches, have me concerned. For my part, I don't have any tolerance for domestic violence. So for the Jaguars to hire someone who might've looked the other way while one of his coaches beat his wife is troubling to me. College and NFL football, however, have proven time and again that winning will make many fans and teams turn a blind eye to such things.

    The Jaguars are a team that have struggled to field a competitive product and Meyer brings a winning pedigree the Jaguars haven't had before. Meyer is, easily, the most high profile coach to ever take the reins of the Jaguars and he's taking over a program with tremendous potential. Eleven draft picks, including two first round picks and two second round picks, nearly 80 million dollars in cap space, and some very talented young players. Indeed, the Jaguars have enough talent that they could, conceivably, turn things around very quickly, especially if Trevor Lawrence(Clemson QB who is expected to be the Jaguars first pick) is as good as advertised.

    Meyer is a coach the NFL has long coveted but success in the college game does not guarantee, or is even an indicator of, future success in the NFL. Most notably, Alabama head coach Nick Saban made the jump to take over as head coach of the Miami Dolphins following Saban's time at LSU. Saban, however, had a disastrous run lasting just 2 seasons before quitting of his own accord. Saban was apparently so hard on the NFL players that he even made one of them break down and cry during a practice.

    While Meyer isn't known to be quite the disciplinarian Saban is, Meyer has zero experience coaching at the NFL level. No one doubts Meyer's knowledge of football or even his ability to instill a winning culture. However, the NFL is a different animal, entirely, when you consider that the players are no longer student athletes but professionals with multi million dollar contracts, or are angling to get one.

    This article, https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/01/14/urban-meyer-jacksonville-jaguars-done-his-homework, by Sports Illustrated, does give me some hope that Meyer will avoid the pitfalls that Saban was seemingly unable to.

    3 votes
    1. [3]
      RapidEyeMovement
      Link Parent
      Everyone was wondering if he was going to make the move to USC or go the NFL route. If he is successful with the Jags this would sement him as one of the best coaches in history and show that he...

      Everyone was wondering if he was going to make the move to USC or go the NFL route. If he is successful with the Jags this would sement him as one of the best coaches in history and show that he could accomplished something that Saban could not.

      It is long been rumored that the toxic culture he allowed/created at Florida is the reason that UofF wasn't relevant for much of the 2010's. Or at least the excuse that Gator fans often used.

      Great write up, by the way!

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        Ellimist
        Link Parent
        Thank you so much.....I'm not much of a writer but I'm going to try to post a little more on the sports side of things to generate a little more sports content. But I agree.....if Meyer can turn...

        Thank you so much.....I'm not much of a writer but I'm going to try to post a little more on the sports side of things to generate a little more sports content.

        But I agree.....if Meyer can turn the Jaguars around, especially if it's for an extended period of time and not just a couple seasons, it'll cement his place as one of the best football coaches to coach the game.

        It's interesting because the "culture" question is one that's come up before. NFL pundits are applauding the hire due to Meyer's ability to instill a "winning culture" but the issues with Florida suggest that Meyer's idea of "culture" is one where winning, quite literally, supersedes everything else.

        4 votes
        1. RapidEyeMovement
          Link Parent
          * cough * Harbaugh * cough *

          But I agree.....if Meyer can turn the Jaguars around, especially if it's for an extended period of time and not just a couple seasons, it'll cement his place as one of the best football coaches to coach the game.

          * cough * Harbaugh * cough *

          1 vote