The Jacksonville Jaguars hit rock bottom in 2020, going 1-15 without a clear path to improvement. In a desperate attempt to steer the ship in the right direction, they turned to Urban Meyer, who had won several championships at the collegiate level but had no shortage of red flags.
The expectation was that Meyer was going to turn Jacksonville into a powerhouse like he did with Florida, Bowling Green, and Ohio State. However, his stint in Duval was filled with controversy, and things got so bad that the Jags ousted him less than a year after hiring him.
Fast forward to 2025, and Urban is going on a redemption tour, trying to rehabilitate his image. It came up short.
Urban Meyer is trying to rewrite history with the Jaguars
Urban Meyer recently had an exchange with Maryland director of process Josh Chambers. He said that he failed with the Jaguars because he wasn't able to build trust, noting that he didn't have enough time to earn his players' trust. Here's the conversation.
"Trust takes time, and maybe I was used to a college player, the younger person that would come over the house, and I would get to meet his family. And there's none of that at that level. And I try to keep doing it all, and it's not that way at all, Meyer said. "It's grown men doing a grown man's job. So trust, you lose trust now, you lose a locker room, you lose a team, you lose everything. And trust, I struggled with that. How do you earn trust?"
Meyer continued, "The way I earn trust is by being with a guy for eight hours a day, and having you around my family, I'm being around your family. You see exactly what makes me tick, and I'll do anything for you. And I would expect you to do the same for me. That's, to me, a trustful relationship. That takes a lot of time, and a lot of time together, and in college back in the day, you had that time. I was in the weight room every day. I was in the quarterback meeting rooms. Those guys are over my house. They're here. They're here, and then all of a sudden you start to get this right here."
Throughout the exchange, Meyer keeps talking about how he didn't get enough time to build trust from his players. What he doesn't mention is how he used whatever time he got when he was the head coach with the Jaguars.
Right off the bat, the fact that he hired Chris Doyle — a strength and conditioning coach who allegedly berated and bullied players — as the director of sports performance raised concerns. The backlash was so bad that Doyle resigned just one day later after his hiring was announced. That was just the beginning.
Meyer told players in Jacksonville that he was going to set them up for success. But according to former Jaguars receiver D.J. Chark Jr., he didn't know anyone who got better in 2021. The coaching staff wasn't safe either.
Even though Meyer handpicked his staff, he belittled his coaches, challenging them to show they deserved to keep their jobs. That was just one of many incidents that defined his tenure with the Jaguars, and he did so many outrageous things that made everyone grow jaded. Shockingly, he still found ways to top himself.
After a Week 4 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Meyer stayed back in Ohio instead of flying back with the team because he wanted to "spend the weekend with his grandkids." Leaving aside that he broke protocol, he lied to the team, as he was caught getting frisky with a woman who wasn't his wife.
Despite a fake apology that didn't sound remorseful at all, Meyer somehow kept his job. Then again, he had lost that trust he talked about by then. Then, in December, a report emerged that he had allegedly kicked Josh Lambo and cussed at him in an effort to motivate him. That turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back, and Meyer was at last kicked to the curb not long after.
Now, Meyer is doing his best at damage control, but he either thinks we're dumb or naive if he thinks we forgot just how toxic he was.
Urban Meyer was a stain in the history of the Jacksonville Jaguars
Aside from urging owner Shad Khan to build a player's facility, Urban Meyer didn't do much to help the Jaguars or any of his players. He can talk about trust or how he didn't lack time all he wants, but no functioning adult will buy that.
For a brief moment, Meyer did have players and fans believe, but instead of using that trust to turn the Jaguars around, he put it all to waste. Contrary to what he said in his recent exchange, one of his biggest miscalculations was thinking that the mere fact of winning at the collegiate level was going to translate into wins.
Meyer had no idea of the work it took to enjoy sustained success in the NFL. But instead of leveling up, he chose to stick to his old ways. Now, he's begging everyone who is willing to listen that he wasn't at fault for failing to turn the Jaguars into a powerhouse.
It wasn't his arrogant demeanor or his dearth of preparation. It was the lack of time he got, according to Urban Meyer. And if that makes him sleep soundly, so be it, but you know that he failed simply because he was a dreadful head coach who had no business leading an NFL team.
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