Late Wednesday night, Jaguars owner Shad Khan did exactly what everyone was begging for when he finally fired head coach Urban Meyer.
The problem was Urban Meyer should never have been hired to begin with.
The proof was there and everyone knew it, but Khan chose to divert his eyes from the storm he was unleashing.
Over the last two decades, Urban Meyer was one of the greatest coaches in college football.
He amassed a record of 187-32, won two BCS Championships with Florida (2005, 2008) and one College Football Playoff championship at Ohio State (2014).
While his coaching record is unquestionable, his attitude, ethics, attitude, management and character all are.
As a matter of fact, critics brought those things to light when his name was floated for the Jacksonville job, but Meyer played Khan and seduced him with his big name and college coaching success.
If Khan had listened to the rumblings and dug a little deeper, he would never have been in this position.
During his tenure at Florida, 31 Gator football players were arrested. That includes an incident in 2010 where running back Chris Rainer received a ridiculously light four-game suspension for allegedly texting his girlfriend, “Time to die, bi**h.”
When Meyer finally resigned at the end of the 2010 season, he left with an ironic statement.
“You’re going to be judged on how you are as a husband and as a father and not on how many bowl games we won.”
Oh, how those words would come back to bite him in the groin this past October.
Meyer worked as an ESPN analyst for a year before Ohio State called. He returned to the college sidelines in 2012 and fell into drama immediately, albeit not of his doing.
The Buckeyes went undefeated in his first season at Columbus but were banned from postseason play due to infractions under his predecessor, Jim Tressel.
Over the next seven seasons, Meyer crafted Ohio State into a national powerhouse, going 83-9 during that time. But he was also guarding a dark and horrid secret that would ultimately lead to his downfall.
Turns out that he was covering up for assistant coach and domestic abuser, Zach Smith, who had been on Meyer’s staff since he was at Florida.
Thanks to reporter Brett McMurphy, we all learned about the acts of domestic violence committed by Smith in the 2009 season. Those acts continued through the 2014 season and up to the 2018 season when Courtney Smith, Zach’s wife, finally served him with a domestic violence civil protection order.
Courtney Smith told McMurphy that she showed text photos of bruises to her neck to Urban’s wife, Shelley Meyer.
Yet the Meyers did nothing, even after an incident in 2015 where Zach shoved Courtney.
“I got a text late last night something happened in 2015,” said Meyer at the time. “And there was nothing. Once again, there’s nothing – once again, I don’t know who creates a story like that.”
Zach Smith was finally fired in July of 2018 and for his inaction, Urban Meyer was suspended without pay for the Buckeyes’ first three games in 2018.
“I want to apologize to Buckeye Nation,” said Meyer after the suspension. “I followed my heart, not my head. I fell short of pursuing more information because at each juncture I gave Zach Smith the benefit of the doubt.”
Always Given The Benefit Of The Doubt
Being given the benefit of the doubt is something Meyer has thrived upon.
Despite 31 of his former players being arrested, ESPN and Ohio State gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Despite enabling a domestic abuser’s behavior, Fox Sports gave him the benefit of the doubt by hiring Meyer in March of 2019, almost immediately after he guided the Buckeyes to a Rose Bowl victory that January.
Meyer’s pattern of lying and denial is easy to see, yet Shad Khan gave him the benefit of the doubt and hired him.
Once in Jacksonville, Meyer showed his true colors once again.
In February, he hired former Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle, who resigned a day later after pressure from the Fritz Pollard alliance over Doyle’s treatment of Black Hawkeye players.
In May, Meyer signed his former Gators’ quarterback, Tim Tebow, to compete at the tight end spot, frustrating both fans and players.
Then the season started and things went downhill quickly.
Reports detailed players losing trust and confidence in Meyer. He contributed to his downfall when he opted not to fly home with the team after a fourth consecutive loss. Instead, he chose to stay home and was caught on video getting a lap dance at a bar from a woman who wasn’t his wife.
Fortunately for him, the fire from Jon Gruden’s email scandal covered up his childish and poor decisions.
But those decisions, coupled with the team’s mounting losses, were more than enough for the players.
‘He has zero credibility in that stadium,” said one Jaguars’ player. “He had very little to begin with.’
Then he benched running back James Robinson. That put the Jaguars volcano on the verge of eruption.
That finally arrived this week.
First came reports of Meyer humiliating and belittling his assistant coaches, calling them “losers”.
Then came a heated argument with receiver Marvin Jones Jr. who reportedly left the stadium afterward.
The final nail was hammered in on Wednesday when former Jaguars’ kicker, Josh Lambo, claimed that Meyer cursed him out and kicked him the leg while he was stretching.
Last nigh, Shad Khan finally did the right thing and fired a bad man who had gotten away with too much for too long.
“This is not new. This is a pattern,” exclaimed Heather Dinich on Get Up! this morning. “And for anyone who continues to put Urban Meyer on a pedestal because of those national championships, they are living in a false reality with what they’re dealing with.”
“He is a liar and a fraud,” stated Paul Finebaum.
Urban Meyer was enabled for decades by parties more enamored with winning and name recognition than seeing what really existed behind the curtain. Because of that, many were left suffering in his wake.
Hopefully, his time in Jacksonville will signify that the destructive and dishonest Meyer doesn’t deserve to be in power.
