Report: Tension Boiling Over Between Urban Meyer, Players & Staff

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that there are renewed questions in league circles about Jaguars HC Urban Meyer and whether his time in Jacksonville could be over this season.

Pelissero says that there has been tension surrounding Meyer for months that has boiled over with multiple run-ins with players and other coaches in recent weeks.

As of now, Pelissero says there are no signs that Jaguars owner Shad Khan is seriously considering a change at head coach.

However, sources have told Pelissero that Meyer’s repeated public comments shifting blame to players and coaches amid the team’s 2-10 season have exacerbated frustration in the building with his “hard-charging and sometimes condescending approach.”

The Jaguars opted to not fire Meyer after he stayed in Ohio instead of taking the team plane home after a Week 4 loss to the Bengals. He was later seen on videos that had gone viral with a young woman who’s not his wife dancing near his lap.

According to Pelissero, Jaguars veteran WR Marvin Jones became so angry with Meyer’s public and private criticism of the receiver group that he left the facility until other staff members convinced him to come back, and he later had a heated argument with Meyer during practice.

Pelissero says that Meyer delivered a message that “he’s a winner and his assistant coaches are losers” during a staff meeting and challenged each coach to individually explain when they’ve ever won, forcing them to defend their résumés.

As for RB James Robinson, Pelissero reports that Meyer ordered him to be benched after an opening-drive fumble last week. Then Meyer had RBs coach Bernie Parmalee stop Robinson from re-entering the game. It wasn’t until QB Trevor Lawrence questioned Meyer on the sideline about Robinson’s absence that he was allowed to return late in the second quarter.

Jaguars’ players reportedly vented their frustration to Rams players after their game against, explaining that Meyer doesn’t treat them like adults.

The Jaguars opened the preseason with consecutive losses. Pelissero says that “Meyer informed assistants that he was sick of being embarrassed and if the team didn’t start winning immediately, some of them wouldn’t be around for a second year.”

Khan has stood by Meyer and is known for being very patient with the coaching staff and front office. However, the way this year has gone for Meyer and the Jaguars, it’s hard to rule anything out at this point in time. 

Meyer, 56, got his start in coaching in 1986 as a graduate assistant at Ohio State. He worked as an assistant coach at Illinois State, Colorado State, and Notre Dame before getting his first head coaching position at Bowling Green in 2001. 

Meyer moved on to become the head coach at Utah in 2003.

In 2005, he was hired as the head coach at Florida before retiring due to health reasons in 2010. Meyer came out of retirement to take the lead job at Ohio State in 2012 and was in that position until 2018 before retiring again citing health reasons. 

It’s worth mentioning while Meyer has been hospitalized for chest pains and migraines, both of his health-related retirements have followed off-the-field controversies, including how he handled a domestic violence accusation for one of his assistant coaches at Ohio State. 

The Jaguars hired Meyer out of a TV analyst job to be their head coach in 2021. 

As a college head coach, Meyer has a career coaching record of 187-32 and has won three national titles at two different schools. 

So far, Meyer has a 2-10 record with the Jaguars.