There’s distress in Duval, and it all boils down to one man: Urban Meyer. After a troubling video of the Jags head coach emerged this week, much remains doubtful about the future of the franchise.
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Last Thursday, Urban Meyer’s Jaguars travelled to Ohio to play the Bengals in a game which narrowly fell in favor of the hosts, 24-21. It pushed the CFB legend’s team to 0-4, embarrassingly still winless despite having 1st overall pick Trevor Lawrence at the helm.
The team’s trip to Ohio was also a homecoming of sorts for Meyer, who previously coached the Ohio State Buckeyes and has extended family still living in the area.
Because of this, Meyer decided to stay back in Ohio to spend some time with his family instead of traveling back with the team. On Friday, the Jags head coach visited a bar he owns in Columbus, and that’s where things went downhill for him.
A video of a young woman dancing on his lap emerged on social media and subsequently spread like a wildfire. Meyer was facing heat not only for his irresponsibility towards his duties as a head coach, but also because of the fact that he’s married and has 3 children.
After the incident, Jaguars owner Shad Khan didn’t mince his words. “I have addressed this matter with Urban,” Khan said. “Specifics of our conversation will be held in confidence. What I will say is his conduct last weekend was inexcusable.”
“I appreciate Urban’s remorse, which I believe is sincere. Now, he must regain our trust and respect. That will require a personal commitment from Urban to everyone who supports, represents or plays for our team. I am confident he will deliver.”
Khan’s statement does imply that Meyer’s job isn’t in jeopardy yet, but he definitely needs to watch his back.
Anonymous Jaguars Player on Urban Meyer: “He Has Zero Credibility”
“Urban’s remorse” which Khan referred to was in relation to an apology published by Meyer after the incident. “I just apologized to the team and staff for being a distraction,” he said. “Just stupid and so I explained everything that happened and owned it. Just stupid. Should not have myself in that kind of position.”
“The team, I spoke to a bunch of leaders one on one, spoke to all the players. They’re good. They’re focused on Tennessee. I apologized again for being a distraction. A coach should not be a distraction.”
However, a recent report from Michael Silver might be calling one part of the apology into question. A string of Tweets posted by the sportswriter this morning detail a conversation that Silver had with an unnamed Jaguars player.
According to the anonymous player, Meyer had very little credibility in the locker room even before the incident, and once he cancelled a team meeting because of the media uproar, players weren’t too pleased.
The player claims that Meyer never actually apologized to the entire team at once, and instead said sorry to each individual position group. He even went on to say that the players were “dying laughing” after hearing his apology and that he’s doubtful about Meyer’s future with the team.
