There has been a lot of speculation about whether or not Urban Meyer might lose his job as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars following the “distraction” caused by videos and photos of him at a bar over the weekend.
Team owner Shad Khan released a strongly worded statement, saying that Meyer’s conduct was “inexcusable” but and that he “must regain our trust and respect.”
“I have addressed this matter with Urban. Specifics of our conversation will be held in confidence,” Khan said in the statement. “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.”
That’s not something you see every day and speaks to the severity of the issue. Meyer also apologized to players, though there are concerns he’s lost the locker room already. And so long as the Jaguars keep losing, one has to wonder how long the team will put up with Meyer.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday to discuss the situation. While he doesn’t think that Meyer was in danger of losing his job at any point, he does think the situation is severe enough that the team really needs to start winning ASAP to justify things.
What's going on in Jacksonville Ian??
"I don't believe Urban's job was in jeopardy but this thing is far from over & they gotta start winning some football games" ~@RapSheet#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/ytcJUKTn1e
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 7, 2021
“I’ve never heard of it where a coach didn’t fly home with the team. Maybe it’s happened. We probably wouldn’t have known had we not seen all the other stuff in the video.
From what I know, I do not believe his job was in jeopardy. I know there were some very serious conversations with owner Shad Khan. There were several of them on that day, which was Tuesday. Some harsh words. A very public rebuke in the form of a statement, which, again, I’ve never really seen that before. An owner coming out and saying the coach has to re-earn our trust. That was all new. I just don’t believe his job was in jeopardy.
“This is real. I know people say it’s optics but leadership is optics. This is the team watching the coach, right? I don’t think it’s over by any means at all. But I would imagine they gotta start winning some football games.”
If the Jaguars can beat the Titans this weekend, that will go a long way towards easing concerns over Meyer’s ability to lead the team. But if the losses continue to mount up and Meyer continues to lose the locker room, one has to wonder if he’ll still be the head coach here in 2022.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.