Urban Meyer digs himself a bigger hole with the Ohio story. He can’t decide if it was a spur of the moment decision to clear his head or if it was planned well in advance.
There are all kinds of rumors of Meyer going to either LSU, Florida St, or USC.
Just another college coach flunking out of the NFL. The whole party situation is just a dumb distraction. He has zero respect in his own locker room, and clearly that’s not because players are morally affronted that he’s getting grinded on in clubs.
Exactly. That’s probably the only thing they like about them.
It’s the canceling a team meeting because you’re too embarrassed to face your players. That’s really not a good look. (Even assuming that wasn’t the actual reason, I believe the article that that’s how they see it.)
I watched a clip of the NFL pre-game show yesterday, and I think former receiver Steve Smith summed it up well, saying that there’s no trust in Meyer right now. If he were leading a veteran team that already knew how to win on its own (i.e. the way the Cowboys did when Barry Switzer took over), Meyer might be able to take his hands of the steering wheel and let the car drive itself and just figure out how to blend in with the culture of the team. With a young Jaguars team that’s coming off a 1-15 season, has a talented but inexperienced QB, and already racking up four losses without a win, this team needs leadership desperately, and they didn’t get it with Meyer.
Players were already skeptical and then he pulled this crap. They resent him even more knowing that if any of them get into trouble off the field, they’d be confronted by the league office and the Jags corporate office. Granted, Meyer didn’t break any laws, but he definitely violated standards of decency and appropriate conduct. The fact that he canceled a team meeting let it be known that Meyer’s business is coming before the team’s business. Not a good look or feel.
I think the fundamental problem for Meyer, as it is for a lot of college coaches who try to jump to the NFL, is he isn’t dealing with a locker room full of wide-eyed undergraduates from rural Ohio who he can bamboozle with his reputation and a “put your trust in me” speech. These are grown up, professional athletes from whom respect has to be earned and who want to see a solid plan for improving the team. And then Urban pulls shit like the clown show with Tim Tebow.
It looks like Khan is playing down the idea that he’ll fire Urban, but I’d be surprised if he’s still head coach at the end of the season.
College coaches have a lot more power than they do at the pro level. Urban Meyer can seriously derail a college player’s future plans. In the NFL, the players have contracts. The general manager and owner have more say over personnel. A pro coach has to convince players he understands the pro game and that his plan for winning a game is better than their opponent’s.