More than three months after Urban Meyer was fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars, new details continue to emerge highlighting the much-maligned coach’s troubled tenure in Jacksonville.
A new Report from Jayson Jenks and Mike Sando of The Athletic sheds light on the “toxic environment” within the organization. Among the incidents highlighted in the report was an instance in which Meyer “berated a player so harshly that the player cried.”
According to the report, the incident occurred during a meeting of personnel and coaching staff. According to two sources, Meyer “slammed the door after departing the meeting, leaving others to console the player.” Meyer was then confronted about the incident which led to a “tense exchange.”
Another story describing Meyer’s humiliation of players took place following a preseason game during which a player had missed an assignment. Meyer took his frustration out on a group of players by suggesting they weren’t capable of holding a job outside of football.
“And do you know what would happen if I cut you guys?” Meyer said, according to four people in the room. “You couldn’t get a job paying more than $15 an hour.”
“I lost all respect for him after that,” one veteran player told The Athletic.
Perhaps the most troublesome anecdote in the report reveals that Meyer was seemingly unaware of arguably the league’s best player, three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald.
“Who’s this 99 guy on the Rams?” Meyer asked one staffer during the season. “I’m hearing he might be a problem for us.”