The Jacksonville Jaguars have fired head coach Urban Meyer the team has announced on Wednesday.
Meyer was in his first season as Jaguars’ coach and is sacked after only two wins in 13 games. Reportedly, the losing record was not the only reason the Jaguars’ front office decided for such a move in the middle of the season. Last week, it was reported that Meyer has kicked a player at practice.
The offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will take over as an interim coach until a long-term solution is found.
“Darrell Bevell will serve as interim head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars for the balance of the 2021 season. Darrell succeeds Urban Meyer,” Jaguars owner Shahid Khan said in a statement.
“After deliberation over many weeks and a thorough analysis of the entirety of Urban‘s tenure with our team, I am bitterly disappointed to arrive at the conclusion that an immediate change is imperative for everyone. I informed Urban of the change this evening. As I stated in October, regaining our trust and respect was essential. Regrettably, it did not happen,” is said in the statement.
“Trent Baalke continues as our general manager and will work with Darrell to ensure that our team will be inspired and competitive while representing Jacksonville proudly over our final four games of the season.”
“In the spirit of closure and recharging our players, staff and fan base, I will not comment further until some point following the conclusion of the NFL season.”
The Jaguars signed Meyer in January 2021 on a five-year contract worth somewhere between $60-70 million meaning it will be an expensive firing for the team. Still, the organization was left with no choice after the team struggled both on and off the court.
Meyer was embarrassingly caught canoodling with a blonde woman at a bar in Columbus, Ohio when he did not fly back with the team before their bye week.
Singing Meyer on a long-term deal was not the only move that proved to be wrong for the Jaguars organization. In February, they hired conditioning coach Chris Doyle despite accusations of racist behavior. The Jaguars also signed Tim Tebow to play tight end, a position he’d never played before.
