JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Urban Meyer believes the Jacksonville Jaguars will eventually become a great franchise — and he’s sorry that he’s not going to be there to witness it.
Meyer told NFL Network on Friday that he was heartbroken over the way his 11-month tenure with the franchise ended.
“I just apologize to Jacksonville,” Meyer told NFL Network. “I love Jacksonville. It’s one of the reasons I took the job. I still think Shad [Khan is] a great owner. It’s heartbreaking. I just had a dream of it becoming a destination place with a new facility he agreed to build and some day to walk into that stadium where it’s standing room only. Because I know how bad the people of Jacksonville want it.
“So, I’m just heartbroken that we weren’t able to do that. I still believe it’s going to be done. It’s too good of a place.”
Meyer was fired early Thursday after going 2-11 and committing a string of embarrassing missteps that included two viral videos of him behaving inappropriately with a woman that wasn’t his wife, reports of him berating his assistant coaches, trying to hire a strength coach that was accused of making racist remarks and bullying Black players at Iowa and having No. 1 overall draft pick Trevor Lawrence alternate days with the first team with Gardner Minshew during training camp.
Former kicker Josh Lambo on Wednesday also accused Meyer of kicking him during warm-ups before an August practice, an allegation that Meyer disputed in the NFL Network report.
Sources told ESPN earlier Saturday that the Jaguars fired Meyer with cause and don’t intend to pay him the remaining four years on his contract. On Friday, a spokesman for owner Shad Khan released a statement to The Associated Press that said Khan made the decision to fire Meyer after last Sunday’s 20-0 loss in Tennessee.
Yet the Jaguars allowed Meyer to spend the next three days in the building, meet with the media twice and oversee Wednesday’s practice. Meyer left the facility shortly after the news of…
Source : espn
