Fifty-seven-year-old former NFL coach Urban Meyer has issued a public apology after he was fired from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Although only coaching for the Jaguars for roughly a year, Meyers had a complicated relationship with the team. He struggled to highlight their potential as a team, in addition to bringing unwanted publicity to the team due to his personal decisions. Many reported him as being cold and it didn’t help that he was caught dancing with a woman who was not his wife after a game.
Considering these factors, the team felt it was best to let him go. Jaguars owner Shad Khan came forward with a statement earlier this month that revealed the information, “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.”
Speaking out publicly for the first time since the incident, Meyer spoke to NFL Network Insider’s Ian Rapoport and reflected on his experience with Jacksonville. He said during the phone conversation, “I just apologize to Jacksonville.”
“I love Jacksonville. It’s one of the reasons I took the job. I still think Shad’s a great owner. It’s heartbreaking,” he continued, offering his honest feelings towards being fired. Although he is aware he made mistakes, he relayed that he only wanted the Jaguars to become a better team.
Meyer explained, “I just had a dream of it becoming a destination place with a new facility he agreed to build and someday to walk into that stadium where it’s standing room only. Because I know how bad the people of Jacksonville want it.”
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Urban Meyer feels ‘heartbroken’ over his inability to improve the Jacksonville Jaguars
He emphasized his disappointment by sharing the sentiments, “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.”
While discussing on the phone with Rapoport, the 57-year-old also noted that the losses the team faced took an emotional toll on him. Over the course of the 2021 season, Jacksonville has won 2 of 12 games.
“I tell people, losing eats away at your soul,” the former head coach said. “I thought at one point when we won two out of three, there was some momentum, great energy, the defense was really playing well. We were running the ball and then when that dried up on us, then we started turning the ball over. We had that bye week and then James Robinson gets hurt.”
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