Urban Meyer reportedly continues apology tour at Jaguars team meeting
It has not been a great few days for Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer. A video of him at his Columbus-area bar in Ohio went viral over the weekend, after he'd skipped the team flight back to Florida to stay and visit his grandchildren. The video didn't show him visiting his grandkids. Instead it showed him sitting at the bar while a woman who was not his wife danced on him.
It wasn't exactly an inspiring moment for a first-time NFL coach who hasn't won a game yet.
Meyer has been apologizing to various groups since the video went viral, and on Wednesday morning he reportedly apologized to the entire team for his actions.
#Jaguars coach Urban Meyer addressed his full team today to express remorse and responsibility for his actions over the weekend, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 6, 2021
#Jaguars HC Urban Meyer already has this morning. He told his team that he’s always cared about two “things,” his family (expressly identifying his “wife of 37 years” Shelley) and his players - and then said “I embarrassed them both.” https://t.co/2Oj2ZBU8Gz
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) October 6, 2021
Meyer continues defending himself
Meyer took the podium in Jacksonville on Wednesday and answered more questions about this entire ordeal. He defended his decision to stay in Ohio, saying he'd discussed it in advance with general manager Trent Baalke. He also defended his decision to cancel Monday's team meeting, since he doesn't think big meetings are conducive to building relationships.
Urban Meyer says he hasn't been fined by owner Shad Khan. He says he discussed staying in Ohio with GM Trent Baalke "way in advance".
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 6, 2021
Urban Meyer on why he didn't fly back home on the #Jaguars' plane: "I thought at the time it was a chance for everybody to clear their head, including myself." https://t.co/jJuo6g5pkY
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 6, 2021
“I’m not a big team meeting guy…”
Urban Meyer said, in his opinion, a lot doesn’t get done in a big team meeting. He’s always felt it’s better to meet guys in smaller groups, in their personal space; better for developing relationships that way— Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) October 6, 2021
At this point it seems ill-advised for Meyer to continue talking about why it was OK for him to skip the team flight and stay in Ohio, or why canceling Monday's team meeting wasn't a panic move but part of his approach to leadership. The wise thing to do would be to stop talking about it and move on.
Unfortunately, Meyer hasn't done a lot of wise things over the past 5-6 days.
Meyer kept making things worse
Meyer, who not long ago seemed untouchable as a college football coach, has made a grand mess of this entirely avoidable situation. We don't know why Meyer's team-wide apology came days after he'd been dealing with the fallout from the video. One possible explanation is that every single decision Meyer has made, starting with him skipping the team flight home after Thursday's loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, has been wrong. Instead of helping himself, he has made the situation worse at every point.
He canceled the team meeting Monday and told the media he'd apologized to his family and the team, but mumbled and looked down at the podium during most of the exchange.
Here's #Jaguars HC Urban Meyer apologizing for what happened over the weekend. Meyer didn't travel back with the team after the game and stayed in Ohio. Full explanation:pic.twitter.com/X8plCNWbiQ
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 4, 2021
Instead of looking contrite and committed, Meyer looked shifty and uncomfortable. Then on Tuesday, team owner Shad Kahn released a statement about Meyer's actions after meeting with him. Kahn said he believed Meyer's apology was sincere, but he would have to work to regain his and the organization's respect and trust.
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 5, 2021
Not long after that statement was released, Jags team sources told veteran NFL reporter Mike Silver that Meyer hadn't actually apologized to the entire team and had zero credibility with his players — especially after skipping the team flight and cancelling Monday's meeting.
THREAD 1) The Urban Meyer situation in Jacksonville has reached a crisis point, especially in the locker room. One player told me, 'He has zero credibility in that stadium. He had very little to begin with.'
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) October 5, 2021
3) Instead Meyer 'only apologized to position groups individually.' He portrayed the woman in the videos as a random person who was 'just there dancing.' Suffice it to say, his audience was highly skeptical.
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) October 5, 2021
5 Bottom line, said the player: 'It's bad. I don't know how he's gonna function.'
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) October 5, 2021
The reported apology to the team Wednesday is ostensibly to help get everyone back on the same page so they can start to build up trust and respect once again. The phrase "better late than never" comes to mind here, since this reported apology to the team comes days after he canceled the Monday meeting at which he should have apologized.
Meyer is likely hoping this apology can be the end of it and he and the team can move forward and focus on winning (or at least trying to win) football games. However, if he needs advice on how to get his team away from this struggle point, there's an ideal person he can ask: himself from several years ago.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) October 5, 2021
