Meyer’s treatment of people, lack of preparation, and apparent lack of interest in what was going on in the field have set a new low in NFL coaching standards. No wonder why the Jags allege that they fire him with reason and won’t pay him the rest of his contract.

The former OSU coach starred in multiple scandals throughout his lone season in Jacksonville. One of those involved former KickerJosh Lambo, who he allegedly kicked during training camp.

Urban Meyer Allegedly Kicked Josh Lambo

“I’m in a lunge position. Left leg forward, right leg back,” Lambo told The Athletic. “Urban Meyer, while I’m in that stretch position, comes up to me and says, ‘Hey Dips–t, make your f–king kicks!’And kicks me in the leg.”

“It certainly wasn’t as hard as he could’ve done it, but it certainly wasn’t a love tap,” Lambo added. “Truthfully, I’d register it as a five (out of 10). Which in the workplace, I don’t care if it’s football or not, the boss can’t strike an employee.”

“And for a second, I couldn’t believe it actually happened. Pardon my vulgarity, I said, ‘Don’tyou ever f–king kick me again!’ And his response was, ‘I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the f–k I want,’“Lambo concluded.

Lambo Is Now Suing The Jaguars

Now, Lambo is suing the team for his base salary of that season plus compensation for emotional distress. While it was Meyer, not the Jags, who crossed the line, Lambo states that the franchise violated the Whistleblower’s Act:

“Former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo has sued the team, seeking payment of his $3.5 million base salary for 2021, along with compensation for emotional distress,” reported Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. “Lambo contends that he was physically and verbally abused by former coach Urban Meyer. Specifically, Lambo claims that the team violated the Florida Private Sector Whistleblower’s Act.”

Bad decisions come back to haunt you, and hiring Urban Meyer was one of Shad Khan’s worst decisions. Unfortunately, even with him off the premises, the organization suffers from his poor behavior.

Meyer was unprepared and unwilling to prepare. He had a larger-than-life attitude but couldn’t back it up on the gridiron, losing the respect of his peers, his coaching staff, and going as far as to kick a player in practice.

Urban Meyer’s brief tenure in Jacksonville set the standard for what a coach should never do in the league. That’s why Jags owner Shad Khan didn’t mince his words when he was asked to look back on last year.

NFL News: Jags Owner Goes At ‘Untrustworthy’ Urban Meyer

“When you lose the respect, the trust and an issue of truthfulness, how can you work with someone like that?” Khan told Jarrett Bell of USA Today. “It’s not possible.”

“It was not about wins and losses,” Khan added. “I think when you know someone is not truthful, how can you be around someone,OK? We had Doug Marrone here four years. We had Gus Bradley here four years. I have nothing but the utmost respect and friendship with them. That’s why they got the time, because it wasn’t a matter about respect or truth. It was a matter of wins and losses over four years. This is much bigger than that.”

The Jags don’t plan to honor the rest of Meyer’s deal. He was expected to make somewhere around $10 to $12 million per year over a 5-year pact, yet the team claims that he was fired with cause.

Meyer failed to develop Trevor Lawrence and only set the organization back at least a couple of years in their rebuilding process. But just like Khan said, the issueswent way beyond the losing record.

That’s why the Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t hesitate in firingUrban Meyerbefore he could finish his first year at the helm. But the Jaguars are cleary not the only team who are struggling this season.

According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, “there is a strong feeling” that more jobs could be lost by the end of the year asthe Chicago Bears and the Houston Texanscould part ways with their respective head coaches.

NFL Rumors: Bears, Texans could fire head coachesby the end of the season

“Both the Texans and Bears are heavily mulling launching a coach search in the coming weeks, NFL sources said, with the pull to making a change growing within those organizations,” La Canfora wrote.

“…Teams now have the ability to interview potential head coaches from other teams in the final two weeks of the season, and with two NFL clubs already primed to take advantage of that, several ownership sources believe that other clubs will also opt to part with the current coach within the timeframe to take advantage of that head start.

“…Ultimately, there is an expectation among those who hire coaches that at least five-to-six teams will end up conducting coaching searches starting next month,“ he added.

Matt Nagy has been under heavy fire for months, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bearsfinally decide that his days in Chicago are over. On the other hand, the Texans knew this would be a difficult year, butthat wouldn’t be enough for DavidCulleyto keep his job. At the end of the day, both teams may prefer to face a fresh challenge to come back stronger in 2022.

In an interview the now ex-coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars did little to shoulder the blame but rather pointed it at the players and his coaches. Meyer told NFL Network, “Just society has changed. You think how hard you pushed. … I believe there is greatness in everybody and it’s the coach’s job to find that greatness however you do that. Positive encouragement. Pushing them to be greater, making them work harder, identifying flaws and trying to fix [them]. I think everything is so fragile right now. And that includes coaching staffs. When I got into coaching, coaches weren’t making this kind of money and they didn’t have agents. Everything is so fragile where it used to be team, team, team.”

Meyer continued during the interview to point out how losing just took control of the team, “Once you start losing, it’s hard on everybody. 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.”

Urban Meyer comments after being fired from Jacksonville Jaguars

Meyer was fired for cause, and during the interview apologized to the city of Jacksonville for the poor run of form his team had. “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 heart-breaking. 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 denied any accusations that were made against him in his final weeks as coach as well as the benching of star running back James Robinson. Meyer, who lost more games this season than Jacksonville had lost in 4 seasons, got a lot of unwanted media attention in October when after a defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals the coach did not fly back with his team, citing “he went to visit family”, only for photographs and videos to surface of the coach dancing with a young woman at a bar.

Trevor Lawrence stated to ESPN that Meyer’s firing”brings a little bit of clarity to the guys in the locker room. I wouldn’t say relief, but I would say just bring some clarity and some direction moving forward.” It was reportedLawrence and other players were unhappy with Meyer’s attitude and coaching.

Meyer did absolutely everything he could to be fired within a week and somehow, someway; team owner Shad Khan continued to trust him. Eventually, his presence was unjustified and the situation was unsustainable.

And perhaps one of the biggest issues with Meyer’s command was how poorly used Trevor Lawrence was. Albeit some growing pains are to be expected from rookie QBs, he never put the first overall pick in a position to succeed.

Trevor Lawrence Says Urban Meyer’s Firing Brings Clarity

Now, the Clemson product addressed the situation, stating that Meyer’s controversial firing is going to bring a lot of clarity into the locker room and will allow the team to try and finish the year strong.

“I wouldn’t believe you if you told me this is how this year was going to go,” Lawrence told Michael DiRocco of ESPN.“I think it brings a little bit of clarity to the guys in the locker room. I wouldn’t say relief, but I would say just bring some clarity and some direction moving forward.”

“You know, we really want to go and finish the season strong and to be honest, it’s been hard to last the last week with everything going on,” Larence added. “And there’s a lot of things being stirred up I think by the outside, too. That didn’t help [and] made things a lot worse, but also everything that’s going on. It’s hard to be focused and have all your attention and efforts going towards winning the game when there’s so many things going on.”

Lawrence and other players were reportedly unhappy with Meyer’s attitude and coaching, which isn’t much of a surprise if the reports about him are true. Hopefully, whoever comes next will make the most of his incredible talent.

It didn’t take long before those doubts were justified. The season hadn’t even started and people were already questioning his leadership and decision-making by signing Tim Tebow, and that was just the first – and most harmless – of stories that were to come.

Barely competing, skipping travels to party, benching players, not knowing whether a defensive player was on the field or not, failing to develop their first overall pick, calling out his assistant coaches, and even KICKING a player made Meyers’ tenure arguably the darkest in Jacksonville Jaguars history.

Jaguars Owner Shad Khan Releases Statement On Urban Meyer

That’s why team owner Shad Khan couldn’t deal with him anymore and finally decided to pull the plug on this terrible stint, firing Meyer with four games left in the season. On that note, he released a statement explaining his decision:

(via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com)

“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,” Khan wrote 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 statement concluded.

Meyer wasn’t only a bad coach for the Jaguars. He was also a bad person. He did everything he possibly could to get fired, and it’s honestly shocking it took them so long. He held them back for at least one year and hurtTrevor Lawrence’s development badly. Hopefully, they’ll put this dark chapter of their story in the rearview mirror right away.

Sportico published the 25 highest paid sports coaches in the United States and a few things stood out. For example, there is not one coach from the MLS, MLB, or NHL. NCAA coaches make an incredible amount of money, and the NFL clearly likes to write big checks.

The NBA has some names on the list and while the NFL dominates the number of highest paid coaches, if they truly deserve their salary is a subject for another day. Here are the 25 top paid coaches in American sports.

25. Steve Nash – $8 Million

The now Brooklyn Nets coach got to the Eastern conference semifinals with the Nets in his first year at the helm. In 2020/21 Steve Nash had a .667 winning percentage, not bad for a first timer. Nash earns a substantial amount of money for a coach with all of one year’s experience, $8 million.

24. Nick Nurse – $8 Million

Now in his 4thyear as Toronto Raptors coach, Nick Nurse earns $8 million a year. Nurse won the NBA title in 2019, but last season the Raptors did not make the postseason. Nurse has coached since 1989 and been an assistant and head coach in several countries.

23. Mike Budenholzer – $8 Million

The current NBA champion head coach Mike Budenholzer comes in at $8 million a season, Budenholzer has been at the helm of the Bucks for fourseasons now with a championship season last year to go along two other very promising seasons.

22. Bruce Arians – $8 Million

Bruce Arians is the first NFL coach on the list coming in at $8 million a season, all Arians has done was win the Super Bowl last season and get the best out of Tom Brady at what many consider the tail end of his career.

21. Sean McVay – $8.5 Million

Sean McVay is the coach of the Los Angeles Rams and in his 5 seasons with the Rams he got to the Super Bowl 1 time and holds a .675 winning percentage. McVay was the AP NFL Coach of the Year in 2017.

20. Sean McDermott – $8.5 Million

There is nothing small market about the Bills if they can shell out $8.5 million on their coach. Sean McDermott has been with the Buffalo Bills for 5 seasons now and has alternated good seasons with some less than impressive ones.

19. Ron Rivera – $8.5 Million

Ron Rivera is at $8.5 million and has been coaching in the NFL since 2011, his biggest claim to fame is taking the Carolina Panthers to the Super Bowl, losing to the Broncos in Super Bowl 50. Since then, it’s been pretty mediocre, Rivera has a less than .500 winning percentage at Washington.

18. Erik Spoelstra – $8.5 Million

Erik Spoelstra is an institution at the Miami Heat, being a part of the coaching staff since 1997 and taking over since 2008. Spoelstra paid back the organization with 2 NBA titles and 5 Eastern conference crowns.

17. Doc Rivers – $8.5 Million

Doc Rivers is a veteran NBA coach and is currently at the helm of the Philadelphia 76ers. Rivers won an NBA title in 2008 and today wants to take the Sixers to the promise land. Dealing with Ben Simmons makes Rivers earn his pay that’s for sure.

16. Matt Rhule – $8.6 Million

The NFL can be generous, it’s the only way to explain that Matt Rhule earns more than Bruce Arians, a very good coach in college Rhule has found life in the NFL hard coaching the Carolina Panthers.

15. John Calipari – $8.6 Million

John Calipari is the first NCAA coach to be on the list, at $8.6 million a season it raises the debate of the money involved in college sports. Calipari coaches the Kentucky Wildcats since 2009.

14. Urban Meyer – $9 Million

Urban Meyer, coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL was a big-time college coach in the NCAA but in the NFL, he is on thin ice. Meyer makes a salary that is not indicative of the results, his first year in the NFL has been a mess.

13. John Harbaugh – $9 Million

Winning a Super Bowl upgrades anyone’s pay day and John Harbaugh did just that winning the big one with the Baltimore Ravens in 2012. Harbaugh has had an exceptional record with the Ravens after paying his dues as an assistant.

12. Frank Reich – $9 Million

The Indianapolis Colts head coach has been with the Colts for four seasons now and has done a very good job making the playoffs 2 out of 3 seasons. Reich did it with a different quarterback each year.

11. Dabo Swinney – $9.3 Million

Again, this is how you look at it, how can the “system” justify paying a college football coach 9.3 million dollars to coach collegiate athletes? For a NCAA College football fan Swinney is an institution for those who view college sports with a grain of salt, that money could go to much better uses.

10. Steve Kerr – $9.5 Million

One of the best NBA coaches of his generation, Steve Kerr learned from the best and with the Warriors he coaches the best, a hard worker and team first coach Kerr has won 3 NBA championships all with Golden State.

9. Kyle Shanahan – $9.5 Million

To many an offensive mastermind, to others a below .500 coach getting paid just shy of $10 million. Kyle Shanahan‘s record with the 49ers is not indicative of one of the highest paid coaches in all of professional sports.

8. Jimbo Fisher – $9.5 Million

Jimbo Fisher has an incredible coaching record in the NCAA and has won 1 national championship. Fisher has broken many records since taking over Texas A&M.

7. Nick Saban – $10.7 Million

Nick Saban has won 7 national championships in the NCAA and is now with the Crimson Tide, he has spotted and cultivated many NFL talents and is nearly always a semifinalist in the College Football Playoffs.

6. Mike Tomlin – $11.5 Million

Mike Tomlin won Super Bowl XLIII and made it to another falling short. Tomlin has never had a losing record with the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the best coaches in the NFL.

5. Gregg Popovich – $11.5 Million

A living legend in the NBA Gregg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs since 1996 and winner of 5 NBA titles. Popovich is being paid for what he has done, not so much what he is doing now.

4. Andy Reid – $12 Million

Andy Reid is a Super Bowl winning coach with the Chiefs and has been a firm coach since his days with the Eagles. One of the best in the business and still with miles to go.

3. Sean Payton – $14 Million

The New Orleans Saints boss has been at the helm since 2006, Payton won Super Bowl XLIV with the Saints and has always been in the mix among the best in the NFL.

2. Pete Carroll – $14 Million

Pete Carroll built a legendary NCAA program with USC and would join the Seahawks winning one Super Bowl and almost won back-to-back titles in the NFL. Carroll has won over 100 games in the NFL and continues to go strong.

1. Bill Belichick – $18 Million

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Bill Belichick is the highest paid professional coach in all of American sports. What Belichick built in New England with Tom Brady will go down in history as maybe the greatest sports dynasty in American sports. Belichick is a master on the sidelines.

Meyer said that the team considered everything when making the final cuts of the 53-man roster. And while that may not be unusual, he may have implied that vaccination status was also a criterion.

Given how delicate this issue has been around the league and how vocal some people have been about it, it was only a matter of time before those comments would backfire. And that’s exactly what happened.

Urban Meyer Under Investigation Over Vaccination Comments

(Transcript via ESPN)

“Everyone was considered,” the coach said. “That was part of the [considerations such as] production, let’s start talking about this, and also is he vaccinated or not? Can I say that that was a decision-maker? It was certainly in consideration.”

“Meyer’s comments did not go over well with the NFL Players Association. George Atallah, the assistant executive director for external affairs for the NFLPA, told ESPN via email that Meyer’s statements “have led us to open an investigation.”

“(…) Meyer, for his part, said vaccination status was one of the things considered, not that players were cut only because of their vaccination status.”

“(…)Meyer said at the beginning of training camp the team tried to educate players on the vaccine and encouraged them to get vaccinated but that each player was allowed to decide for himself. But Meyer also admitted the protocols for an unvaccinated player who tests positive or is ruled a high-risk close contact could significantly impact the team’s chances to win.”

Meyer has been walking on thin ice since joining the Jaguars, first for his decision to try out Tim Tebow at tight end, then for his team’s terrible performances in the preseason, and now this. This is not how you want to start your NFL comeback.

Nearly a decade after playing his last snap in the league, the Florida standout has decided to make a comeback. More impressively, he’s finally accepted and embraced the fact that he won’t be playing quarterback and would need to move to the tight end spot.

However, what could’ve been a feel-good story about the former Denver Broncos‘ draft pick is now a huge controversy, as some NFL players believe that him getting another shot in the league is yet another example of white privilege.

Urban Meyer Says The Jaguars Haven’t Signed Tebow (Yet)

That’s why Jaguars new coach Urban Meyer – who happened to coach Tebow during his time with the Gators – had to clear the air in an interview with Cris Collinsworth, saying that the team hasn’t made a decision on signing him… yet:

“We have not signed Tim.There’s a thought going around. He was in the best shape of his life, asked to see if he could work out with a couple of our coaches. I wasn’t even there,” Meyer told Collinsworth.

“And they came back to me and said, ‘Wow, this guy’s in incredible shape.’ Then I went another time and watched them try him out. And they said, ‘Go work on these things.’ He comes back later. They try him out again, I’m not there. They came in and they said, ‘Wow. This guy’s ball skills. He’s a great athlete. He looks like he’s 18 years old not whatever he is, 33. And I said, ‘Guys, you don’t understand, now. This guy is, he’s the most competitive maniac you’re ever gonna talk to. And let’s give it a shot. And I have not decided if we’re gonna do that or not yet. Getting close. I gotta make a decision here pretty soon,“ he added.

To be fair, some players seem to have a valid point. Aldon Smith couldn’t make a comeback, neither could Collin Kaepernick, and Dez Bryant had a tough time getting teams to even work him out.

This is not a shot at Tim Tebow, who I believe is a good guy and has every right in the world to try and make a comeback and fulfill his dream but I get where the complaints are coming from, given how the league has dealt withblack athletes in the past.