The Jacksonville Jaguars owner, Shad Khan has made it clear that he is not looking back on his decision to fire Urban Meyer in 2016. The firing was seen as an act of cowardice and a mistake which caused the team to lose its grip on relevancy with fans. However, finding success in this season’s AFC Championship game by going undefeated against New England Patriots demonstrates that making such decisions can sometimes be worth it for the long term good of the franchise.
The “jacksonville jaguars owner” is a man that has made his biggest mistake and now he must fix it. He fired Urban Meyer, the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars football team. Now he can not afford another one.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – Shad Khan got it just right.
It was just eight months later than he had anticipated.
Urban Meyer was fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars’ owner less than a year after he was hired. Not because of a high number of defeats, though that was a concern, but because of a lengthy series of blunders involving players, coaches, and, in one case, a lady in a bar. They continued to pile up, leaving Khan with no option.
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Starting with the hiring/firing of director of sports performance Chris Doyle, who was accused of making racist statements and harassing Black athletes while at Iowa, he messed up everything.
Meyer and the Jaguars were fined by the NFL for having improper contact practices in OTAs… he signed Tim Tebow to play tight end… he had Lawrence and Gardner Minshew alternate first-team reps during training camp, only to trade Minshew… the viral videos of him in a bar with a woman who wasn’t his wife… the talking in circles about the benching of running back James Robinson… the reports of tension with his assista…
Khan had no option but to terminate Meyer following a series of incidents, aggravated by the reality that the Jaguars were just 2-11.
He’s now in charge of making the franchise’s most significant hiring. The Jaguars have finally landed the most critical element of any rebuild: the quarterback. Khan must find a coach who will construct his team around him, appoint the ideal coordinator to implement the offensive scheme that best suits him, and establish the culture in the building that Meyer promised but failed to deliver miserably.
And, most importantly, do it without creating any unnecessary drama.
The issue is that none of Khan’s football appointments have worked out. He kept general manager Gene Smith, who appointed Mike Mularkey as head coach. After a year, Khan recruited GM Dave Caldwell, who in turn hired Gus Bradley. Bradley was sacked after winning 14 games in four years.
Khan hired Tom Coughlin as an executive and Doug Marrone as the coach for the 2017 season. Khan had to remove Coughlin in 2019 after the NFLPA urged players not to sign with the Jaguars because of the many complaints made by players that Coughlin penalized.
Meyer was hired after Caldwell was sacked in November 2020 and Marrone was fired after the 1-15 season concluded.
Khan’s greatest weakness as a business owner has been his failure to identify qualified leaders for his franchise. Meyer’s hiring was an expensive error, and he can’t afford to make the same mistake again with his successor.
If he does, he risks squandering a generational quarterback and setting the team up for another decade of futility.
He had to get it right this time.
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