5 head coaching candidates for Jaguars after firing Doug Marrone
Pick Analysis. Former Ohio State/Florida Head Coach. . Urban Meyer. 2.. player. 812. Scouting Report
Meyer is of course currently working as a college football analyst for FOX, but it has seemed inevitable he’ll return to coaching when the right opportunity comes (assuming it does).
Plenty of rumors have tied him to possible openings that haven’t yet come at Notre Dame and USC, and most recently at Texas before Tom Herman’s surprise firing on Jan. 2. Last weekend, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported at least two NFL teams have reached out to Meyer to see if he’d be interested in interviewing for a head coaching job.
Heading into Week 17’s games, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Meyer would be a top target for the Jaguars if/when they fire Marrone. Also, Meyer has told people he expects to land in Jacksonville.
“The team has shown interest in former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who has been lining up a staff and telling people he’s close to in the football community that he expects to land in Jacksonville, per sources.”
Due to his successful run as head coach at the University of Florida, before his first of two coaching retirements rooted in health concerns, the Jaguars are an easy team to tie to Meyer. Maybe the prospect of coaching Trevor Lawrence would be a draw for him.
As our own Josh Hill reminds us, the Jaguars don’t currently have a general manager. So they could give Meyer full control over personnel (Bill Parcells’ classic line about “shopping for some of the groceries” comes to mind).
There’s a big difference between recruiting 18-year-olds and courting pros making a career and life decision in free agency, but Meyer may be intrigued by the ability to build an NFL team and foster a franchise’s identity from virtually the ground up. Whether he’d ultimately be successful or not is a separate conversation.
Rumors attaching someone of Meyer’s profile to head coaching jobs don’t get out by accident, since reporters have sources they don’t want to lose by being loose with what they put out. So it appears he’s ok with it being out there that NFL teams have reached out. It’s just a matter of if he’s interested, and he appears prepared to listen.
The Jaguars should find out if there’s a fit, assuming they haven’t already predetermined that Meyer is their guy.