Urban Meyer will be watched closely in his first NFL season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and it sounds like the college coaching legend has already run into some problems while making the leap.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported on Sunday that there is pessimism around the NFL about Meyer’s ability to adjust to coaching at the professional level. The 57-year-old is said to have had “repeated issues” with members of his coaching staff and Jaguars players this summer. One of the problems has been the reported disconnect between members of Meyer’s staff that have NFL experience and those who don’t.
“He has everyone looking over their shoulders already,” one source told La Canfora. “He becomes unhinged way too easily, and he doesn’t know how to handle losing, even in the preseason. He loses it and wants to take over the drills himself. It’s not good.”
Meyer apparently wanted to treat preseason games more like regular season games, and he even admonished his staff over preseason losses. Some coaches were given the impression that their jobs are not secure because of the team’s performance in meaningless games.
Meyer lost a total of 32 games in 17 seasons as a college head coach. He lost just nine in his seven years at Ohio State. Learning how to lose will be his biggest challenge in the NFL, and that is something he acknowledged right after taking the Jaguars job.
It didn’t take long before people started making the same joke about Meyer when the Jaguars struggled during the preseason. Of course, it was the preseason. Meyer will be judged based on how Jacksonville does in games that matter. He’s not expected to lead the team to the playoffs immediately, but he may need to work through some in-house issues in his first year.
