Urban Meyer has been fired as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars after just 13 games with the franchise.
Meyer’s tenure with the Jaguars was a rocky one from start to finish with the number of off-field headlines about Meyer’s decisions and conduct far exceeding the team’s number of wins. His firing comes hours after a story came out from the Tampa Bay Times with former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo saying Meyer kicked him in a practice in August.
Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will take over as interim head coach. Bevell served as interim head coach for the Detroit Lions last season.
“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,” owner Shad Khan said in a statement. “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.”
“Trent Baalke continues as our general manager and will work with Darrell [Bevell] to ensure that our team will be inspired and competitive while representing Jacksonville proudly over our final four games of the season.”
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said Wednesday, prior to the Lambo story being released, that the drama around the team had to change. Meyer was the source of almost all of the drama surrounding the team this year. And now the change the team needed has happened.