Meyer: Chris Doyle hire was a ‘distraction’ Jaguars didn’t need

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2018, file photo, Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle walks on the field before an NCAA college football game between Iowa and Northern Illinois in Iowa City, Iowa. Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer defended the hiring of former Iowa assistant Chris Doyle on Thursday, Feb. 11, 20201, by saying he vetted him thoroughly along with our general manager and owner. Iowa agreed to pay Doyle $1.1 million in a resignation agreement last June after scores of former players said he bullied and discriminated against them. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) (Charlie Neibergall, Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Urban Meyer said that the “distraction” caused by one of his assistant coach hires wasn’t worth it, and that all parties involved agreed that it was best that they just move on from the controversial move last month.

In his first public statements since Chris Doyle’s resignation on Feb. 12, Meyer said the fallout wasn’t going to overshadow what the team was building. Doyle was hired as the team’s director of sports performance on Feb. 11, and immediate backlash followed because of his exit from his position at the University of Iowa just six months earlier.

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“I saw the impact of the decision and the distraction it caused. The most important part of an organization is and always will be our players and we both felt, and, when I say both, I mean Trent [Baalke] and myself, and then Chris Doyle felt it was best that this team didn’t need [this],” Meyer said. “Everything’s going too well. We hired an excellent staff. We don’t need a distraction, and moving forward is in the best interest of all.”

The hire itself was panned just about as soon as the Jaguars announced it.

Meyer defended it initially, saying that he thoroughly vetted Doyle and his situation at Iowa. That response didn’t appease anyone. The team, from owner Shad Khan and down, was criticized for being tone deaf of justifying such a controversial hire.

The Fritz Pollard Alliance ripped Meyer and the Jaguars for giving Doyle a job, saying it was “unacceptable” in today’s world to give what amounted to a promotion to a person with such an ominous cloud of significant allegations around them. Doyle resigned hours after that statement, leaving the Jaguars to do damage control from such an embarrassing hire.

Doyle, who worked at Iowa from 1999 until last June, was accused by a large number of former Hawkeyes players, both Black and white, of racial bias and mistreatment. Numerous coaches in the Iowa program were mentioned as having a role in that, but Doyle was the only one removed from the school. Doyle received a $1.1 million separation agreement from Iowa on June 15, 2020 to leave the program.

Iowa commissioned a deep dive into the allegations and hired the Husch Blackwell firm to provide a report on the football culture within the program. The complete 28-page report can be found here.


About the Author:

Justin Barney joined News4Jax in February 2019, but he’s been covering sports on the First Coast for more than 20 years.