Big Change for Trevor Lawrence: Urban Meyer Out as Jacksonville Jaguars Coach
Trevor Lawrence's rookie season has seen numerous twists and turns, but the latest one might be the most expected.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Kahn announced late Wednesday night that head coach Urban Meyer has been fired from the organization in his first year in the NFL.
"Darrell Bevell will serve as interim head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars for the balance of the 2021 season," Khan said in a statement released by the team. "Darrell succeeds Urban Meyer. 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. 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 to ensure that our team will be inspired and competitive while representing Jacksonville proudly over our final four games of the season. In the spirit of closure and recharging our players, staff and fan base, I will not comment further until some point following the conclusion of the NFL season."
The Meyer tenure has been under fire seemingly since he got there. The team got in trouble for having impermissible practices during offseason workouts. Meyer was videoed at a bar in Ohio after the Jaguars' Thursday night game in Cincinnati with his hands on a female who isn't his wife.
That, reportedly, put him on "probationary" status with Kahn. Reports continued to surface that the culture and Meyer's relationship with players and staff was constantly deteriorating. The final nail might've come Wednesday when former Jags kicker Josh Lambo said Meyer kicked him during the preseason.
Ultimately, Meyer, one of the most successful coaches in the modern college football era, went 2-11 at the helm, and that propensity of losing couldn't mask all of the internal issues.
Regardless of the reasons, Lawrence, a former star quarterback at Clemson and the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, is starting over just 13 games into his young career. It's been a rough season on the entire team, and Lawrence has suffered as well. He's completed just 58.2% of his passes and has a touchdown-interception ratio of 9-14.
Lawrence played three years at Clemson, winning a national title and taking the Tigers to the College Football Playoff each season. He went 34-2 as a college starter.
Bevell, the offensive coordinator, takes over as interim for the final four games of 2021. Lawrence will get a fresh start in Year 2 with a new head coach and likely an entirely new staff. His rookie campaign probably won't be judged as harshly as some previous No. 1 picks because of the Meyer mess, but the Jaguars can't miss on the next hire, for Lawrence's sake.
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