Urban Meyer Says He Has ’No Desire’ to Return to Coaching

Urban Meyer’s tenure as an NFL coach went just as bad as it possibly could in 2021 and since being fired from the Jaguars he has returned to work for Fox as an analyst. But in a recent interview, he was asked if he has any desire to return to the sidelines or if he would have done anything differently in Jacksonville.

“No desire,” Meyer said on the All Things Covered with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden podcast. “Of course, I think [I] could do things differently.” 

Meyer was fired after going 2–11 in his first year in the NFL and now the Jaguars have done a complete 180 in 2023, making the postseason in their first year under coach Doug Pederson. Meyer says talent was a big reason for their new-found success. 

“I was excited to see because they have a lot of different players than when I was there,” he said. “They did a really good job in free agency this year.”

Meyer was reported to have created a toxic environment in Jacksonville where it was commonplace for him to belittle both his players and assistant coaches. He would regularly threaten coaches and players that he would fire or cut them and was even reportedly unfamiliar with some of the biggest named in the NFL like Aaron Donald and Deebo Samuel, according to various reports.

Among the first public issues that arose for him last year came when a video went viral of him dancing at a bar with a woman who was not his wife in Ohio after a Week 4 loss to the Bengals. He was fired in December ’21 shortly after it surfaced that he kicked Jacksonville kicker Josh Lambo. 

All things considered, it’s understandable why he’d want to stay away from the sidelines for now.