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Jaguars Introduce Urban Meyer As Head Coach: 'The Work Has Begun To Get This Team Where It Needs To Be’

Urban Meyer has officially begun his tenure as the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach, addressing the media for the first time on Friday.
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The Jacksonville Jaguars are now Urban Meyer's franchise to lead. 

The Jaguars officially hired Meyer on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation of whether the three-time national champion coach would take the massive jump to the NFL or not. And on Friday, Meyer hit the ground running with his first-ever press conference as the Jaguars' head coach. 

"Like I said yesterday, I felt like this was not only the right time for me to return to coaching, but the right place in Jacksonville as well. Duval is a very special place to me. Duval is a very special to me, and I’m excited to be back in the great state of Florida," Meyer said to open the afternoon. 

"The work has begun to get this team where it needs to be and my primary focus as we speak is to put together a great staff. I’ve been very supported by some incredible coaches throughout the years and I expect to do the same here in Jacksonville. These fans, especially our loyal season-ticket holders, deserve a winner and I can speak on behalf of myself, my staff and eventually our team, they will get our very best.”  

Meyer accumulated a 187-32 record and a .854 winning percentage, the third-highest in college football history, during head coaching stints at Ohio State (2012-18), Florida (2005-10), Utah (2003-04) and Bowling Green (2001-02). Meyer also posted a 12-3 record in postseason play. He is the only modern-day coach to win national championships in two different conferences (SEC in 2006 and 2008 at Florida and Big Ten in 2014 at Ohio State).

But Meyer will now face a different animal entirely. He will be tasked with leading the Jaguars from the cellar of the NFL to what they hope will be new heights.

The Jaguars finished with a league-worst 1-15 record in 2020, the culmination of a 15-game losing streak that resulted in general manager Dave Caldwell and head coach Doug Marrone both being fired by owner Shad Khan. 

Meyer only lost nine games during his entire coaching tenure with the Buckeyes. Meanwhile, the Jaguars have one season without double-digit losses in Khan's nine years as owner. The Jaguars are 12-36 over the last three seasons, the worst mark in the NFL during that span. Meyer will have to not only learn how to win quickly at the NFL level, he will have to do so while leading a team that has done anything but win over the years.

"You’re in a league that is designed to be .500. You’re talking about Coach Belichick, one of my great persons and a person I’ve always admired. He’s the best of all time. You’re talking about a 60-something percent winning percentage. You’re talking about this league is built to be .500," Meyer said when asked about the challenge of winning at the NFL level. 

"I coached at Utah where we were picked to lose most of our games. I coached at Bowling Green where we were picked to lose most of our games. And then Florida and Ohio State, you pick to win most of your games. That’s the biggest challenge is looking across the field and saying, ‘they got what you got.’ Or sometimes, ‘they got more than you got.’ “  

Khan started his search for Marrone's replacement on January 4, interviewing Meyer, Robert Saleh, Arthur Smith, Eric Bieniemy, and Raheem Morris for the role. But through the entire process, it doesn't appear there was much doubt about his target.

For the entirety of Meyer's half-hour press conference via Zoom, Khan could be seen beaming ear to ear. It was clear that he was not only buying what Meyer was selling but that he was genuinely enthusiastic about the future of his franchise again.

"Since the end of the season, I was privilege to interview numerous candidates to fill our head coaching vacancy. To a man, they were first-class, they had a high character and they can coach. And I expect them all to be NFL head coaches in the future. In the meantime, I wish each of them the very best and I want to thank them for the time and commitment they took to talk to me and share their thoughts with me," Khan said. 

“But from this remarkable, talented pool of candidates, one man clearly separated himself from the field. As I said yesterday, he’s a winner, a leader and a champion. He’s the man we want and need in Jacksonville. As you’ll see shortly, he wants the challenge. He’s ready."

Meyer's first order of business, he made clear, was finding the right kind of staff to support his new regime. He said he would not raid Ohio State's program for on-field staff or assistants off the field, but that he wouldn't take anything but elite coaches to join his team.

His second order of business will have to be to immerse himself in the specific details of professional football. The game has changed a lot since Meyer first began coaching, plus he has never before been a part of an NFL staff. This will be a new challenge for him, and one he will have to quickly adapt to.

"Well, from Florida to Ohio State, I changed dramatically. Like a lot of former players, you know, from Bowling Green to Utah, the times are changing. College football is different now, Mike, you know that. The days of coaching the way you did back when I was at Bowling Green or when I was an assistant coach, I mean, the whole country has changed. Everything has changed, so you have to adapt," Meyer said. "Those who adapt have success and those who don’t, fail."

"I can’t wait -- that’s the part of the game that I love is to be able to adapt to the NFL player. We’ve had no shortage of them the last 12 years or whatever it’s been. But it is, you’re talking about grown men. You’re talking about this is a business, you have a job to do. I’ve always looked at the college environment as an opportunity, not that we’re not going to do it in the NFL, but you’re dealing with 17, 18, 19-year-olds that are leaving home for the first time. You’re also dealing with an academic environment, so just a bunch of different environments. However, between the white lines, I don’t see a lot of difference. I’ve studied the NFL game now for, really, years, but I’ve really studied it for the first time in my life the last six months.”

Whether Meyer is the right person to lead the Jaguars moving forward will be determined by the results the Jaguars see on the field. But until then, Khan and Meyer are set to tackle the future together. Meyer's legacy will be partially molded by what he does in Jacksonville, while Khan's legacy as an owner will be determined by it almost entirely.

“I think actions speak louder than words," Khan said. 

"I’ve been there nine years. We’ve not won, but it’s not because of lack of effort. I think where we are today, I think it’s positioning us to win in the future. That’s what everyone wants. We’ve got a great game-day experience. I think we’ve got a great fan base. We need to deliver winning.”