ORLANDO, Fla. — Congratulations, Jacksonville Jaguars.
You have done it.
You have pulled off the most significant, spine-tingling feat we’ve seen in Duval since Molly Hatchet released “Flirtin’ with Disaster.”
Except you are flirtin’ with dominance.
You have gone from the most unwatchable team in the NFL to the most interesting, intriguing franchise in all of sports
You have gone from a blight on Jacksonville’s civic landscape to Urban renewal.
You have hired Urban Meyer as your new head coach.
And Meyer will soon utilize the No. 1 overall draft pick to likely choose Clemson superstar quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
The only thing that could make this any better would be if Meyer hires his old quarterback — Jacksonville’s own Tim Tebow — to be the Jaguars’ Director of Benevolence and Humanitarianism.
The Jaguars didn’t just hit a home run with the hiring of Meyer; they hit a towering grand slam home run in the bottom of the ninth — and the ball is still traveling, just soared over the Florida-Georgia line and will likely splash down somewhere off the coast of Jekyll Island.
Said Jaguars owner Shad Khan when introducing Meyer Friday: “He is a winner, a leader and a champion.”
Meyer has been called a lot of other names by his critics (I stand guilty as charged), but one name he has never been called is “loser.” Believe me, he will win in Jacksonville; he will fill up the stadium; he will use his charisma, his steely intensity, his cult of personality, his motivational and psychological skills to convince his players, his assistant coaches and team management that they are part of the best organization in the NFL.
“When they see the Jaguar emblem, you better have ownership and you better love it,” Meyer said of the players, coaches and personnel evaluators who will be working underneath him. “If not, it’s my job to eliminate those people from this organization. I take that very seriously. When you see that Jaguars emblem, there’s a sense of pride. The two things I always talk about are love and ownership. I want you to own it. And if you can’t do that, you really can’t be here. Own that emblem.”
Damn right!!!
I don’t even like Urban Meyer, but after listening to him Friday, I’m ready to run through a wall and jump off the Mathews Bridge into the St. Johns Rivers for him.
I don’t believe it’s a stretch to say Meyer’s hiring is the most important day this organization has experienced since the Jaguars were born nearly three decades ago. Why? Because the franchise has never been this downtrodden but with so much upside. The Jags were the worst team in the NFL this season at 1-15, but they have every imaginable resource to turn around their fortunes quickly. They have 11 picks in the upcoming draft, including five in the top 65, and are nearly $100 million under the projected salary cap. They also have a multi-billionaire owner in Khan who isn’t afraid to spend money — even if it’s foolishly (see Nick Foles).
Why do you think Meyer took the Jags job? For the same reason he took the Florida Gators job over the Notre Dame job back in 2005 — because he knew his predecessor at UF, the Zooker, had left the cupboard full of talent. For the same reason he took the Ohio State job in 2012 — because he knew his predecessor, Jim Tressel, had just won 12 games before he was abruptly fired amid an NCAA investigation.
“People who know me know I’m not going to jump into a situation where I don’t believe we can win,” Meyer said. “I don’t do that. … This place is primed to win.”
Which is why Khan has given the keys to franchise to the ultimate winner. The Jaguars, Khan said, will become a “coach-centric” organization in which the soon-to-be-hired new general manager will be reporting to Meyer.
“The head coach has to lead with the type of players he wants and the kind of team we need to be,” Khan said. “The general manager and myself need to support that mission. ... Everybody in the organization is going to be carrying out Urban’s vision.”
I can almost hear the NFL purists now wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth at the thought of Khan giving a “college coach” all of this power. Please spare me the tired, clichéd assessment that college coaches just don’t work in the NFL. Where did this misinformation even come from?
Pete Carroll came from college (USC) and he won one Super Bowl and should have won another. Jimmy Johnson came from college (Miami) and he won two Super Bowls and was responsible for a third one that his successor Barry Switzer won with the Dallas Cowboys. If you want to go way back, Bill Walsh came from college (Stanford) and he won three Super Bowls. More recently, Jim Harbaugh came from college and took over the San Francisco 49ers, leading them to three straight NFC title games and one Super Bowl appearance.
Forget this nonsense about how college coaches don’t work as NFL coaches. Guess what? Many NFL coaches don’t work as NFL coaches. How did Gus Bradley work out for the Jaguars? How about Jack Del Rio, Mike Mularkey and Doug Marrone? They all came from the NFL and failed miserably in Jacksonville.
Meyer has become friends with Jimmy Johnson and says he recently had a conversation with the legendary J.J. about the differences between coaching college and the NFL. Those differences, Johnson told him, are overblown.
“He told me there’s a perception that you have to be much different in professional football than you are in college,” Meyer said of Johnson. “Players want to win [no matter the level.] They understand their value, their brand and their lifestyle improves if you win.”
Besides, it’s not like the Jaguars are hiring just any college coach. They’re hiring one of the greatest college coaches of all time and the second greatest college coach of the modern era. Meyer’s career record is an astounding 187-32 and he has won 85.3% of his games — the highest winning percentage for a major college coach since Frank Leahy and Knute Rockne were coaching at Notre Dame in the leather-helmet days. Meyer won two national championships at Florida, added another one at Ohio State and he might have won yet another one at undefeated Utah back in 2004 if college football actually had a fair and equitable playoff system (some things never change).
Of course, it’s no secret that Meyer has had some health issues that have contributed to him stepping down at Florida after six years and at Ohio State after seven. But, honestly, does it really matter if he burn outs after five years? By that time, he will have already won championship — if he’s going to win one.
“Urban Meyer does not like to fail,” says former Florida Gators athletics director Jeremy Foley, who hired Meyer at UF. “He’s going to go as hard as he can to be successful. He doesn’t have a governor on his throttle. He doesn’t know how to take his foot off the gas pedal. If he builds you into a champion and then at some point in time he has no gas left in the tank, then who benefits? It’s the Jaguars.”
Foley pauses.
“I wouldn’t bet against Urban Meyer.”
Nor would I.
And nor should you.
Crank up some Molly Hatchet.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are flirtin’ with dominance.
