An Urban Legend Bites The Dust

Pardon us if we experience a little schadenfreude:

The Jacksonville Jaguars fired coach Urban Meyer early Thursday morning, ending his tenure 13 games into a season that was defined by controversy and disappointing play.

“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,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a statement released by the team. “I informed Urban of the change this evening.”  [snip]

Meyer, who was hired in January after a decorated career as a college coach, guided Jacksonville to a 2-11 record and faced criticism for questionable personnel moves, his off-field behavior and his treatment of assistant coaches and players. The latest controversy came Wednesday evening, when the Tampa Bay Times published a story in which former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo accused Meyer of kicking him during a practice in August, which Meyer denied.

Sally Jenkins, writing elsewhere in the Post prior to word of Meyer's firing, had it right:

From the very beginning, with his demeaning labeling of guys as either “Winners” or “Losers” in training camp and his supercilious pronouncement that “Every man’s got a record,” you could tell Meyer badly misapprehended what it takes to lead in the NFL. He’s as close to a legit NFL head coach as a grackle is to an attack helicopter. The difference between pros and the worshipful spaniel-eyed kids Meyer barked at in college is that high performers in the NFL are almost impossible to manipulate with dishonest or counterfeit slogans. What turns their performance is the truth. [snip]

Ever since Meyer was lured off a TV set by Jaguars owner Shad Khan, he has been spouting airy platitudes that have as much substance as a young-adult novel. He could get away with that at Ohio State and Florida, backed by administrations willing to tolerate his mismanagement-scandals, such as 31 arrests among the Gators and the coddling of an alleged domestic abuser on his staff with the Buckeyes. He recruited top talent, benefited from a lot of mismatches and coated it all with organizational bromides. But it’s becoming clear that he knows absolutely nothing about real-world, elite competitive character. Don’t ever forget that he ran off Joe Burrow in favor of Dwayne Haskins — and labeled Haskins the can’t-miss prospect.

Well, we've already wasted too many electrons on this "Urban legend," who always seemed to us to be too smug, too confident in his "I alone can fix it" ability to shape the teams around him -- mostly by bullying and threatening, as it turned out.   Now some other pro or college team will doubtless take a chance on him, given his overall "record," regardless of the toll he's taken on programs on his way to being a "winner."

BONUS:  LGM wins the headline contest: Urban Meyer discovers it’s much harder to win when the other team gets paid too

(Photo: Meyer raging; Phelan M Ebenhack/ AP)