Desmond Howard Says Urban Meyer's Hiring of Chris Doyle Spelled Trouble for Jaguars

“When one of his first decisions was to hire Chris Doyle, I knew where this was headed.”

ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard was not surprised that Jacksonville decided to move in a different direction when the Jaguars fired Urban Meyer as the coach of the franchise.

In fact, according to Howard, it took only one thing for him to realize that Meyer might not have been the best person to lead Jacksonville.

“When one of his first decisions was to hire Chris Doyle, I knew where this was headed,” Howard tweeted. “There is nothing he did in Jacksonville that he wouldn't have gotten away with in Gainesville or Columbus. It's hard to blame Urban for being Urban.”

Howard is referring to Meyer taking a chance on Doyle becoming Jacksonville's director of sports performance. The 53-year-old spent 20 years at Iowa, but left under turbulent circumstances after allegations of racism and bullying. In 2020, the Hawkeyes and Doyle separated in a $1.1 million agreement.

Not only did Meyer hire Doyle, only two other people—along with himself—vetted Doyle for the position. 

At Iowa, several Hawkeye players spoke out about their negative experiences with Doyle. Jaleel Johnson, who now plays for the Texans, previously said Doyle would go around “stepping [on] players’ fingers” during warmups for workouts.

It was also recently reported that Meyer once kicked former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo during practice, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

It is safe to say that Howard may have been correct about the Jacksonville-Meyer tenure, one that lasted only 13 games.