College Vs. NFL: How Urban Meyer Assembled His Jaguars Coaching Staff

Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Urban Meyer has officially assembled his new coaching staff. He brought along a few college coaches he trust but filled out the majority of the staff with those that have NFL experience. He also retained five Jaguars coaches from the previous staff.

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Head Coach Urban Meyer have officially put a bow on their 2021 coaching staff. In total, 30 names were revealed by the Jaguars on Thursday, as the different pieces of the staff, 27 of which are coaches (three are personnel pieces). Some were retained from the previous staff, most were new and their backgrounds were vast.

Coaches often want to bring their “own guys” when starting a new job, surrounding themselves with those they’ve worked with or around before. But with it being Urban Meyer’s first year in the NFL, he put a premium on surrounding himself with those who have experience in the league as well.

We break down the entire staff to see the parity and what kind of experience Meyer leaned on and where.

COLLEGE

Only 25% of the staff come from the college ranks. Most are former Meyer assistants and/or coordinators. These are the ones the coach trust and brings in as a sense of comfortability and to help establish the culture the coach wants in-house. Bringing in those who already know what the coach expects from the locker room to the practice field will ease the transition.

Meyer’s list of college poaches and those from his tree are as follows:

• Charlie Strong—Assistant Head Coach, Inside Linebackers Coach
• Chris Ash—Defensive Backs Coach/Safeties 
• Tyler Bowen—Tight Ends Coach
• Quinton Ganther—Offensive Quality Control Coach
• Patrick Reilly—Defensive Quality Control Coach
• Chris Doyle—Director of Sports Performance
• Anthony Schlegel—Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

Strong is the (pun intended) strongest hire of the bunch. That’s by design. He was Meyer’s first hire and what the head coach described as “arguably one of the most if not the most important hire.” His title as inside linebackers coach is secondary though to his role as the assistant head coach. That will be his biggest impact on this Jaguars squad.

Strong worked with Meyer at Notre Dame and then notoriously with the Florida Gators where the duo won two National Championships. Strong has served as head coach with the Louisville Cardinals, Texas Longhorns and South Florida Bulls.

Chris Ash is in his 24th year of coaching and will join Meyer for the second time. Ash coached under Meyer at Ohio State for two years when the Buckeye’s won the 2014 National Championship. Quinton Ganther is in his first season coaching in the NFL after seven years at the college level and six years playing in the NFL. He played under Meyer as a running back at Utah.

Schlegel was an associate director of football performance at Ohio State while Meyer was head coach there. Bowen and Reilly are both young coaches entering their first season in the NFL after stops in the college ranks. Neither have worked directly with or under Meyer before.

Chris Doyle spent 20 years running the Strength and Conditioning program at Iowa before being paid $1.1 million to leave after allegations of bullying and racism. This is his first year in the NFL, a job he now has because of Meyer of vouching for the infamous coach.

NFL

The majority of the Meyer Jaguars staff is made up of those from the NFL ranks. Urban Meyer plucked some guys, hired others that had just been released, and gave others opportunities to rise to a better position with a new franchise. He also retained five coaches from the former Jaguars staff.

The full list of NFL experienced coaches are as follows:

• Darrell Bevell—Offensive Coordinator
• Joe Cullen—Defensive Coordinator
• Brian Schneider—Special Teams Coordinator
• Brian Schottenheimer—Passing Game Coordinator
• Joe Danna—Defensive Backs/Nickels (Already on Jags staff)
• Tony Gilbert—Assistant Linebackers Coach (Already on Jags staff)
• Will Harriger—Offensive Assistant Coach
• Sanjay Lal—Wide Receivers Coach
• Sterling Lucas—Assistant Defensive Line Coach
• Tosh Lupoi—Defensive Line Coach
• Zachary Orr—Outside Linebackers Coach
• Bernie Parmalee—Running Backs Coach
• Carlos Polk—Special Teams Assistant
• Bob Sutton—Senior Defensive Assistant
• Tim Walton—Secondary/Corners (Already on Jags staff)
• George Warhop—Offensive Line Coach (Already on Jags staff)
• Todd Washington—Assistant Offensive Line Coach
• Brandon Ireland—Assistant Strength Coach
• Adam Potts—Assistant Strength Coach
• Cedric Scott—Assistant Strength Coach (Already on Jags staff)

None of the NFL coaches have spent time with Meyer before, either on the same staff or as a player. 

All of the coordinators (offense, defense and special teams) come from the ranks of the leagues. This will however be Cullen’s first time serving as a DC in the league; he was a defensive coordinator in college before. In total, four coaches have been offensive or defensive coordinators before in the NFL and two have held coordinator roles in college.

When Meyer was initially hired, he was vague about committing to retaining any former Jaguars coaches. In the end though, he kept five on the payroll. One on offense, one with the strength and conditioning staff, and the rest on defense. Danna has previously coached safeties and will move specifically to nickels under Meyer and Cullen. Danna served as the on-field DC when COVID-19 kept part of the Jaguars coaching staff quarantined for a couple of weeks in 2020.

The rest of the Jaguars coaches will stay in the same roles they held under the previous regime.

Three others that served under the previous staff were retained: Chief of Staff Fernando Love, Assistant to the Head Coach ElizaBeth Mayers and Director of Team Administration Tyler Wolf. 

When Meyer was handed the keys to the franchise, it was evident he’d need to surround himself with those who knew how to at least stay in the right lane in the NFL. He heeded the concern himself, bringing in a staff loaded with NFL experience, interjected it with college coaches he trusted and built a massive staff for what the Jacksonville Jaguars hope will be the beginning of the turnaround.