Darrell Bevell Reflects on End of Urban Meyer Era, But Wants Jaguars to Look Forward
When Darrell Bevell went into work on Wednesday, he was the Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive coordinator.
But on Thursday, Bevell walked into TIAA Bank Field with himself at the helm of the ship and in the role as head coach, being tabbed as the team's interim replacement for fired head coach Urban Meyer and being tasked with navigating the Jaguars for the next month.
"The timing of this thing, when these things happen, they’re obviously never ideal. They’re very tough and difficult situations to be put into in either way," Bevell said on Thursday, holding his first press conference as the team's interim head coach after 13 weeks with Meyer leading the franchise.
"But it’s one that I’m super excited about. It’s a great opportunity for us to be able to get focused on these next four weeks. And really, as I told the team earlier today, it’s just one week. We have a one game season. The Houston Texans coming in here, all our efforts and everything that we’re thinking about is getting a win there.”
Bevell continued to make it clear that his message to the Jaguars was to focus on the Houston Texans and attempt to find a third win in an otherwise nightmarish 2-11 season. For him and the rest of the Jaguars' coaching staff, the next month offers a chance to have a month-long audition, whether for the Jaguars or the rest of the NFL.
But even with his words of looking to the future, the end of the Meyer era was still the elephant in the room inside the Jaguars' facility on Thursday. Bevell confirmed Thursday that the coaching staff game-planned without Meyer on Wednesday evening due to Meyer leaving the facilities after practice that day, with Bevell and the Jaguars' staff not seeing the embattled head coach again.
“Yeah, [Jaguars General Manager] Trent [Baalke] communicated with me late last night, I don’t know exactly what time it was, but it was pretty late. He informed that [Jaguars Owner] Shad [Khan] had called him and they had talked about the decision that they made and that he informed him that he would like me to be the interim," Bevell said. "So, Trent had that conversation with me. So, it was—I don’t know what time it was, it was pretty late. And then, I came back in this morning and kind of let it rip.”
Despite reports of turmoil between Meyer and his offensive staff, Bevell didn't say a cross word about Meyer or his tenure on Thursday. Instead he thanked Meyer for bringing him to Jacksonville, while noting that he wants the attention to be on the Texans, not on him or Meyer.
“Well, I had a great experience. Like I said, Coach [Urban] Meyer brought me in here and I have a lot of respect for him and what he did for me and my family," Bevell said. "Other than that, I just really want to—as I said to the team, we’re not looking back, today is a new day. We’re moving forward and I just want to move ahead and all eyes and everything that we’re doing, I want it to be on Houston.”
Bevell did note some surprise at the move, however, especially considering it happened during the first season of Meyer's tenure after the former college coach was seen as the long-term leader of the franchise.
"I think, in my opinion, there’s always a level of shock when things like this happen. Regardless of all the things that go on, there’s just that—‘Oh wow, it happened.’ Particularly, in this case, it’s in the first season. So, I do think there was a level of shock there," Bevell said.
Bevell noted that he will still call plays for the Jaguars on Sunday, though he will be on the field as opposed to in the booth like he has been all season. Other than that, Bevell said there are no changes to the Jaguars' status quo for their game day operations.
This won't be Bevell's first rodeo as a head coach, nor as one taking over a drama-filled team in the final month of the season. Bevell was an interim head coach for the final five weeks of the season for the Lions last year following Matt Patricia's firing, which came after a controversial tenure as head coach, similar to Meyer's.
"Yeah, I really don’t expect anything different. I thought that the players in Detroit were outstanding. I thought that they were 100 percent all in. Those guys really did work their tails off, they went to work and it’s as big of a change for them as it is for us. I thought they gave me their all," Bevell said.
"The first game, we went to Chicago and we had to come from behind victory. It was an awesome experience and the guys were great. So, it was a really good experience and I really wouldn’t expect it to be any different here. I obviously have a great relationship with the guys that are on the offensive side of the ball that I’ve spent a lot of time with. But we have such cool players on both sides of the ball. I mean, I could name them, Myles [Jack], Josh [Allen], and all those guys on the defensive side of the ball that are dying to get wins and they just want to dive full head into this thing and win some games.”
