Jaguars owner Shad Khan on firing Urban Meyer: ‘How can you work with someone like that?’

The Jacksonville Jaguars are striving to emerge from the short but dramatic era of Urban Meyer, but aren’t there yet. According to USA TODAY Sports, Meyer and the Jaguars were unable to agree on a settlement. The five-year deal Meyer signed is said to be worth $10-12 million a year, but the Jaguars understandably aren’t planning to pay as they say Meyer was fired for cause.
There were several reported instances of internal turmoil during Meyer’s 11 months as Jaguars head coach (see timeline here), and other more public cases, like what happened in a bar in Columbus in October. After that specific event, Jaguars owner Shad Khan said Meyer had to “regain our trust and respect.” This does not happen.
“When you lose respect, trust, and a truthfulness issue, how can you work with someone like that?” Khan told USA TODAY Sports. “It is not possible.”
During the 2022 NFL Draft, Khan talked about Meyer’s firing more than he probably did publicly. As the college football legend went 2-11 in the NFL, Khan wanted to make it clear his firing had nothing to do with on-field performance.
“It wasn’t about wins and losses,” Khan said, via USA TODAY Sports. “I think when you know someone’s not being truthful, how can you be with someone, okay? We’ve had Doug Marrone here for four years. We’ve had Gus Bradley here for four years. I have nothing but the utmost respect and friendship with them. That’s why they had time, because it wasn’t about respect or truth. It was about victories. and defeats over four years. It’s much bigger than that.”
The Jaguars are now moving forward with Doug Pederson as head coach, who won the Super Bowl four seasons ago and is fresh after taking a year off. Armed with two No. 1 overall picks from the past two years, Jacksonville will have a chance to get this rebuild back on track.