Urban Meyer, the three-time national champion, first with the Florida Gators, and later with the Ohio State Buckeyes, has been hired to be the Jacksonville Jaguars new head coach.
The team made the announcement official Thursday evening.
Meyer is making the transition from the college game after a two-year hiatus after he left his head coaching position at Ohio State. He has spent the last two years in an administrative role within OSU’s athletics department and as a college football analysis for Fox Sports.
As a college coach, he went 187-32, winning national championships in 2006 and 2008 at Florida. In this third season at Ohio State, he won the inaugural College Football Playoff.
Meyer’s track record as a developer of talent in the college game is noted. Now, he will be tasked with revamping a club that went 1-15 last season. Jacksonville is slated to make the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft this spring.
Meyer faced some criticism while at Ohio State for his handling of assistant coach Zach Smith. Smith was accused by his now ex-wife of abuse, but was never convicted of any abuse charges.
Meyer was suspended for three games in 2018 by Ohio State's Board of Trustees and university president Michael Drake for mishandling notifying the university of allegations that Zach Smith had assaulted his wife in 2015. Meyer claimed to investigators that he had forgotten about the allegations as university officials claimed Meyer was bound by his contract to notify the department's compliance office of possible crimes involving his staff.
