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Jaguars coach Urban Meyer has already made a controversial hire for his first staff in Jacksonville.
The team, which announced their full roster on Thursday, announced the hiring of Chris Doyle as director of athletic performance. Doyle enters the NFL after a 21-year stint as the Iowa strength and conditioning coach – a tenure that ended amid allegations of racism and bullying of players by the coach.
Doyle was put on administrative leave by the program on June 6, 2020, a day after former Iowa offensive lineman James Daniels – now with the Bears – accused Iowa of “racial disparities” in his career. treatment of players. Dozens of former players followed with social media posts discussing their experiences, many with Doyle.
The next day, Doyle issued a statement saying that “at no time have I crossed the line of unethical behavior or racial bias. I do not make racist comments and I do not tolerate people who do.” Iowa on June 15, 2020, announced that it had separated from Doyle, who received $ 1.1 million as part of the separation agreement.
MORE: Why the Jaguars hired Urban Meyer
There are concerns that Meyer is even considering hiring Doyle to coach his predominantly black team.
These are sharper given that this isn’t the first time he’s been criticized for his association with assistants: he retained Zach Smith as his graduate assistant in Florida after learning he was arrested during ‘an incident of domestic violence in 2009 with his wife Courtney Smith. He also hired Zach Smith to coach his receivers at Ohio State in 2012, with documents later showing he was aware of domestic violence issues in the Smith’s marriage.
Meyer, responding to questions about his staff on Thursday, said he had known Doyle for 20 years and that he, managing director Trent Baalke and owner Shahid Khan had reviewed him.
Here is Urban Meyer’s response to hiring Chris Doyle. Said he, the general manager and the owner reviewed it.
Translation: they know, they don’t care pic.twitter.com/2EcAuKmuJT
– Richard??Johnson (@RJ_Writes) February 11, 2021
“I reviewed it thoroughly, along with our general manager and owner,” Meyer said. “I feel good about the hire, his expertise there. So we looked at him carefully.”
Regardless of Meyer’s explanation, his choice drew a lot of criticism on social media:
To recap: Urban Meyer retired from the Ohio State coach after a member of his staff abused his wife while OSU did nothing. Now he’s hiring the strength coach who left Iowa after several black players said he mistreated them and made racist comments to them. https://t.co/VJV7xfSN0c
– Diana Moskovitz (@DianaMoskovitz) February 11, 2021
I didn’t think there could be another hire this nfl offseason that would make the cycle worse than it ever did and AGAIN https://t.co/rlzzVFHmlW
– Harry Lyles Jr. (@harrylylesjr) February 11, 2021
Of all the people Urban Meyer could hire, did he hire this guy? Really?
Nice message you send to your black players. And black coaches. And the blacks in the organization. https://t.co/NG9d4GPNVW– Mike Freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) February 11, 2021
From former Iowa player: Doyle said, “Maybe you should get down to rowing or something, you know? Oh wait, black people don’t like boats in the water, isn’t it? “
From another black player in Iowa: Doyle said, “Why are you walking? [with] all that swagger? I’ll put you back on the street. ” https://t.co/XZkz30ApDu
– Myron Medcalf (@MedcalfByESPN) February 11, 2021
One of Urban Meyer’s first coaches as head coach of the Jaguars is Chris Doyle, a former Iowa strength coach who was fired last season after allegations of biased behavior based on the race.
Shocking? Not really. https://t.co/TmoeGUHmwy
– Unnecessary roughness (@UnnecRoughness) February 11, 2021
Chris Doyle’s workouts put 13 Iowa players in hospital. He was not fired. He won an award and became the highest paid strength trainer in the CFB.
Doyle has been accused of racial prejudice by several black players. He got severance pay of $ 1.1 million and only took 8 months to find a new job. https://t.co/vritP8sAQg– Rodger Sherman (@rodger) February 11, 2021
Wow! Crazy! Iowa has produced crazy athletes for the past two decades!
I wonder why this trainer was suddenly available for hire elsewhere https://t.co/fWZq71n62v
– Benjamin Gauche (@BenjaminSolak) February 11, 2021
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