The fallout from Urban Meyer‘s firing in Jacksonville continues. ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington write that the Jaguars fired their now-former head coach for cause and don’t intend on paying him the remaining money on his contract.
Jacksonville is withholding the guaranteed money from the remaining four years of Meyer’s contract. As the writers note, we’ve seen organizations and former coaches negotiate a settlement to avoid a legal situation, and there’s a chance that lawyers for Meyer and the Jaguars could end up resolving the situation. If not, there’s a good chance the former HC will push back against the Jaguars’ decision to fire him for cause.
Meyer dealt with plenty of controversy during his stint with the organization. It started with that whole flight fiasco earlier this season, which was followed by a notorious viral video that showed Meyer at a bar dancing with a woman. Last weekend, we got a damning report that detailed turmoil surrounding the then-HC. Meyer reportedly belittled his fellow coaches, caused respected veteran wideout Marvin Jones to leave practice, and buried James Robinson on the depth chart. This week, kicker Josh Lambo spoke about a preseason incident in which the Jaguars’ coach kicked Lambo while he was stretching. Hours later, Meyer was canned.
However, according to ESPN, there wasn’t a specific incident that caused the Jaguars to withhold the guaranteed money. Rather, the organization believes that “culmination of instances” justified the decision to fire for cause. Meanwhile, while the decision to fire Meyer immediately followed Lambo’s story, owner Shad Khan had reportedly made up his mind following Sunday’s shutout loss to the Titans. According to ESPN, Meyer didn’t have an explanation for the team’s struggles when pressed on it by the owner.
I’m sure this will end amicably.
Stop using words we don’t understand!
Bye bye jerk. A loser of a human being who cares about trophies
If he really kicked Lambo, goodbye guaranteed money
That happened in August and they’re taking action in December, plus the team said the kicker never followed through with the team’s offer to meet with their legal counsel. If it happened the way the kicker claimed, termination should’ve taken place two weeks after the incident not four months later.
Why would lambo meet with team legal they’re not looking out for lambo best interest – plus he denies they tried to meet with him, they should have met with Meyer to figure his side as the aggressor of workplace violence. There also isn’t a statute of limitations on workplace violence.
That’s not the way a workplace investigation takes place. Lambo or someone who witnessed the event would have to file a formal complaint to start an investigation. The team can’t just go based on a call from the agent because. There isn’t a statue of limitations per se but terminating an employee without conducting an investigation would likely violate due process with a contract employee.
Who cares if it happened in August? You’re telling me that it didn’t happen the way Lambo said simply because the Jaguars failed to take immediate action? Newsflash: the Jaguars are a dysfunctional dumpster fire. Them taking several months to address employee misconduct is par for the course with them.
And like JOHNSmith2778 said, ‘meeting with team counsel’ was and is of zero benefit to Lambo, so of course he didn’t ‘follow through’ with that dumb idea. And they cut him a month later, too, so why would he meet with Jaguars lawyers instead of his own?
I agree Jacksonville is a dumpster for but firing a contract employee without due process or conducting an investigation would result in an arbitrator ruling in Meyer’s favor.
Does it matter when it happen. Have you not seen anything over the past year . Everyone you getting in trouble for rape and such those situations happen years ago. So a few months is nothing in this situation
Teddy S is right. It’s pretty standard. You CAN fire someone for something you knew about months ago, but did nothing about.
However, you CANNOT label it ‘with cause’.
That is usually done after the offense, if it’s undeniable…or is done immediately after a documentation process with all employees involved.
Neither of those happened here. So, the Jags CANNOT withhold guaranteed contract money, it’s a contract, of which they did NOT document a violation. On the other hand, Meyer CANNOT sue for additional monies in a wrongful termination suit.
We all know how whistleblowers are treated.
Yeah, I’m sure the team wouldn’t just replace a kicker if he went out against the second highest paid coach in the league they just signed to a major deal. We all know kickers have a lot of power on teams.
I mean he kicked a player… It’s going to be a little hard to pushback on being fired for cause, I think.
The problem is they offered the kicker the opportunity to meet with the team about the alleged incident and he never did according to the team. I think Urban’s reps likely have a ironclad contractual agreement because the Jags wanted him so badly. Because this is likely Urban’s last coaching opportunity I think he digs in and fights for all his money.
Last jn the NFL.
@Teddy- I guess it’s possible a lawyer could spin that, which is utterly disgraceful… but I’m sure Urban will want to try.
“The problem is they offered the kicker the opportunity to meet with the team about the alleged incident and he never did according to the team.”
I’m failing to see how this is relevant. It was NOT in Lambo’s best interests to meet with the team or their lawyers. They’re not looking to protect Lambo. They’re looking to protect the Jaguars organization and shield them from liability. Lambo has his own lawyer and has a union, and there’s no way either would advise him to ‘meet with the team’ or their lawyers.
Agreed, his leg is his livelihood. Part of his hesitation to come forward about it could be that he was embarrassed by it. At the time, he probably didn’t stand much of a chance of convincing the team to see his side over the team’s banner head coach signing before he coached his first regular season game. He likely came forward after all the other stories came out. I think the team has a very good case for cause.
That’s why HR reports are private until action is taken. His allegation would not come to light until the charges were made by the team to Meyer… meaning at that point, the team would be behind Lambo.
His not meeting and documenting the alleged incident, could indicate Lambo is not as firm in his allegation as when he was simply speaking unofficially.
It could indicate he’s not confident in his memory, or…
…that he embellished or possibly fabricated the whole accusation.
The player waited 5+ months to state this? I’m no Urban fan, but call BS the it BS. An August kick wasn’t;t known until December?
Why does timing matter? An assault is an assault.
I can’t tell you why it was kept quiet until now, but it’s hardly a reason to call BS.
If I was assaulted, I wouldn’t wait 5 months to report it, would you?
Arty, people act and react differently to events. How you or anyone else would react to being kicked by someone is completely irrelevant. No idea why people are always looking to question the victim’s story in situations like this instead of maybe questioning the aggressor.
That’s great, no statute of limitations. He should have gone to the NFLPA after the fact and have it recorded. He didn’t, so why should I believe him? Not another single other player on the team reported abuse, just this dude to pile it on. Pure scam.
Why shouldn’t you believe him? Just because he didn’t file things through whatever you believe is proper protocol? Again, people react differently to events. Do you also immediately dismiss sexual assault accusations if the victim doesn’t immediately report it to the police? Absurd.
So 52 other players, just on the Jags, plus coaches and other Jag staff. Then the other team warming up & fans in the audience and NFL films missed the entire episode? Sorry too many eyes there to miss a player being kicked. And not another single player stepped up to defend the accusation.
Just because you don’t like Urban, doesn’t mean he’s guilty of all accusations.
arty! is the type of person who doesn’t believe a woman was raped if she doesn’t report it immediately. If she waits a month then it definitely didn’t happen.
Plenty of falsely accused rapists in jail. The most famous was the football player that was looking at a 1st-2nd pick and did 7 years for false accusations.
Lambo went public after Urban said he would fire anonymous sources if he found them out. He said he silenced him once, he wasn’t going to let him do it to anyone else. Urban is a pos.
Lambo was cut in in Oct. Still need 2 months for accusations? Not me, I would have gone after Urban, the team, everyone for abuse and been very public about it.
Although I agree arty!, I think it’s one of those situations where u don’t speak up because u don’t feel comfortable but once u see everyone else come out then u talk about the incident
Josh has an 87% record on making kicks for 7 years. Punters and kickers get cut all day long. He wouldn’t have a had a problem picked up by another team. No way would I have kept that secret; and I would have gone after Urban for such an offense.
Why yes because the NFL would never blackball you for making an accusation against a well-known coach?
Because he feared retribution from the coach? And then he was cut…
@arty- Human beings are different and situations are different, so it really doesn’t matter what you or I would have done. Lambo did what he did.
As grossly unprepared for the job and the losing as Urban showed to be, it’s not a stretch for me to believe he flipped one day and kicked a player. He hasn’t been a picture of zen.
You have as much info on this as I do, zero. It’s 2 men’s words, that’s it. That’s all I heard, the accusation & the denial.
arty it is rare I agree with you and this isn’t one of those times. You are making this about what you would do. You are going to sue and do this and that. If you were going to sue you would by pass the NFL at least I hope the lawyer you got off the bench at your usual bench would say this.
If you are wanting to stay in the NFL I would hope you kept your mouth shut. Sometimes in a situation like this you tell the GM etc because you are just informing them you don’t want it to go further.
Again no proof and not some 200 odd people-on the field (both teams and staff plus camera crews)- support the claim? Don’t you find that odd?
Meyer was always being watched, except this 1 time?
Well I don’t remember the incident but that amazing thing called google said it was during practice not a game. His lawyer did talk to the team the next day. Lambo said he doesn’t remember being asked to meet with Jags leadership. Doesn’t really matter maybe they asked his lawyer to tell him. The lawyer didn’t tell him who knows. You keep making it your narrative and I don’t care either way.
He’s probably pissed he didn’t get a chance to quit for health reasons first
It’s a risky move by the Jags, they were so desperate to hire him they likely gave into any and all contract demands he insisted on. It’s likely that Urban had a clause in his contract that stipulated that he got half of his guaranteed money within 30 days upon termination. It’s also likely that they didn’t include any offset provision.
Several years ago Donald Sterling tried to avoid paying guaranteed money on a former coach’s contract and he ended up paying $1.5 million more when he lost. I think Urbs digs in and that could prove problematic for Jacksonville. People will bring up the bar incident but it’s debatable that is a violation of a morals clause. They might’ve being able to do something with him allegedly kicking his kicker but based on the statement the Jags put out apparently the kicker never followed through with meeting with the teams legal counsel and they didn’t fire him until 4 months later.
I think Urbs will end up getting 70% of the money owed to him.
10%. You don’t reward bad behavior.
Legally, if you have a contract that specifies exactly what would void your money, oftentimes you do. Does Meyer deserve the money? No. But that’s why Khan was idiotic in giving him this enormous contract out of the box.
I don’t know what the voidable language in the contract was, but it’s not likely that they can void the guarantees for overall circumstances like they’re claiming. I don’t know how much the team can prove the Lambo thing, which would be good for this, since they were so slow to respond to it. I’m sure they’ll try. I’m also not sure how much the bar incident will go towards that. That’s why they’re alleging a totality of circumstances type of argument, which may not be quite enough to void the guarantees. Meyer will fight it, and Khan will likely eventually settle with him for a publically unspecified sum that is a portion of the total. In the end, that’s still recouping some loss, because it’s be less than what Meyer was owed otherwise.
And to think when we had him at Ohio State he was considered (blindly I might add) an amazing coach.
Well Shad being some 70+ games below 500, I really wish you would let someone else decide the next HC & not your son. He’s as bad as you. 10 years of proof for that fact.
Man, ain’t that the truth!
Of course it’s not my money, but at this point I would think that Shad Khan paying Urban Meyer 60 million dollars to go away forever would be money well spent.
Amazing recruiter, so so Xs and Os coach.
Actually, an amazing BSer, used car salesman, and facilitator of bribes. That is pretty much what college recruiting is. Coaching is a lot easier when you can buy top talent. Most top college coaches are this and that is why they fail in the pros.
Amazing. The kicker didn’t kick back.
He probably would have missed attempting to kick Urban based on his performance this year.
As Andrew Brandt always
says: “there will be lawyers.”
Ownership should pay remaining dollars just for hiring him in the first place.
As far as kicking the kicker, the kicker didn’t report the “assault” bc he needed a job. Word got around that UM was in hot water, it was perfect timing by the kicker, to become the last straw. UM is first rate trash.
Exactly.
Cant fire the guy for kicking a player only after it became public when you knew about it months and then claim just cause. They fired him for media backlash when he should have been fired after the bar incident.
Very likely they were looking for a reason that would automatically void his money. The Lambo incident was a Christmas gift. Thing is, it may be difficult to use as “for cause” if the organization above Meyer knew about it already.
I’m sure they’ll say that was the first they heard of it, and acted accordingly (which could be true). And, of course, there certainly could be other incidents that contributed that we don’t know of. But that money is likely to be paid unless they can offer that Meyer did something egregiously out of bounds unrelated to his coaching.
Good, Urban Meyer is a garbage human being. He doesn’t deserve a dime
It was not just “dancing”.
Come on guys try google his lawyer talked to them the next day. So they knew but really didn’t follow up. If they really wanted to talk to him they knew where he worked. It also is possible the lawyers didn’t want him to talk to the team. Khad and his group screwed the whole thing up. They should have documented it and reported it to the league. To cover them for anything down the line.