Coach Chris Doyle has resigned from the Jaguars a day after new head coach Urban Meyer made the controversial decision to hire the former college assistant for his staff.
Meyer, who was hired last month for his first job in the NFL, announced late Friday night that Doyle has resigned as director of athletic performance following the reaction to his hiring. Alliance diversity group Fritz Pollard has strongly criticized Jacksonville for hiring Doyle.
Doyle was the head coach of strength and conditioning at the University of Iowa until 2020, when he and the school agreed to break up after he was accused of making racist comments and assaulting players.
“Chris Doyle came to us tonight to resign and we agreed,” Meyer said in a statement Friday. “Chris didn’t want to be a distraction from what we were building in Jacksonville. We are responsible for all aspects of our program and, in retrospect, we should have paid more attention to how his appointment could have affected everyone involved. We wish him well as he progresses in his career. ”
Some Iowa players have accused Doyle of telling them he would “send them back to the ghetto” if they did not meet his standards, among other remarks, according to USA Today. An external analysis of the situation concluded that “a small group of coaches” degraded the players and “the rules of the program perpetuated racial or cultural prejudices and diminished the value of cultural diversity”.
Doyle, in a statement made in June last year, defended himself by saying: “I do not make racist comments (sic) and I do not tolerate people who do it.”
Meyer initially defended the engagement at the press conference on Thursday, saying he was “very confident” that there would be no problems with the 52-year-old Doyle.
“I’ve known Chris for almost 20 years,” Meyer said, adding that his “relationship” with Doyle began when the two were together at the University of Utah. The only problem with Meyer’s memory is that Doyle was working in Utah in 1998 and was already a strength and fitness coach in Iowa when Meyer began his two-year career as head coach in Utah in 2003.
“Indeed, he did athletic performance before athletic performance became a high priority in college sports,” Meyer said. “So I met him, I studied him, I had a relationship. I checked it thoroughly with our general manager [Trent Baalke] and owner [Shahid Khan]. ”
Many faced Doyle’s hiring, including Rod Graves, executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance. The organization, named after the first African-American coach in the NFL, is made up of coaches, scouts and front office staff, employed on an equal footing in professional sports.
“At a time when the NFL has failed to address its issue with racial engagement practices, it is simply unacceptable to welcome Chris Doyle to the NFL as a coach,” Graves, a former Jets executive, said in a statement. -a statement on Friday. “Doyle’s departure from the University of Iowa reflected a mandate full of poor judgment and ill-treatment of black players. His behavior should be as disqualifying for the NFL as it is for the University of Iowa.
“Urban Meyer’s statement, ‘I’ve known Chris for almost 20 years,’ reflects the network of good guys, which is why there’s such a disparity in employment opportunities for black coaches.”