Written by I recently wrote an article about When Coaches Are Unwilling to Adapt or Change. In that article I discussed that “Coaching strategies that may have worked at one level may not work at another” and used the recent example of Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Since then, much has happened in that saga, to include Mr. Meyer being fired and the Jaguars not being completely transparent on when they actually fired him…If it was before or after the reports of him physically assaulting a former player.
On Mr. Meyer’s way out the door, he shared that he felt that his downfall was not by his own actions, but fragile players and coaches. It is not out of character for toxic individuals, managers, and coaches to blame everyone else for something happening, as that is a standard practice. But what was most interesting was that while Mr. Meyer was verbally highlighting what he perceived as shortcomings of his own coaching staff that he assembled and athletes, he was really communicating to everyone that he was unwilling to understand and accept that societal norms had changed and that he was extremely inflexible and unwilling to change.
Mr. Meyers’s efforts to deflect and place blame on others was not missed by all of us at Culture in Sports. We believe that positive culture and leadership contributes to team performance, organizational success, and the short and long term impact on athletes’ mental, physical, and emotional health. And we believe that what happened at the Jacksonville Jaguars is a learning opportunity and where leaders at any level can influence change!