Written by The Jacksonville Jaguars made a short lived hire this week, with Chris Doyle lasting a little more than a day before resigning. Their new and now director of sports performance came with a checkered past, most notably rumors of racism and abuse of athletes. This coach was supposedly vetted thoroughly by Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was only when legions of people started speaking out online about the choice of hire, did a discussion between Meyer and Doyle commence about the hiring decision.
The decision that Doyle resign was only based on the reaction of a large group’s opposition to it. It was not that Iowa let him go months earlier for allegations of racism, athlete abuse, or his training methods that landed athletes in the hospital that forced the resignation. What kind of message is Urban Meyer and the Jaguars sending to athletes, assistant coaches, support staff, and their fanbase by saying that people’s toxic, bullying, and abusive actions in the past are okay for the organization. And to further that, why did the resignation only happen when the optics were really bad? This reaction to bad optics further shows all of the personnel on the team that only change will happen when many people publicly oppose something and make enough noise. Personnel at the Jacksonville Jaguars really need to do some self-reflection and see if they are really okay with the culture of the organization.
Now, there are some people online who say that Doyle never did anything and these allegations are false. If that is really true, then Doyle and Iowa need to openly say so and clear his name. Until that happens, their silence implies that something did happen during his time there, and Iowa and Doyle are remaining quiet out of fear of lawsuits, or worse, people hearing the truth. If that action takes place, then the NFL, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Urban Meyer should have no problems hiring Doyle.
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