Gene Frenette: Netflix documentary on Urban Meyer's Florida tenure an incomplete portrayal

If you’re a Florida Gators fan, the four-part Netflix documentary about most of the Urban Meyer tenure in Gainesville, titled “Swamp Kings,” can be viewed as a feel-good stroll down memory lane.

Truthfully, the best word that describes it is incomplete. The doc focused primarily on the years 2006-09, detailing Meyer’s obsessive drive that led to the Gators winning two national titles and minimal attention to the program’s warts, including 31 player arrests.

Netflix glossed over UF’s off-the-field issues by highlighting extensive positive comments from character-beyond-reproach quarterback Tim Tebow. He was Meyer’s best public relations weapon in deflecting attention from the Gators’ internal problems, which led to the program eventually losing its way after the ‘09 season.

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About a dozen Gator players were interviewed and shown during 200-plus minutes. What made the show feel like too much of a UF football infomercial is Tebow seemed to get as much TV air time as all his teammates — among them Brandon Spikes, Tate Casey, Ahmad Black, Brandon James, Ryan Stamper, Brandon Siler — combined.

Conspicuous by their absence were high-profile receiver Percy Harvin, along with the Pouncey twins, linemen Maurkice and Mike, and quarterback Chris Leak. Plus, there was only cursory mention of Aaron Hernandez, a brief clip where Tebow mentions "I should have gotten there sooner" to break up a public altercation the late UF tight end had at the Swamp restaurant when they were out together.

To be fair, the documentary does have some interesting anecdotes that balance out the Tebow glorification. Like players griping about Tebow being singled out too much during the team’s White House visit with president Barack Obama to honor the 2008 national championship team.

Another intriguing tidbit was Tebow saying during his recruiting process that “Florida wasn’t even in the picture” until Meyer put on a full-court press in its latter stages. Meyer later reveals that when Tebow called him in his car to inform him of his decision, all he heard was “Coach, I’ve decided to” before the phone goes dead.

Meyer added he immediately slammed the phone on his dashboard in frustration, saying: “I thought we had lost him.”

Spikes, who went on to a six-year NFL career, says a life-changing moment for him came as a young kid when his older brother got charged (eventually convicted) with first-degree murder, telling Netflix: “That’s when I knew I had to quit playing in the streets. Football was my way out.”

By far, the third episode (“Trouble in the Swamp”) of the documentary is the most compelling because it shed some light on the downside of Meyer’s program. Though Tebow won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, the spoils of winning a national title the previous year gave way to an abundance of entitlement and complacency.

Spikes talked about “too much temptation” sabotaging that ‘07 season and Tebow, the clean-cut guy with the pristine reputation, added: “That class was the most fun-loving, rambunctious partiers I’ve ever been around.”

Meyer pushed back against the criticism he received for his team’s law-breaking ways, saying people thought he should be kicking players off the team, then declared: “I’m not doing that," citing how Avery Atkins' life spiraled out of control after he kicked him off the team for domestic violence and he eventually died of a drug overdose.

But those moments of highlighting the controversial nature of Meyer’s UF program -- particularly how everything unraveled after the '09 season -- were overshadowed by Netflix showing a lot more of him and players reminiscing about the good times.

It was a tad ironic that Meyer conducted his interviews for the documentary from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ coaching office (viewers see the St. John’s River in the background), prior to his disastrous 2021 season and subsequent firing after just 13 NFL games.

One of Meyer’s first comments about the documentary is in the opening minute when he says: “This is gonna be un-f-----g believable.”

So was the end of his six-year tenure at Florida, as well as his 335-day reign as the Jaguars’ coach. And none of it was in a good way.

Given the erratic nature of Meyer’s time running the Gators’ program, you could say Netflix did him a favor. Two national championship trophies aside, the documentary made him look better than he probably deserved.

Jaguars facing another ex-boss

Former Jaguars head coaches are getting accustomed to facing their ex-employer, which will happen three more times in 2023, and have a combined record of 13-7.

When the Jaguars travel to the Caesars Superdome on Oct. 19 to face the New Orleans Saints, where Doug Marrone serves as the offensive line coach, it will mean every previous Jacksonville head coach has squared off against their former employer who fired them.

Tom Coughlin went 1-2 against the Jaguars during his 12-year run as head coach of the New York Giants, followed by Jack Del Rio going 3-0 as either a defensive coordinator or head coach with three different teams.

Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley is 3-2 in that scenario and will face the Jaguars two more times this season, including the opener at Indianapolis on Sept. 10. Since getting dismissed by the Jaguars after the 2012 season, retired coach Mike Mularkey is 6-3 game-planning against the Jaguars, including 5-3 as either a tight ends coach or head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

Other Khan show in London

Beyond the two NFL games in London the Jaguars play this season against the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills, something even bigger for the family of owner Shad Khan is on display Sunday at Wembley Stadium.

The “All In” pay-per-view event, promoted by All-Elite Wrestling (AEW) founder Tony Khan, has the potential to draw the biggest wrestling crowd of all-time, including the iconic “WrestleMania” extravaganza. More than 80,000 spectators are expected to gather at Wembley, a spectacle that is the culmination of Tony’s dream since he was a kid obsessed with everything about the wrestling world.

Tony, the 40-year-old son of Shad and also chief strategy officer for the Jaguars, has needed just four years to ascend AEW into becoming a legitimate competitor to wrestling monster WWE.

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Jaguars rooting for Chris Jones holdout

If Kansas City Chiefs interior pass-rusher Chris Jones follows through on his social media implication that he might be willing to extend his contract holdout to Week 8 of the regular season, the Jaguars would get a huge boost with his absence in their Week 2 showdown at EverBank Stadium on Sept. 17.

Jones, coming off a 15.5-sack season, is an elite disruptor who applied the hit that injured former Jaguars’ quarterback Nick Foles in the 2019 season opener and sidelined him for half that season.

In five career games against the Jaguars, the 29-year-old Jones has 2.5 sacks and one interception. He’s currently tied for 20thamong active NFL players at 65.0 career sacks with ex-Jaguar Yannick Ngakoue, both of whom have played seven seasons.

Orioles demote Baumann to Triple-A

After former Jacksonville University pitcher Michael Baumann allowed three runs in the 10th inning of a 6-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, suffering his first defeat of the season, the Baltimore Orioles surprisingly optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk.

Baumann (9-1, 3.82 ERA) has had a breakout year, but struggled in four of his last seven outings. He allowed some critical home runs in late-game situations when the Orioles were trying to either close out a game or stay tied.

Manager Brandon Hyde said Baumann needs a break from high volume appearances and expects him to be back with the big-league club soon.

Quick-hitting nuggets

The Jacksonville Icemen made an expected and shrewd marketing move last week by hiring former goalie Charles Williams as Director of Community Hockey Development and a goaltending coach. Williams, who had always expressed a desire to make his home in Jacksonville once he retired, is immensely popular with Icemen fans. Williams is an ideal ambassador for the ECHL franchise. …

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey believes that with so much upheaval in conference realignment, the College Football Playoff should reevaluate its criteria for the 12-team CFP in 2024 and ‘25 seasons without outlining any specific changes. I agree. Conference commissioners and presidents should reduce the CFP to what it should have been all along, an 8-team playoff with no automatic bids for any conference champion. If that means the SEC and Big Ten wind up getting a combined five or six teams in the field, so be it. They can always revisit the 12-team playoff later with automatic bids for 2026 and beyond.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @genefrenette  

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Netflix's "Swamp Kings" documentary of Urban Meyer UF tenure comes up short