Jags officially name Urban Meyer their new HC

The Jacksonville Jaguars have wrapped up their head coaching search, and as many expected, their guy heading forward will be former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. The team made the announcement official Thursday night, though the terms haven’t been revealed yet.

Meyer, 56, is a coach who fans of the Jacksonville area are quite familiar with as he was once the head coach of the Florida Gators football program from 2005-10. During that time in Gainesville, he was able to win a national title in 2006 and 2008 before stepping down for health and family reasons.

Meyer returned to the college game in 2012 as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes and was able to add another national title to his collection in 2014. He spent six seasons with the Buckeyes but ended up retiring in 2018 after a tumultuous season where he was suspended and dealt with more health concerns due to a brain cyst.

Meyer will inherit what most believe is the best head coaching vacancy in the NFL. He’ll have 11 draft picks available to use in April including the No. 1 overall selection which most assume would be used to select Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The Jags are also projected to have the most salary cap of any team this offseason ($73.3 million).

Meyer met with the team last Friday then again on Wedenesday, and clearly, Shad Khan and company liked what they heard. Now, the next order of business will be to put a veteran staff with NFL experience in place.

The Jags fired Doug Marrone last Monday after four seasons with the team. He finished his tenure with a record of 23-43 and a 2-1 postseason record.

When including interim Mel Tucker, Meyer will be the Jaguars’ seventh coach. He will enter his NFL tenure as one of the most decorated collegiate coaches ever with a 187-32 NCAA record and a 12-3 record when it comes to bowl games.