Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer is under fire this week after a video that surfaced Monday showed a young woman dancing close to his lap at his restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. Meyer, 57, apologized in a team meeting on Monday and also said it was “stupid” to put himself in such a compromising position last Friday, one day after the Jaguars’ 24-21 loss at Cincinnati.
“I just apologized to the team and staff for being a distraction,” Meyer said. “Just stupid, and so I explained everything that happened and owned it. Just stupid. Should not have myself in that kind of position.”
Meyer did not fly back to Jacksonville with the team last Thursday night and instead went to Columbus to visit with his grandchildren. Meyer said he and family members went to his restaurant, Urban Meyer’s Pint House, on Friday night, and people at a nearby event asked to take photos with him. Meyer said he should have left when people tried to get him to dance with them.
“There was a big group next [to] our restaurant and they wanted me to come over and take pictures, and I did,” Meyer said. “They were trying to pull me out on the dance floor, screwing around, and I should have left.”
Meyer said his family was understandably upset after the nine-second video showing Meyer sitting at the bar in an Ohio State pullover while the young woman danced close to his lap was posted to social media on Saturday night and quickly went viral.
Roughly an hour after Meyer’s news conference Monday, another video emerged on social media that appeared to show Meyer touching a woman’s bottom while he was sitting at the bar. The woman appeared to be wearing the same clothes – jeans and a white top – as the woman in the first viral video.
Meyer said his players and owner Shad Khan were receptive to his apology. “I’ve always been so defensive of them [the players],” Meyer said. “I remember when Trevor [Lawrence] told me he was going to go to Vegas for his bachelor party. I was just like, ‘My gosh, man, be careful and surround yourself because I’ve seen this happen.’ The team, I spoke to a bunch of leaders one-on-one, spoke to all the players. They’re good. They’re focused on Tennessee. I apologized again for being a distraction. A coach should not be a distraction,” he said.
This is the latest controversy involving Meyer since he was hired in January. Meyer hired former Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle, who was accused of making racist remarks and belittling and bullying players while at the university, in February, but Doyle resigned a day later after the organization was criticized for the hire by the Fritz Pollard Alliance. For the sake of the franchise, which has lost 19 straight games, hopefully, Meyer can figure it out both on the field and off it.
