3 coaches who lost the locker room: Urban Meyer joins an infamous coterie
Reports have emerged of Urban Meyer losing the Jacksonville Jaguars dressing room after videos emerged of him being uncomfortably close to a lady other than his wife.
WARNING: The video below contains footage that may be NSFW
Coaches must always command respect and that works in both professional and personal lives. Nothing is worse than losing the locker room because a coach loses all authority over their players. Here's a look at Urban Meyer and two other coaches who lost the respect of their players.
Urban Meyer joins club of NFL Coaches who lost their players' respect
#1 - Bobby Petrino, Atlanta Falcons
There are coaches that lose respect because of their personal deeds, but Bobby Petrino lost the respect of pretty much everyone in the NFL because of his professional actions, or lack thereof.
As the coach of the Atlanta Falcons, he guided them to a 3-10 record in 2007. The team was sitting moored to the bottom of the NFC South. He had given his word to the owner that he was staying put, until he wasn't. Less than 24 hours later, he left to become coach of Arkansas. He did not even have the courtesy to inform his players, instead leaving laminated notes in their lockers. He hasn't worked in the NFL since.
#2 - Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions
Matt Patricia rubbed star cornerback Darius Slay the wrong way. As Darius Slay alleges, right from the beginning the coach did not believe in him. Coming back from a Pro-Bowl appearance, Patricia informed Slay he was not elite.
Later on in the tenure, Patricia allegedly printed a social media post by Slay and used it to profanely castigate the player. Since Slay went public with these accusations, other players have also backed him up. While most did not go on record, Glover Quin went on to corroborate these incidents saying that almost no one would have liked it.
#3 - Urban Meyer, Jacksonville Jaguars
Joining Bobby Petrino and Matt Patricia is Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer has led his team to a 0-4 record in the 2021 NFL season. Instead of spending time with his family or fixing the team's problems, he decided to go on a little escapade.
He seems to have lost the respect of players completely, so much so that the owner had to step in and intervene.
Right now, it seems, the only thing that can save Urban Meyer is a dramatic upswing in fortunes, otherwise he is effectively a dead man walking.