Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer and General Manager Trent Baalke have been subpoenaed for a lawsuit brought against Chris Doyle, former Director of Sports Performance for the Jaguars.
The case is being brought against Doyle by lawyers on behalf of Black players from the University of Iowa for discrimination.
The Jaguars provided the following statement with the release of the news.
“We respect and will cooperate with the legal process as required. However, the Jaguars have no information that would be relevant to the lawsuit between student-athletes and the University of Iowa.”
Doyle served for 20 years as the Strength and Conditioning coach at Iowa. He was paid $1.1 million to resign in June of 2020, after allegations of bullying and discrimination were shared by players.
The lawsuit, which began legal proceedings in May, says players allege, “they were demeaned with racial slurs, forced to abandon Black hairstyles, fashion and culture to fit the ‘Iowa Way’ promoted by head coach Kirk Ferentz, and retaliated against for speaking out.”
Doyle has denied the allegations. Offensive Coordinator Brian Ferentz and Doyle remain the focus of the lawsuit, while a judge threw out other parts of the suit back in May.
After being out of work for the 2020 footballs season, Doyle was hired by Meyer in February of 2021 to join the Jaguars staff as the Director of Sports Performance. The hire was immediately met with criticism, due to the nature in which Doyle left his previous post. Meyer, a first time NFL head coach, effaced at the time, telling reporters the hire was purely based on what Doyle did as a strength coach.
“I’ve known Chris for close to 20 years. Our relationship goes back to when I was at Utah and he was the number one strength coach,” Meyer said at the time.
“I’ve known him. I’ve studied him. We’ve had a relationship. I vetted him thoroughly along with our general manager [Trent Baalke] and owner [Shad Khan]. [We] feel great about the hire, about his expertise at that position. We vetted him thoroughly.
“[There were] a lot of hard questions asked, a lot of vetting involved with all our staff, but we did a very good job vetting that one.”
Meyer went on to add Khan was involved with the hiring as well, and that he wasn’t worried about the hire possibly deterring free agents. However, the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a diversity group which is "comprised of scouts, coaches, and front office personnel in the NFL as well as other sports professionals committed to equal opportunity in the industry,” had lambasted the hire, echoing a sentiment expressed nation wide.
Within 48 hours, Doyle had tenured his resignation to Meyer and the Jaguars. In a statement on February 12, Meyer and Baalke said: “Chris Doyle came to us this evening to submit his resignation and we have accepted. Chris did not want to be a distraction to what we are building in Jacksonville. We are responsible for all aspects of our program and, in retrospect, should have given greater consideration to how his appointment may have affected all involved. We wish him the best as he moves forward in his career.”
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