Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan issued a rather strange statement Friday night clarifying the timing of his decision to fire Urban Meyer as head coach.
Khan issued a statement Friday through his PR representative asserting that the owner’s decision to fire Meyer did not come in response to former kicker Josh Lambo alleging that Meyer had kicked him before a preseason game. Khan claimed instead that he had made the decision to fire Meyer on Sunday night, but the owner waited to make the announcement public until after an NFL owners’ meeting.
On Saturday, a very unflattering report detailed Meyer’s interactions with players and staff and caused great embarrassment for the Jaguars. Still, Khan publicly stood by Meyer, although there were definitely hints that the coach’s future was uncertain. The fact that Meyer’s firing went public just hours after Lambo made his statement led many to conclude that that was the last straw for Khan.
The notion that Khan decided to leave Meyer hanging as long as he did does not make sense if the decision was made on Sunday. That would mean Khan simply stood by and let Meyer look silly at his press conference while biding his time and waiting to make the decision public. That’s just strange, and for that reason, Khan’s statement probably isn’t going to win a lot of believers.
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