Urban Meyer defends controversial hire of strength coach Chris Doyle

Urban Meyer is no stranger to controversy surrounding members of his coaching staff, and that theme will continue at the NFL level after the Jacksonville Jaguars hired Chris Doyle as their new director of sport performance.

Many people are familiar with Doyle from the time he spent as the strength and conditioning coach at Iowa. Doyle left the program after allegations of being racist toward Black players. Meyer was asked about that on Thursday, and he spoke about how he has known Doyle for nearly 20 years. Meyer also said he and Jacksonville’s front office “vetted him thoroughly.”

“I vet everyone on our staff,” Meyer said. “The relationship goes back close to 20 years. There are a lot of hard questions asked and a lot of vetting involved with all of our staff. We did a very good job vetting that one.”

Meyer said he feels “great” about hiring Doyle and continued to praise the work he has done as a strength coach. He didn’t directly address the allegations of racism, though he indicated Doyle was asked about them during the interview process. You can hear Meyer’s full comments below: