Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coach Chris Doyle resigns from position after backlash

Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coach Chris Doyle, the former strength coach at the University of Iowa who was accused for offering racist remarks and belittling and bullying players while there, resigned late Friday night only hours after the organization was scrutinized for the recruit by the Fritz Pollard Alliance.

First-year Jaguars coach Urban Meyer released an explanation that said the team neglected to appropriately think about the impact of hiring Doyle, who had agreed from Iowa in June because of claims made by different Black players.

“Chris Doyle came to us this evening to submit his resignation and we have accepted,” Meyer’s statement read. “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.”

The move came hours after Fritz Pollard Alliance leader chief Rod Graves impacted the Jaguars and Meyer for employing Doyle.

“At a time when the NFL has failed to solve its problem with racial hiring practices, it is simply unacceptable to welcome Chris Doyle into the ranks of NFL coaches,” Graves’ statement read. “Doyle’s departure from the University of Iowa reflected a tenure riddled with poor judgment and mistreatment of Black players. His conduct should be as disqualifying for the NFL as it was for University of Iowa.

“Urban Meyer’s statement, ‘I’ve known Chris for close to 20 years’ reflects the good ol’ boy network that is precisely the reason there is such a disparity in employment opportunities for Black coaches.”

The Fritz Pollard Alliance is an association dedicated to supporting variety in the NFL. It is involved scouts, mentors and front-office work force in the NFL just as different games experts.

Doyle’s recruiting drew quick reaction on Thursday, when the group reported the move as a component of Meyer’s finished training staff.

Some of the claims came from Black players and concerned the manner in which Doyle treated them and his utilization of bigoted language. Meyer said on Thursday he investigated Doyle, had some extreme discussions with him and was sure that there would not be issues later on.

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

“I met with our staff and I’m going to be very transparent with all the players like I am with everything. I’ll listen closely and learn and also there’s going to have to be some trust in their head coach that we’re going to give them the very best of the best and time will tell. … The allegations that took place, I will say [to the players] I vetted him. I know the person for close to 20 years and I can assure them there will be nothing of any sort in the Jaguar facility.”

A portion of the issues raised by the various former Iowa players who stood up via web-based media a year ago were: Black and white players were held to various norms, Black players were abused, Doyle and different assistants offered racist remarks, and Black players felt they needed to adjust to explicit methods of dress and conduct. Their objections started the college to enlist a Kansas City law office to lead an outer examination concerning the football program.

The issues were not carefully identified with race.

Previous Iowa hostile lineman Jack Kallenberger said keep going June on Twitter that he resigned from football in January 2019 after he became dejected in view of what he depicted as harassing identified with a learning handicap. Doyle was among the mentors he named who hassled him.

The college set Doyle on authoritative leave on June 6 in the wake of those charges. After one day Doyle safeguarded himself in an explanation presented on Twitter that read, to a limited extent: “At no time have I ever crossed the line of unethical behavior or bias based upon race. I do not make racist comments and I don’t tolerate people who do.”

On June 14, it was reported that Doyle, who had been with the program since 1999, was out at Iowa. Doyle, who was the country’s most generously compensated strength coach at $800,000 yearly, gotten 15 months’ salary (generally $1.1 million), and he and his family were awarded benefits from Iowa for a very long time, or until he discovered work somewhere else, which he did for the current month with the Jaguars.