Former Jaguars coach Urban Meyer loses arbitration case against NFL team, AP source says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer lost his multimillion-dollar arbitration case against the NFL team that fired him with cause in 2021, a person familiar with the legal outcome said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because both sides signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from discussing the case publicly. The person said the case was settled in 2025, although On3 first reported it Monday.

The Jaguars declined comment, and a message to Meyer was not immediately returned.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired Meyer with cause in December 2021, hours after former Jaguars player Josh Lambo said Meyer kicked him during practice months earlier — the latest in a long list of embarrassments over Meyer’s 11-month tenure in Jacksonville.

Meyer tried to handle a professional team like he was on a college campus. He splashed slogans and catchphrases around the facility, instilled gimmicks in practice and repeated his misguided belief that coaches coach for players and players play for coaches. He brought in motivational speakers and kept blaming assistants for the team’s mounting losses instead of the grown men actually on the field.

One of Meyer’s most damning decisions came following a Thursday night game at Cincinnati in late September. He chose to stay behind with family instead of flying home with his team and then got caught on video the following night behaving inappropriately with a woman at a bar in Columbus, Ohio.

Bailing on his players showed just how out of touch Meyer was with NFL norms. And it was just one of many head-scratching choices for a coach who found so much college success — a combined three national titles — at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State.

Meyer challenged the firing, sending the dispute to arbitration. If successful, Meyer would have received the remainder of his five-year contract worth roughly $6 million annually.

Meyer and Lambo are still involved in a civil suit that is scheduled to go to trial in early August. Lambo voluntarily dropped the Jaguars from the lawsuit earlier this year.

Lambo is seeking more than $3.5 million in salary and damages for emotional distress caused by Meyer. According to the lawsuit filed in the 4th Judicial Circuit Court in Duval County, Lambo claims Meyer created a hostile work environment and says his performance suffered as a result of being kicked and verbally abused by Meyer.

Meyer, 61, is currently working as a college football analyst at Fox Sports and was inducted into the College Hall of Fame in December.

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