JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Fritz Pollard Alliance has convicted the Jacksonville Jaguars and head coach Urban Meyer for hiring Chris Doyle, a former strength trainer at the University of Iowa who was accused of making racist comments and belittling and bullying players to be the team . director of sports performance.
The director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, Rod Graves, released a statement on Friday calling Doyle’s hiring unacceptable and Meyer’s defense against recruitment an example of the problems facing minority coaches in the NFL.
“At a time when the NFL has not resolved its problem with racial hiring practices, it is simply unacceptable to welcome Chris Doyle to the ranks of NFL coaches,” said Graves’ statement. Doyle’s departure from the University of Iowa reflected a tenure of poor judgment and mistreatment of black players. His behavior should be as disqualifying to the NFL as it was to the University of Iowa.
“Urban Meyer’s statement, ‘I’ve known Chris for nearly 20 years,’ reflects the good old boy network which is exactly why there is such inequality in employment for black coaches.”
The Fritz Pollard Alliance is an organization committed to diversity in the NFL. It consists of scouts, coaches, and front office personnel in the NFL, as well as other sports professionals.
Doyle’s hiring was an immediate backlash on Thursday when the team announced the move as part of Meyer’s entire coaching staff. Doyle had been Iowa’s director of strength and conditioning from 1999 until last summer, when he and the school reached a divorce agreement after numerous former Iowa players talked about assault within the Iowa program.
Some of the allegations came from black players and concerned the way Doyle treated them and his use of racist language. Meyer said he researched Doyle, had some intense conversations with him, and is confident there won’t be any problems in the future.
“I research every one of our staff and as I said, the relationship goes back almost 20 years and there are a lot of difficult questions asked, and a lot of research has been done on all of our employees,” said Meyer. “We have examined that very carefully.
“… I have met our staff and I will be very transparent with all players as I am with everything. I will listen and learn well, and there will also have to be some confidence in their head coach that we give them the very best of the best. and time will tell … The charges that took place, I will say [to the players] I’ve vetted him. I have known the person for nearly 20 years and I can assure them that there will be nothing of any kind in the Jaguar facility. “
Some of the issues raised by the numerous former Iowa players speaking on social media last year were: Black and white players were held to different standards; Black players were mistreated; Doyle and other assistants made racist remarks; and black players felt they had to adapt to specific ways of dressing and behavior. Their complaints prompted the university to hire a Kansas City law firm to conduct an outside investigation into the football program.
The problems were not strictly race related.
Former Iowa offensive lineman Jack Kallenberger said on Twitter last June that he retired in January 2019 after becoming despondent over what he described as bullying related to a learning disability. Doyle was one of the coaches he named who harassed him.
The university placed Doyle on administrative leave on June 6 in the wake of those allegations. A day later, Doyle defended himself in a statement posted on Twitter that read, in part, “I have never crossed the line of unethical behavior or race-based bias. I don’t make racist remarks and I don’t tolerate people who do.”
On June 14, it was announced that Doyle was in Iowa. Doyle, who was the highest-paid strength trainer in the country at $ 800,000 a year, received a 15-month salary (about $ 1.1 million), and he and his family received benefits from Iowa for 15 months, or until he found work elsewhere , what he did this month with the Jaguars.