Chris Doyle hired by Urban Meyer and Jacksonville Jaguars
Doyle named Jacksonville's Director of Sports Performance
IOWA CITY, Iowa Chris Doyle used to help develop players for the NFL as the Iowa football team’s strength and conditioning coach for 21 seasons.
But Doyle is now moving to the NFL as the new Director of Sports Performance for the Jacksonville Jaguars and recently hired head coach Urban Meyer.
The announcement of Doyle being hired comes approximately eight months after he reached a $1.3 million separation agreement with the University of Iowa in the wake of allegations of racial disparities in the Iowa program made by multiple former Iowa black players.
Most of the accusations were made against Doyle, and it barely took two weeks for him to be dismissed after the allegations were made public in early June.
Doyle’s hiring in Jacksonville will likely draw mixed reactions because of what happened at Iowa.
The Jacksonville Jaguars announced on Twitter on Thursday that Doyle had been hired, but the reaction was far from positive as many on the thread brought up his problems at Iowa.
Doyle, 52, was a member of Kirk Ferentz’s original staff at Iowa and was the highest paid strength and conditioning coach in college football when he was let go.
Iowa participated in 16 bowl games and had 55 players selected in the the NFL Draft from 2005-19 with Doyle running the strength and conditioning program.
The 56-year old Meyer never has coached in the NFL, but he was highly successful as a college head coach, leading Florida to two national titles and Ohio State to won.
Jacksonville also owns the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and is expected to take former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Meyer is familiar with Doyle’s work at Iowa since they competed against each other in the Big Ten. Meyer addressed his decision to hire Doyle shortly after it was announced.
“I’ve known Chris for close to 20 years,” Meyer said. “He was doing sports performance before sports performance became a high priority in college sports. I’ve known him, I’ve studied him… I vetted him thoroughly. I feel great about the hire”