There's already more than enough to justify firing Urban Meyer in his first year, but this is just adding on to the pile. Former Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo said in an article published Wednesday that the head coach kicked him during warmups before a preseason game this past August.
Lambo said he was stretching at a practice the week of the team's Aug. 29 game against the Cowboys when Meyer said, "Hey Dipshit, make your fucking kicks!" before kicking him in the leg. Lambo had missed kicks in the previous two preseason games. He rated Meyer's kick as a "five out of 10." Via Rick Stroud, of the Tampa Bay Times:
“It certainly wasn’t as hard as he could’ve done it, but it certainly wasn’t a love tap,” Lambo said. “Truthfully, I’d register it as a five (out of 10). Which in the workplace, I don’t care if it’s football or not, the boss can’t strike an employee. And for a second, I couldn’t believe it actually happened. Pardon my vulgarity, I said, ‘Don’t you ever f--king kick me again!’ And his response was, ‘I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the f--k I want.’”
Tampa Bay Times
When reached by Stroud, Meyer denied the kick and said Lambo's characterization of the incident was "completely inaccurate." Lambo said Meyer "cornered" him the next day in the practice facility and told him to smile, which Lambo said he would do if his coach stopped kicking him. Then Meyer allegedly threatened to cut Lambo if he ever talked back to him again. "You’re the first player I’ve ever let speak to me that way in my career, and if you do it again, you’re gone," Meyer said, according to Lambo. From the article:
“I said, ‘I’m genuinely not trying to be sarcastic here, Urban, but what did I say that offended you?’” Lambo remembered asking Meyer. “He said, ‘When you responded to me out there on the practice field in front of everybody. If you have an issue and don’t like me kicking you, well then you keep that to yourself and you wait until after practice and after meetings and you come find me in the office and tell me privately.’”
Tampa Bay Times
That sort of insecure and tyrannical behavior could only come from a coach used to the power and status that comes with leading a big-time college program. It's different in the NFL. The next day, Lambo told his agent, who contacted the Jags' legal team. Nothing came of it, and Lambo remained on the team until he was cut on Oct. 19 after he went 0-for-3 on field goals for the regular season.
Lambo said he spoke up after reading reports about Meyer's horrid management style enraging the Jags locker room. "There’s been a lot of turnover, but those are still my people," he said. "Some of those dudes are my dudes, and the staff members I have grown into amazing relationships with over the last five seasons. He threatened all of them for speaking the truth. And that’s a bully, and people need to speak up against bullies." Urban Meyer still has four games left this season to produce more reasons to be turbo-mega-fired.
