The day after his controversial signing, Jaguars said performance coach Chris Doyle resigned

“Chris Doyle came to us tonight to present his resignation and we accept.” Jaguars coach Urban Meyer said in a statement. “Chris did not want to be a distraction for what we are building in Jacksonville. We are responsible for all aspects of our program and, in retrospect, we should have paid more attention to how his appointment may have affected everyone involved. We wish him the best as you progress in your career. “

On Thursday, Meyer defended Doyle’s hiring saying he examined all team members. “I feel great about hiring, with his experience in that position,” said Meyer, noting that his relationship with Doyle goes back almost 20 years. “We did a very good job of examining that one.”

Meyer, who previously trained at college at the University of Utah, University of Florida and, most recently, at Ohio State University, was hired as a head coach by the Jaguars in January, after the team fired Doug Marrone.

Meyer said he did not believe that the racism charges attributed to Doyle in Iowa would prevent Jacksonville from attracting free agents.

Shortly after being put on an administrative license in Iowa in June, Doyle posted a statement on Twitter – which has since been deleted – saying the charges about his behavior “are not true”.

“At a time when the NFL has failed to resolve its problem with racial hiring practices, it is simply unacceptable to welcome Chris Doyle into the ranks of NFL coaches,” said executive director Rod Graves. “Doyle’s departure from the University of Iowa reflected a riddled mandate of poor judgment and mistreatment of black players. His conduct must be as disqualifying for the NFL as it was for the University of Iowa.”

Graves added that Meyer’s statement, about meeting Doyle almost 20 years ago, “reflects the good old boys network that is precisely why there is such a disparity in job opportunities for black coaches.”