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O-Zone Podcast: Jeremy Foley · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast presented by by Star Credit Union,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: featuring Jaguar senior writer John Osier and executive producer Dave
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: de Candice. This week's guest, I wanted to get somebody
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: who I consider an old, old old friend. And I'm
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: saying old on my part, not his part, Uh, to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: talk about Jaguar's head coach Urban Meyer a little bit.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And this is the person who worked with him, uh
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: six seven years, had tremendous success around him, probably knows
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: him as well as anybody. I'm talking about former University
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley. And Jeremy to me,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: You'll always be Florida Athletic director because you were Florida
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Athletic athletic director when I was there. I'll never consider
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: anybody else for the job. But I know you've obviously
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: moved on. First of all, how are you. I'm doing great, John,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. You know, you know, obviously enjoying
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: my life. It's a little different, um, but I'm still
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: blessed to be around this place that helped Scott out
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: where he needs some help. You know, I'm doing a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: little teaching here, you know, I mentored some student athletes,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: mentor some students on campus, you know, do some speaking
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to some leadership development. But obviously my last moment now
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and I've enjoyed it. But most of all, I still
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: enjoyed my connection still with the Gators. I'm thrilled that
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: obviously Urban has has come to Jacksonville and you guys
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: have remained close. Did you have any idea that he
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: was taking the job and he any clue? Are you
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: surprised like the rest of us? Oh, he and I
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: had talked about, you know, his next steps. I mean
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I knew he was interviewing with the Jaguars. I think
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: he interviewed a couple other places or at least had
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: some people reach out to him. Um, I kind of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: got the sense when he talked that told me that
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: he met with Shad a second time. And I don't
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: remember when that was, but you know, I know how
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: it works, you you know, started meeting with people one
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: at once. There's um you can see where it might
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: be headed. But you know, um, I knew first of all,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I know Ver really well and I know how how
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: how much he likes to compete. When he stepped down
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: from Ohio State Um, I did not think he was
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: finished coaching. I didn't know how long he would take
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: take off. I do know he was enjoying his life.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: He enjoyed his his gig with Fox, joined his family
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and enjoying his grandkids. Um. But also I know who
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: he is, and I know what makes him churning and
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: competing is right at the top of the list. So
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: you know, he did not call me the night before
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and the eight and them all we're announcing the Jags,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: but I kind of got a sense something was happening,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and obviously, as I said, happy for him, I have
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: to be up front. I don't have a list of questions.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Often on this podcast, I have a list of questions,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: but I really just know that you know Urban better
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: than the rest of us. I don't know him yet
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: at all. But but the biggest thing that I wanted
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to ask of you is there's always a perception with
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: any coach, especially the coach at a school like Florida.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: You get big time coaches who are there and people
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: see them one way, but people inside the organization seem
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: another way. And I'm wondering if you could tell me
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: something about Urban that maybe people don't realize or that
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: is out there is you know, people say this about
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: urban Meyer and you go, boy, that's just not the
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: guy I know, you know obviously, Um, I think through
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the years Rumor has gotten a you know, bad rap
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: for no discipline. I think he gets a bad rap
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: for you know, having a bunch of bad apples in
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: his program. I think he gets a bad rap for
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: not having you know, you know, values that people think
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: you should have. You know, I think anybody who's been
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: in a chair obviously I sat in the chair for
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: twenty five years, you make decisions and maybe you know,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: if you had a crystal ball, you were handled them
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: differently or done them differently. All right. But um, you
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: know Irman, you know when he was here, you know,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: his office right next to mine. I know what he
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: stood for. Was he perfect? You know there are no
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: perfect people. Um, but the do you care about the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: University Ford? You care about his players? They do things
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the right way? All right? So you know, maybe one
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of his one of his faults is one of the
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: things that have caused people who give him the rap
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: that he gets is that, you know, he believed in
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: giving people second chances. Okay, it's not like we had
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: a bunch of guys, you know, you know we had
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: we had a bunch of guys doing it saw stupid stuff, okay,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: you know, driving around and suspending licenses and and you
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: know things that you know, the laundry, the list. You know,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: it kind of gets to the point where it becomes
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: urban legend and kind of is what it is. But
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't think you can win at this level.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I don't think you win at any level and win
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the way urban one without discipline on the team. And
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: he had it, okay, Um so anyway, you know, again,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: I'll be the first to emit, just like I'll be
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the first admitte about myself. You know, he probably made
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: some decisions he wished he would be done over and
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: gave a second chance for maybe he wishes and red
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: respect he hadn't, but you know his heart was in
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the right place this. I do know he'll play his
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: heart and soul and to what he's doing in Jacksonville.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: You know he will. He will his efference, you know,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: relentless efforts doesn't even begin to describe what he'll do
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to try to make that franchise a winner. Um. I
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: think it's a perfect opportunity for him. I think the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: college game bourbon. You know, he'd been there, done that.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: You know, the college game becomes more and more difficult
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: with the you know, with the scrutiny and also you
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: know transfer portals and namage and image and likeness, and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: he and I talked about those things. Um, you know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: but I do think you probably talked to Billy Donovan
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: about this making a transition from you know, college to
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: professional and you know, I think it's probably, um, you know,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: he's in a perfect place for him. He's obviously know
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the State of Florida organization. You know, no disrespect to anybody,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: there's nowhere to go but up. I mean calling it
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: like it is. You know, you you won one game
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: and one in fifteen. Certainly having the first pick in
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the draft is gonna certainly probably had a factor be
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and knows to win at this level, any level, So
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: our level, that level, you better have a guy behind center,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and somebody's gonna have a chance to find that person.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: But you know, you know I think that sometimes because
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: wrapped it. You know, I'm not gonna you know it is,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: as I said, this is what it is. People entitled opinions. Um,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: it doesn't attract. And the type of coach he is,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: you know, so in Erman's you know, Irman is a
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: good dude. You know Irman kind of you know, he's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: in an extroverted business and I think, well, he's a
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: very private person. His circle of trust is small. Um,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: but you know a good sense of humor. Um he is. Um.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: He can ball bust as good as anybody. Um. But
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: it's it's he's a serious new and it's very important
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: to him. And you know I saw that first hand.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I saw what he did here. And so you know,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: like I've said often since he took the job at Jackson,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: will no better against the River Minor because he's one
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: wherever's event. You've been around obviously and an impress I'm
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: believably impressive list of coaches that you've hired. Um what
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: uh was there anything that separated Urban from the pack?
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: And again you've been around greatness and you had an
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: eye for it to Florida with all sports, anything stand out. Well,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: this is gonna be a nebulous response, and I think
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: people understand what I'm trying to say. They'll get it.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: But you know Urban has it, Okay, he has the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: it factor. I think incredible leaders, incredible coaches, soldiers, c
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: e o s. You know, people who have incredible success,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: they have it. They're walking the room, and you know
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: that's the guy. And I'm not talking about some arrogant
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: dude walking in, you know, cacadulog look at me. I'm
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: just talking about you can tell he's confident what he does.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: You know, he's um. You know it kind of people
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: are drawn to him. People, you know, I always thought
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: he would have been UM an incredible UM soldier on
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the back, I feel not that I don't e think
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: about it personally if I studied that stuff, but I'm
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: involved with some leadership stuff with people in the military,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: so it's kind of a something that intrigues me. But
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: he would convince people this is the right mission, and
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: this is the right way to handle, this is the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: right way to go. People would have bought in. People
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: buy into him. And because he has, you know, he's
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: he's a good at manufacturing a certain culture that leads
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: to success, all right, UM. And you know it's also
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: what he does is um you know, not easy. You know,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: there's not there's nothing easy about how he will you know,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: build a program, what Does that mean people are gonna
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: have to buy in, People have to work hard, everybody's
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: needs to be the same page. When he and I
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: were talking, you know, obviously when he was at Utah
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: and I was, you know, trying to get him to
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: come to Florida, and we were just you know, maybe
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the first meeting, maybe the second meeting. Um, you know,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: he talked a lot about culture. We talked about the
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: people around him. Is everybody gonna buy in? He can't
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: have people, you know, one ft in, one foot out.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: You can't have people who you know don't buy in
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: and you know, pretend to buy it. I mean, he
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: knows that, just like everybody who's runs a successful organization
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: knows it takes an entire group of people traveling down
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the road the same way. Doesn't mean we don't disagree.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Does it mean that, you know, you know, every once
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: in a while, somebody doesn't travel down the road the
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: right way and they have to be replaced, whatever have you.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: But you know, he wanted to know about the people
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: in the organization because he knows to be successful and
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: he will demand total buying, total loyalty. It doesn't mean
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: he doesn't want input. Does I mean he doesn't want,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: you know, push back. Um, but you know people talking
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: out of school, people you know, talking outside the room.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: You know, that's that's a problem for him with a
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: book problem for me. You know, when I was at
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Letter drifted, I couldn't all right that either to al
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: rate disagreement. You know, reasonable people will disagree. That's how
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: you get better. You know, you push back. You know
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: you're push and push and push, and you get pushed
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: back your self evaluate you evolved. But you know a
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: lot of times in business people you know, talking to streets,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: talking outside of school, and he won't tolerate that. You know.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: So his incredible focus the first time I met him,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: he could tell it um and again you know, he
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: also smart enough to what I liked about Urban Billy
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Donovan Steve spurred abability to look in the mirror and
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: so evaluate and go out, I need to do this better,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: or I need to I need to evolve, or maybe
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: we shouldn't have done that. You know, again, he wanted
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the highest level. You know, obviously the best coach and
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: college football history will be Nick Saban. I also also
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: think that Urban State or our place for as long
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: as Nick had been at UM Alabama or a House state.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: As long as Nick had been in Alabama, he'd be
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: challenging because he's just a flatted winner. He's a winner.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the self evaluation, and and that circles into
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: something that I think maybe people miss about him, Uh,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the ability to adapt, Like if you if you look
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: at his history, adapted, offensively, adapted at a I stayed
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: in terms of how he did things from Florida. That's
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: a conscious thing for him, right, That's something that he
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: knows is important. Yeah, a little urbans A student leadership.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: I mean he he reads about it. He's been teaching
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: at the House State the last couple of years. You know,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: he and I used to talk about it all the time.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: He reads books, he's around leaders, he has obviously access
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: to them because of who he is and what he's done.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: And you can't be a successful leader without looking in
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the mirror saying you know something, this isn't working the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: way I wanted to, or looking at the hands your
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: adults and saying, okay, we need to adapt and we
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: need to play differently, and we need to you know,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: whatever happened, I mean obviously you know he recruited, he
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: took over a team here that obviously a bunch of
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: good players but hadn't had great success. And he won
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: a national championship with them in the second year. And
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: they were different than the Tim Tebow years and the
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Person Harving years. Although Person and or Tim or part
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: of those teams. But you know, he he had adapted.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: He likes to win. Okay, he likes to be successful,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: and he's not gonna be you know, try to jam
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and square a peg into a round the hole. He's
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: smart enough to realize, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: whittle this, you know, the square peg down and make
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: it fit. You know. So he has the building. He
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: has absolutely the building itself. Evaluate. You know, people talking
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: about involving you know, I've heard and I get this.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: You know, can Urban handle losing five or sing? You know,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: if you go eleven and five minute val you've got
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: a heck of the year. And you're in the playoffs
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: and you're hosting the playoff game, and you know, it's
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the way it is up there, right. Not that I'm
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: an NFL expert beyond being a fan. Um. You know,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I heard the same thing about when Billy went to UM.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I went to UM to Oklahoma City. I was gonna
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: handle losing thirty games. You know, you go up there
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: and you're fifty two and thirty, you're having to do
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: your sixty and twenty two. You've had him a great year.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: You know it's twenty two Austins. If you lose eight
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: in college, you know you're talking to him off allege
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: of the O'Connell center, right, But you know Urban's you
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: know Urban understands. I mean he will adapt and not guarantee.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: He's picked the brain of a million guys. You know,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: he Bill belichickter close and you know he's smart enough
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: to adapt, right because his plan, he has a plan
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: to win. I was playing to win college. Obviously, will
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: probably different than was planning to win an NFL. So
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: there's something some similarities, but you know, not overacting to
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: a loss in the NFL. I mean, I'm sure he'll
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: he will evolve and fade that out. You mentioned your
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: officers were next to each other. Um, not to reveal
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: too much, but after a loss, were there tough times
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: where you at the council? I mean is that yeah?
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, I mean I would do that with anybody.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, part of my jobs athletic director. Is that,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: you know. I mean, obviously nobody's going undefeated, and obviously
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: at some point you coach is gon understand who was
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: a part of the gig and just an opportunity to
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: get better. But obviously some lossers are tougher than others
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and some asters more stake than others. And so yeah,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I thought that was part of my job because Urban
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: trusting me. You know, Urban I always didn't agree, you know,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: but so it him and I didn't always agree. You know,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: we go right down the list. You know, that's the
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: way in the world. It's way supposed to be. Um.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: But I think if you have relationships with people and
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: you trust them and there's that's reciprocated, then you could
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: have honest, open conversations. There may be a reason we
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: lost that he didn't see, and you know, um, part
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: of my jobs that to try to help us be
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: successful and along the line to try to help hope
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: him be successful. And he's very receptive of that. You know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Urban is not like, who the heck are you to
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: be talking to me? That's you know, he's got an
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: ego like we all do, in terms of he's confident
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: in what he does you know. You know, I'm sure
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: there are some people out there think that his ego
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: is overbearing. It is not in my opinion. Um, can
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: he be tough, Yeah, I said that earlier. He can
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: be talking, can be talking. He was tough on me sometimes, right, Okay,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: you know I have no problem with that because I
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: knew what he was trying to get done. You know,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: it wasn't about the ego, was about the program and
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: the culture and what he was trying to build. But yeah,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: there were times when I would sit there, you know,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: even when he was at a high of state, even
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: when he was going through tough times, you know, after
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: leaving Forward. You know, again, he and I, you know,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: sometimes our relationship would um, you know, separate a little bit,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: but it always comes back because of the trust. It
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: always comes trust, because of the trust we have and
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the feelings we have for each other in the friendship
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: we have. You mentioned trust, that's a huge and a
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: couple people have talked to about him, that always comes up,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: and his trust with players, that relationship. I guess how
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: important is that. I assume you saw at firsthand. The
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: trust he has of the players is paramount, right, Yeah,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I mean trust is one of his um one of
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: one of his lynch pins. You know, I'm sure he's
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: got others, but I mean, as far as I know,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: there's not many more any higher than that. Okay, And
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: it's not you know, his trust is you know, like
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: anything else. He just you know, he wants people too
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: honest with him. You want to give an honest efforts.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: You know, things are, things aren't. If there's a problem somewhere,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: tell me what it is. And you know, I just
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: know trust is important to him, and and um, that'll
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: be that'll be a focus point of whatever he tries
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: to build. Derrin Jacksonville. He's perceived and again I know
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: people who have covered and people have been around him,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: he's perceived as Aloof somehow, and I don't you know,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: is that and accurate the thing? I mean, I've also
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: heard that it's basically because he's so focused on what
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: he's doing that he's not gonna hang out in the
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: hallway with people. Yeah, you can follow me. He's not
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: gonna be everybody's buddy, if you will. That's not his role, right, Yeah,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And that doesn't make him a bad person. I mean
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Aloof means to me, someone with him give a flip.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: And you know I don't see that at him. I mean,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: he is incredibly focused. You know, it's it's it's different,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: it's different than my style. I work for a guy
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: once who walk down the hall way that he was
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the same way, incredibly focused and I was young and
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: say good morning, and you'd get nothing back and you
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: go into the room, Well, well, WHOA, what do I
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: do wrong? Right? And I've always I always remember that.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: So when I walk down the hall, I'm trying to engage, right.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, different strokes are different folks. You know,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the person that I was referring to wasn't a bad person.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: He was just concentrating on something else. And urban could
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: be that way. But I can see where people would
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: feel that way. But you know, he's a grinder. You know,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: he is going to grind and grind and grind and grind.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that sometimes he pays a price
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: for that kind of You know, He's like a meteor
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: that burns bright and sometimes you know it can burn.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Maybe that happened to Florida, maybe it happened to the
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: House state. And not saying that and I'm trying to
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: be disrespectful but um, he has no governor um on
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: his efforts and I used to talk to him about that,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, you know, But it's also that's
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: why he's so successful, because he knows no other speed. Um.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: And so when you go on that fast sometimes you
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: can't walk right by somebody or have a quick answer
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: because you've got things to do that are that are
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: paramounts of trying to be successful in the field. And
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the end of the day, that's just call. People shouldn't
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: respect that and understand that, you know, and you know
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: it's not where Erman is a good human being and
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: you're not trying to be disrespectful. In my opinion, he's
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: not trying to be aloof and he comes across that way.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I see it as being unintentional. It's because his mind is,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe ten steps ahead of everybody else. It's
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: also it's also why he's successful the NFL. I know
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: you haven't been around the NFL, but you've followed it,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and you know, people were you surprised that he chose
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that marriage the NFL. No, you know, just based on
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: some of my conversations with him, maybe the last you know,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: six months, right, I just felt I mean not like
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: I'm saying you need to go to the NFL. I
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: just felt at the college game. You know, he used
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to talk to him about you know, you were at Florida,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: You're at a high state. He won three. I mean,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: it is winning four going to change your life, you know, um,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: because you know college football can be a grind um.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: And I mean, trust me, I loved what I did.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: There's no woes me here. You know, I loved every second.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: I would change my life right, you know. But as
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: I sit back and see it, it's different than it
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: was when I was in the game. It was different
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: than when coach spur when I was working together. Just different.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And I also know he not the type of guy
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: to put his feet up. You know, I really know
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: where he would land. I don't think going urban. He
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: was gonna land somewhere that was gonna have had a
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: quarterback or was gonna have a quarterback, because you know,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I know how he is. And so again, I've known
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the NFL. Like as I said a fan, I do
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: pay attention. I've been around the Jaguars since the day
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: they came. Uh, you know, I want them to be
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: incredibly successful because I know what it means to the city. Um,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: but I'm not surprised, you know, I figured, you know,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I think urbans fifty six, fifty seven, maybe fifty eight.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to age the urban. If you're older
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: than if you're younger than that, I apologize. But you know,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: one more run. I could see having one more run
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: in him, and then he's gonna enjoy it and he's
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: gonna enjoy his life. And it's pretty much leadership. Trust
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the things we've talked about with him. Focus, you know,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that translates it. That translates no matter the age, right,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, on some level, if you can build a culture,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: if you have that sort of focus. I know you
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: can't predict the future because the NFL is talking, Yeah,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: but I do think it translates in this regard. Now
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: how it does, I don't know. I've never been in
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: the NFL walking room. Okay, Um, but I mean somebody
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: somebody made that comment to me when Urban first gold Hire.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: You know, some of the stuff he does in college
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: is gonna work at that level, and that made me
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: true for some of it. Again, I don't know, I
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: don't know exactly what I mean by saying that it
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: could be true. Right, here's there a thing though, you
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: know those players in Jackson going again, I'm not being
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: disrespectful to any previous coach, anybody. I mean, I'm not
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: doing that, but did one in fifteen? Those are professional
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: football players, those guys and not they compete and they
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: want to win. They can't be happy to be a
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: one in fifteen. They want to They want to be
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs and you know when the playoffs are
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: going on, they want to they want to compete for
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: the super Bowl. So I think they buy in completely
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: because you know, has this been any fun? Is that
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: any fun? Is? It's not any fun for anybody. Losing
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: is no fun for anybody. And so you know, you know,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: needing out of trying to make a cultural shift. And
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: you know, again, I know urban people don't buy in.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: You know, they probably won't be around very long. And
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: that's not that's reality. That's any organization. If Jeremy Folways
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: after the director of Florida trying to build a culture
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: and I got fifty people buying to my culture and
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: five whom don't you know eventually that's not workable, right,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: And I can't have five I'm not saying agree with me.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Every said that second of the day. But culture of winning,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: culture of going hard, and culture of you know, losing
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: is in the rear view mirror. A culture of everything
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: we do in the weight room, a culture of how
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: we handle ourselves, the way we practice. You know. I
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: just think again, if I'm if I'm under contract to
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars, I don't care who it is. They can't
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: be proud of being one in fifteen. They don't want
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to buy it. They want to win. So everybody does
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: at this level, and I assume at that level there too.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: It's maybe an impossible question, but you guys met an
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: O four, you and Urban I've seen that, you know,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: or first year working together. What's the biggest change you've
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: seen in seventeen years? Well, obviously, you know the fire burns,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe not burn, not the fire to be successful,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: but the fire in the belly about stuff that drives
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you crazy. Maybe Billy Donovan is a totally different dude
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: than when I hired him the age of thirty. You know,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: his his res all, his grunt, his desire to win,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: his efforts to win, his focus on winning. That hasn't
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: changed one second. That's what verb it will be. You know,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: I think Urban went you know, thousand and four. You know,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: probably some things that seemed really important the time and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: would send him, you know, into a into a tizzy.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Probably smart enough to realize, you know, that really didn't
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: have enough to do. I really had nothing to do
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: with us being successful. No different than me when I
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: was a d at thirty nine. You know, I was
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: a leader in a certain way, and I evolved in
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: a way that I felt was much more effective. You know,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: you know, seventeen years is a long time and um,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: many many roads traveled, And I go back to what
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I said earlier. Urban is smart enough to realize that,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: you know, you have to evolve as a leader. You
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: can't be the same person you were in two thousand
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and four. You know, he knows what was successful, he
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: knows what can be more successful. He's a student. Again,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not just you know, calling plays and motivating players.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: He's a He's a student of culture. And you know,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: he and I both believe that culture drives winning and um.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: But like any culture, culture has to of old war
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: a period of time. The culture that he had here
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and fours, I'm sure different than the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: culture he had when he first went to Ohio State,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and it will be different than what he's building in Jacksonville.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: But there'll be some similarities and there'll be some There'll
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: be some lynch pins, trust me, and one of them.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Effort being one, you know, loyalty being one, um focused
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: being one. Those will all be the lynch pins. But
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: how he does things and his reaction to certain things, UM,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Mellow would be not a word that I ever associate with. Um.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe after a big win, um, maybe after championship he
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and I were blessed to share, you know, several together, Um, yeah,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: and then he was mellow, But then the focus the
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: next day was am I gonna win another one? And UM?
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: So he's not a mellow very long. UM. Incredible drive,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and his drive obviously is a key to his success.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: In my opinion, I was gonna ask you how long
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: he allowed himself to enjoy the national titles one night? Yeah,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: you know, if we did a good job around here
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: trying to celebrate those things, because they're hard to do.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: You know, Heinkey and I both believe when you celebrate
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: them too long and impact you the following year, there's
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: you know, there's a balance there. Uh, but you know, certainly,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: you know, I thought one of my jobs athleticrcors make
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: sure any program we had right here when we when
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: we want something, we celebrated it. You're not over the top,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: but you know it's very very hard to do, very
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: hard to do. So yeah, we celebrated it, but there's
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: a time period on that you can't you can't continue
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to you you know, he might have turned the page
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: almost immediately and I would I would unturn the page
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: by an event or you know, doing something for us
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: coaches and making sure we had a big dinner to
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: give out the rings. You know that maybe you know
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: took several weeks or a month to manufacture. But you know,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I said, I like him believe if you celebrate it
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: too long, you can impact you going forward. Sure, final
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: question on these lines, m You mentioned his ability to
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: student and his ability to adapt, and I'm not even
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: sure this is an answer a question. But it's one
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: thing to study it. It's another. It's wanting to know
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: you need to adjust to something, but the ability to
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: actually do it, if you follow me, like, it's one
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: thing to say, okay, I need to change here, but
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: he's been able to sort of actually make the changes.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: It is that something that separates and maybe is that
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: an intelligence ability to analyze? And maybe I'm getting too
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: deep into that, but it strikes me that it's easy
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: to say it, but not it's easy to do it. Yeah,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: it's probably true for some people, but again not to
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: This isn't a leadership podcast, but you know that's what
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: effective leaders can do, right. All effective leaders have egos
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and when you're not willing to adapt, it means you're
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: not willing to admit you made a mistake. And a
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: lot of people leadership roles. I'm willing to do that, okay, Um,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: And so it hurts them. I mean when I get
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: you know, I do some leadership development, I do some
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: leadership UM teaching over were at the university here and
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: all leaders, I said early have to look in the mirror.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: But you say you can look in the mirror, and
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: they not be willing to do it because you know
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: they're stubborn. Ego gets in the way. Um, And like
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: I said, you have to admit that you something you
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: did didn't work. A lot of people in the chair
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: aren't willing to do that. You know. I think people
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: that the Urban are willing to do it, Billy, I'm
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: willing to do it. These Spurs willing to do it.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: You know why, because they want to be incredibly successful,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: and they are smart enough to realize that if something
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: they're doing is impact in that result, you know, not
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to keep banging her head against the wall. I wonder
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: why we're not you know, you know it's like um
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: trying to make a quarterback do something you can't do,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: but you keep trying to do it and you keep
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: losing the game and you're not willing to change. What? What? Why?
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: You know again? It's it's to me, it's indicative of
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: anybody who wants to be a really, really good leader.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: You gotta evolve and change. You gotta raise your hand
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: and say, hey, what i'm doing is not working. You
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: know what I'm doing, and a better change, or we're
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: not going to be successful. And they want to be
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: around here and here here's another way to look at it.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: This is the why Urban looks upon it. If I
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: don't change and we're not as successful as we need
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: to be because of my ego, then then I'm not
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: doing my job. I'm not doing the job I got
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: paid for. I'm not taking care of the organization that
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: I work for. I'm not taking care of the gators.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: I'm not taking care of the Jags because I was
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: stubborn and I didn't want to admit that I made
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: a mistake, you know. I mean, like all people, you know, Urban, myself, somebody,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: it may take a while to get to that point
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: because people they have strong convictions and they have strong beliefs,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: and it's worked before. But again, because of Erman's overwhelming
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: desire to be successful, he does not like to fail. Um,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: he is going to evolve and realize, wait a minute,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: we need to adapt you. And he is able to
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: do that his strength sort of his strengths in my opinions.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: You've mentioned at the top that you're not betting against
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: no I mean, and I got I don't bet. I'm
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: not allowed to and I never have. But and I
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: don't say that flippantly, you know, I just believe that. Um.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: You know, my mom, I've never been on the horses,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: but I think my mom's dad used to. And I
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: remember she told me. I actually told me once that
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: her dad told her always bet on the jockey, okay,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: and that was his philosophy. And I like that, you know,
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: and I remember that forever, and you know, you know,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: you're go in a big ball game, and I got
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Steve spur and sideline or BILLI on the sideline Urban
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: the sideline. I used to tell my staff, I'm gonna
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: bet on my jockey, and I would tell the jackman
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: in the same thing. You know, obviously none of us
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: have a crystal ball, um, but just look at his
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: track record. He's won a lot of races. You knows,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: did incredible job bowling green obviously, you thought, obviously, fled
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: up the house state, you know, perfect bumps in the road.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: You know, things that could have done done are done
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: better or different, of course, but you know, the traffic
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: record of success is pretty, pretty significant and pretty telling
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: in my opinion. You know, he is not a one
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: hit wonder. Um, He's he's had it. He's had a
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: spring of hits, and I'm i saying it's gonna happen overnight.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Obviously a lot of work to do, I imagine again,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: um on the outside looking in, but you know he is, Um,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: I would bet on that job. In one thing, Jeremy
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Foley has hired as many big time college coaches is
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: anybody knows coaching, nose leadership. Jeremy, I appreciate you taking
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: some time to talk about Urban Meyer and the ozone podcast.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, and it was absolute pleasure catching
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: up with you, so honest. Great to see you again
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and it was my honor And obviously I wish everybody
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: the best of LUF. Nobody's pulling harder than mat And uh,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: hopefully now I got a guy up there, it might
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: be able to get me a ticket. So maybe I'll
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: see you around the ball for front let US fans
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: in Okay. I would enjoy it very much. Thanks again, Jeremy,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: take care John, thanks for having good luck