Jacksonville Jaguars director of Sport performance Chris Doyle resigns amid backlash

"Chris Doyle came to us this evening to submit his resignation and we have accepted," the announcement read. "Chris did not need to be a distraction to what we are constructing in Jacksonville. We are responsible for all aspects of our program and, in retrospect, should have given greater consideration to how his appointment may have affected all involved. We wish him the best as he moves forward in his profession."

"In a time when the NFL has failed to fix its own problem with racial hiring practices, it's simply unacceptable to welcome Chris Doyle into the positions of NFL coaches," Graves' statement . "Doyle's departure from the University of Iowa reflected a tenure riddled with poor judgment and mistreatment of Black players. His conduct should be disqualifying for the NFL as it had been for University of Iowa.

"Urban Meyer's announcement,'I have known Chris for near 20 years' reflects the good ol' boy network that's the reason there's such a disparity in job opportunities for Black coaches."

The Fritz Pollard Alliance is a company devoted to championing diversity from the NFL. It is comprised of scouts, coaches and front-office employees in the NFL as well as some other sports professionals.

Doyle's hiring attracted instant backlash on Thursday, once the team announced the move as part of Meyer's total coaching staff.

Lots of the allegations came from Black players and concerned how Doyle treated them and his use of racist language. Meyer said on Thursday he investigated Doyle, had any intense conversations with him was convinced that there wouldn't be issues later on.

"I vet everybody on the staff, and just like I stated the relationship goes close to 20 years and a great deal of hard questions asked, a lot of vetting involved with our employees," Meyer said. "We did a very good job checking that one.

"... I met with our team and I will be very transparent with the players like I'm with everything. I will listen closely and learn and there's going to get to be some trust in their head trainer that we're going to give them the very best of the best and time will tell. ... The allegations that took place, I'll say [to the players] I vetted him. I know the individual for near 20 years and I can assure them there will be no any sort in the Jaguar facility"

A few of the issues raised by the numerous former Iowa players who spoke out on social media annually wereBlack and white players were held to different standards, Black players were mistreated, Doyle and other supporters made hurtful comments, along with Black players felt they needed to conform to specific methods of dress and behaviour. Their complaints triggered the university to hire a Kansas City law firm to run an external investigation into the soccer program.

The issues weren't strictly related to race.

Former Iowa offensive lineman Jack Kallenberger stated last June on Twitter he retired from soccer in January 2019 later he became despondent because of what he described as bullying related to a learning disability. Doyle was one of the coaches he named who plagued him.

The university placed Doyle on administrative leave on June 6 in the wake of these allegations. I don't make hurtful remarks and that I do not tolerate people who do."

On June 14, it was announced that Doyle, who had been using the program since 1999, was out at Iowa. Doyle, who had been the nation's highest-paid strength coach at $800,000 annually, obtained 15 weeks' salary (roughly $1.1 million), and he and his family were awarded benefits from Iowa for 15 months, or until he found employment elsewhere, that he did that month with the Jaguars.