Urban Meyer and 'The Twilight Zone'

We need to look inward when problems arise, not blame others.

December 15, 2021

Once again, Jacksonville Jaguars Coach Urban Meyer is in the news for the wrong reasons. Reports surfaced over the weekend that he’s chastised his assistants in recent meetings — the latest in a series of embarrassing missteps for the first-year NFL coach.

According to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com:

“Meyer delivered a biting message in a staff meeting that he's a winner and his assistant coaches are losers, according to several people informed of the contents of the meeting, challenging each coach individually to explain when they've ever won and forcing them to defend their résumés.”

After losing on Sunday to the Tennessee Titans to fall to 2-11 this season, Meyer denied the reports and said he would fire anyone in the organization caught leaking information.

As the saying goes, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Meyer’s verbal attack and degradation of those he’s supposed to lead and motivate brings to mind a Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode called the “The Mirror.” Its story begins in Central America as Ramos Clemente and his four lifelong confidants, D'Alessandro, Garcia, Tabal and Cristo, stage a successful revolution against the regime of General De Cruz.

After assuming power, Clemente is told by De Cruz that the mirror in his office has hidden powers and can reveal his enemies in its reflection. When Clemente is wondering who is betraying him, all he has to do is walk over to the mirror and the face of the enemy will be revealed. Naturally, Clemente dismisses this notion. But soon after taking power, he uses the mirror and begins killing the faces who appear, including his lifelong confidants.

With none and loads of dysfunction still in the country, Clemente walks over to the mirror and, for the first time, sees his own face flashing back. Finally, it dawns on him that he has been the enemy all along. Clemente’s destructive, paranoid behavior has created a void of leadership and will eventually be the reason he is overthrown from office.

The moral of the story is that all of us, including Meyer, need to look inward when problems arise, not blame others. Meyer has all the power. He is in control of everything that occurs on and off the field for the Jaguars. The results — good or bad — start and end with his willingness to accept accountability and take ownership of the problem. But it’s something neither he nor Clemente seemed to have any interest in doing.

By deflecting blame and not working collaboratively to solve the problem, Meyer is conveying an unwillingness to lead. He’s managing neither the process nor himself, thus becoming far more of a tyrant than an actual leader.

Serling concludes the episode with this voiceover: “Ramos Clemente, a would-be God in dungarees, strangled by an illusion, that will-o'-the-wisp mirage that dangles from the sky in front of the eyes of all ambitious men, all tyrants.”

The mirror never lies.

In fact, it often reveals the real problem.