Urban Meyer close to finalizing deal to become Jacksonville Jaguars head coach

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jaguars are working toward finalizing a deal for Urban Meyer to be their next head coach, a person in the league with knowledge of the negotiations told the Florida Times-Union Thursday.  

There's a chance the Jaguars may officially announce the hire later Thursday or Friday, but they have not scheduled a news conference yet to introduce Meyer. 

From the start, Meyer has been the Jaguars' top target to replace Doug Marrone, who was fired on Jan. 4 after finishing with a franchise-worst 1-15 record and losing 21 of his last 24 games.

First Coast News, a news partner of the Florida Times-Union, ran a photo of Meyer exiting a private plane Thursday afternoon at Cecil Field Airport in Jacksonville. 

Meyer, 56, is only focused on the Jaguars' job, the person confirmed. However, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday Meyer talked with the Los Angeles Chargers about their vacant head coaching job.  

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The Jaguars' head coaching vacancy is considered an attractive job, especially with the franchise having locked up the No. 1 overall pick to select Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars also have more than $90 million in available cap space for free agency.

Meyer won two national championships at Florida and another at Ohio State, where he is now employed by the athletic department. He also is a college football analyst for Fox. He twice retired from coaching citing health and family reasons. He has never coached in the NFL. 

In 17 seasons, Meyer has never had a losing season, including his first two years as head coach at Bowling Green where he went 8-3 and 9-3. At Florida, Meyer won went 65-15 in six seasons. Meyer coached Ohio State from 2012-18.

Jaguars owner Shahid Khan is seeking a proven coach to turn around his franchise that's had 11 losing seasons in 13 years.