I don't Kotite coming from an offensive background was what led to 23 years of defensive coaches; Kotite coming from the offensive side of the ball was never cited as the reason for his failure. I think it was our current clueless owners who were stuck in the 1970s mindset that "defense wins championships". So, they hired coaches from defensive backgrounds thinking that they were going to find the guy who would build the next Steel Curtain or 85 Bears. Kotite's problem was that he was just a bad coach, offense and defense. Ironically though, he actually seemed to have a good eye for talent. He built most of the same team that Parcells used to earn a 12-4 record two years later. Kotite just didn't know how to use the talent he got. That's kind of like saying "I'd rather drink beer than piss!" I remember the Kotite years vividly. I was 10 years old during Kotite's first season. I remember crying after many games during those years. Those years were way worse than the Bowles years. The Bowles era was frustrating. The Kotite teams, however, were examples of pure futility. While Bowles' Jets looked like a bad coached NFL team, Kotite's Jets literally looked like they were not even an NFL team; it was like an XFL or Arena league team was trying to play in the NFL...and a shitty XFL or Arena team at that. Other than a few fluke games where they showed up to play (and still usually lost), the Jets didn't even come close to challenging anyone they played during those years. I don't think even the Lions or the Browns were as incompetent in their 0-16 years. Bowles' Jets were aggravating; Kotite's Jets were humiliating.
You're right about Bowles, Mac, and the Johnsons. Still, I feel confident any Bowles' team could beat a Panamanian Youth Soccer team at a game of American Football every time. I think Kotite's teams would be about 50/50.
I don't think I would call Parcells a defense minded coach. He called the plays on offense and rebuilt the team on both sides of the ball. Mangini could also be considered a more balanced coach as he reloaded the offensive line and hitched his star to Brett Favre.
Parcells came from the defensive side of the ball, and he was known for building one of the top defensive powerhouses in NFL history with the Giants. However, he was an aggressive coach, and he recognized that a great defense should not simply be a compensation for a shitty offense. He knew that you needed a great team, both sides of the ball. He built great offenses as well.
They all were from the defensive side of the ball, then Head Coaches. That is what I mean. Parcells, Groh, Edwards, Mangini, Ryan and Bowles all were. I was just joking that Kotite was the actual reason for that many Defensive hires in a row, but it is interesting.
The thing about the Kotite hire is I - like pretty much every other Jets fan - hated it as soon as it was announced. This wasn't a case of hindsight being 20/20. This was universally hated by pretty much every Jets fan I know the moment it was announced. First of all, Kotite was a terrible coach. Second, Pete Carroll was getting fired after only one season at the helm, so that intensified the dread about the hire. Closest thing I can compare it to would be how Mets fans felt when the Mets traded Scott Kazmir to the Rays for Victor Zambrano. Again, people didn't come to "hate it" after the fact, Mets fans were up in arms as soon as it happened (and they were right to be).
And I sat through every single home game those two years. Talk about pain. How did I not die from internal bleeding? The world will never know.
I sat through everyone of those games too. Which was worse, the 47-10 demolishment on national TV vs the Raiders (The "Vance Joseph" game), or the 12-0* loss to the Saints in the freezing cold on Christmas Eve? In the middle of writing this I went back to look at those two Kotite years and was mildly surprised that there weren't many blowouts. They lost a lot of close ones, which makes for a similar comparison to Bowles, however I don't think Bowles deserves to be compared to Kotite. When Kotite was our coach we were truly laughing stocks. I haven't felt that way these past 4 years. Regarding ownership, Hess never seemed interested in really trying to win - until he realized his time on earth was running out. But the reason The Johnson's are not any better, if not worse, is that the Hess regime never made you feel as though you were being lied to, or taken advantage of. When Hess owned the team we were not forced to pay for the pre-season game (until the last few years, but we wanted to attend those while Parcells was coaching) and of course no bait and switch stadium nonsense, no prepaid parking rule nonsense, PSL, none of these other marketing schemes that "pop up" every season under Woody. *I have a friend who is a professional sports photographer. He was there that day working and never processed the 32 rolls of ektachrome he shot that day. It's the only event he ever covered that he knew was not worth the expense of having the film developed.
Hahahahaha. I've mentioned this before, but after my Daddy died in '96 (and I'm not at all into visiting bones), I drove to where he's buried and put a little Jets flag next to his little American flag (people place them for veterans, bless their hearts). "The Jets would have killed you, anyway, Daddy." I can't tell anyone how much he would have appreciated that. He just got me, he understood me, and it was the most singular loss of my life. My Mom died a year later. It wasn't that I loved her any less, but me and my Daddy had an unbreakable bond, and we were always somehow always in league against my Mom. Oh, the stories, all of them true. All of my stories are true. Rich Kotite. If there was such a thing as an after life, my Daddy would have used his cigar cutter (one of my most prized possessions) and lit up a black market Cuban cigar. The Daddy Stories, if I die before it gets scrivened, then I have indeed lived a sorry life.
Back in 1995, Jets won 3. Jets won one against this newly born team Jacksonville Jaguars. In 1996, the VERY next year, they won once, meaning, they lost 15. Among the 15 losses, one of them was against the aforementioned Jaguars. Yes. The team that was just born in 1995, out of every team's scrap heap. Jets lost to THEM. Kudos to Kotite. That's not an easy achievement, I shit you not.
Luckily during the Kotite years, I was in college in FL, and worked on the weekends.... so basically I gave zero fuks about the JETS during those dark days..... He at least gave some scrappy kid from Hofstra a shot!
I distinctly recall the Jets being used as the prime example of an argument that was in vogue at that time: that "there are not enough NFL-caliber athletes to support 30 NFL rosters". The "new for '95" Panthers and Jaguars had supposedly dried up the talent pool forever.
Kotite's Jets were up 20-7 in the fourth quarter against Ty Detmer & the Philadelphia Eagles on a nationally televised saturday game. It ended up being Ty Detmer's greatest NFL comeback
The NFL was overly generous with the expansion roster rules back then, and scaled it back for the expansion Browns that followed. The results were obvious. Panthers and Jaguars were immediate contenders, and were able to construct rosters that could endure. The Browns? well, you know. I'm sure most of the league complained loudly that the Panthers and Jags were given too big of a head start. I bet if you look back the NFL changes the rules each time a new team comes into the league.