I have seen this discussion a lot on here. It was here when Idzik was hired and it started again late this past season when Idzik was as good as gone. So the question is, does the current state of this team and the New York market scare away potential coaching and GM candidates? There was an interesting article about Reich and the Jets. He will be interviewing this week. Esiason, who played for the Jets and is a part of the New York media, had this to say about him: “I know one thing: Frank’s going to go into this meeting [Wednesday] and he’s going to blow [the Jets] away,’’ Esiason told The Post Tuesday. Esiason, though, tempered his enthusiasm for Reich landing the Jets job because of how difficult a task he believes it will be. Having grown up on Long Island, played for the Jets and now a prominent member of the New York media landscape as the co-host of the WFAN morning drive-time radio show, Esiason is as tuned in to the difficulty of this market as anyone. “If the Bills hired him or the Falcons hired him or some other smaller-market team hired him, I think he would really knock it out of the box,’’ Esiason said. “With the Jets, coaching this team in its current predicament is like walking through the trenches of World War I. It’s no-man’s land. It’s littered with potholes and blind spots and all sorts of issues that most coaches don’t have to deal with.” “I would never tell him not to take the job because every coach has the belief in their own way of doing things, and [Reich] probably believes that whatever the issues are [with the Jets], that he is the elixir for those issues.’’ Esiason cited the ongoing “agenda-driven’’ smear campaign against Marrone by one New York newspaper as an example of how bad it can get here, saying he “doesn’t take anything’’ the paper “writes about the Jets seriously at all because it’s 100 percent agenda-driven, and it’s so painfully obvious. “Unfortunately, sometimes even the most innocuous wrong-stated opinion becomes the narrative,’’ Esiason said. “Look what’s happening to Doug Marrone right now. Doug Marrone is a really good coach. I’ve said on the radio station that the guy that makes the most sense for me would be Doug Marrone.’’ As for Reich, Esiason called him “a brilliant tactician and a very smart football person.” Esiason said he has “had conversations about’’ the Jets job with Reich, warning him of the pitfalls, telling him: “No matter where you go, if you’re a winning head coach, you are the savior and beloved in that city.” Here in New York, if that happened, the adulation and the amount of credit that will come your way will be off the charts if you can get it done. However, if you can’t get it done, it’s the opposite of that: People turn on you pretty quickly. “He’s low-key publicly, but he’s not low-key internally,” Esiason said. “He has the presence, he has the organization, he has the verbal skills and he has the credibility.’’ “I told him: ‘For your sake, I hope you get the offer, but for my sake and for our sake, I hope you get an offer somewhere else,’’’ Esiason said. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...siason-frank-reich-will-impress-new-york-jets So the question is, does this have more of an impact than many of us thought?
For the coach, no. For the coach who may have kids in school or a wife that takes it serious, Yes. It's like running for President, who would put their family through that shit.
The Jets need a strong personality at the top, both for GM & HC. Having a high visibility personality like Boomer in his corner could help a guy like Reich, although I think the reason Boomer has tried to talk Reich out of the job is because he does not want to have to criticize him, if necessary. All in all, I think Reich will be scared away, based upon his relationship with Boomer. But this could be more of a personality thing rather than an NY thing I also think the latest attacks on Marrone from the Daily News have brought the whole anti-Jets agenda thing to light. I think you might see a lightening up going forward. However, I have always contended that one thing the Jets have that no other team has, is the hatred from the non-fans (ie Giants) in their own geographic area. The Jets have at least 50% (and likely more) of the available home-town fans avidly pulling against them at any given time, especially when they're good. Case in point was all the vitriol against them in 2009-2011. I for one believe Marrone is a good candidate to combat the whole anti-Jet thing, especially if he wants to be here.
From the owner, to the lack of a GM, to the media, to the fans, this organization is toxic and turning it around is an incredible challenge for a head coach. Parcells came about as close as anyone to changing that, but it wore him down after 3 seasons. Rex came pretty close those first two years, but it eventually consumed him too. If I was looking for my first shot at a head coaching gig, it wouldn't be here.
You make a good point about the whole Manish Mehta debacle. It could go one of two ways. It could end up like you said, or it could really destroy us. While it likely will lighten things up, it could really hurt us. What Manish Mehta did is unacceptable and blatantly idiotic. The problem is, has it become the narrative as Esiason pointed out? Now, do all these candidates think this is a perfect example of what goes on here? Scares them away?
It is really strange. Maybe it will disappear with Rex, but the Jets are one of the only teams who are disliked and unsuccessful. Usually the successful teams are hated and the unsuccessful ones are scrappy underdogs. Maybe because of Rex's personality or because of the NY media or both, we are disliked despite being unsuccessful.
Coaches have to be able to handle the media and fans in NY, that's a prerequisite and it's always been the case. The biggest problem I see is that, regardless of what he says, the owner seems very vulnerable to the media and fan pressure. So even if you are personally able to ignore or otherwise deal with the media and fans there's always the risk of your boss taking action based on those things. It's a tough gig, no doubt, and definitely not for everyone. Basically you have to win and you have to win now. There's not much leeway.
I read that so many possible GMs have said nay is that Woody is refusing to give up control of the team. If true then Woody is saying what the fans what to hear but doing the complete opposite of what he is saying
When you fire a GM after only 2 years and planes are flying over practice fields, and the media is attacking people pretty much unfairly it creates a hostile atmosphere. It's not as coveted a job right now as it once was. It could be again but promising GM candidates are going to be a little timid to accept this job right now given the quick hook Idzik got and the way in which it played out.
The fans are of no consideration. The only ones who are would be the total nut jobs and you can find them anywhere. Actually most Jets fans in Met Life conduct themselves ok. The overwhelming majority just want to watch the game peacefully. And since the team has a heritage of losing most of us are used to it and don't get all bent out of shape if our team takes a beating.
Maybe, but I've been a fan for a long time with ZERO fellow Jet fans to talk to. Since Rex took over I have at least 10 fans that talk Jets stuff all the time now. And my friends who are fans of a team that needs a HC all want their team to get Rex Ryan. My uncle is a DIE HARD Giants fan and he wants Coughlin canned so they can hire Rex. He hates the Jets but loves Rex. A friend I haven't talked to in over a year called last week to say he couldn't believe the Jets fired Rex and pointed to that as an example of why the Jets will always be dog shit. I couldn't argue with him. So on a national level (that's media driven), you may be correct, but my own personal experience is the polar opposite, at least as far as Rex is concerned.
That's all a bunch of BS. All you have to do is win. The Jets have a negative stigma right now with the fans and media because they've been pretty terrible since 2010 but if a coach came in and won ballgames, what they are paid to do, then all that would go away. Hell Rex & the organization was glorified after winning 8 games in 2013. The Jets are mired in a negative atmosphere right now because they put themselves there. What's wrong with fans and media giving an organization a hard time when they are 4-12? that should be accepted practice.. Winning will be the ultimate elixir here but really it doesn't even need to be that. Even if they weren't good and had a coach that kept his mouth shut and quietly went to task the "agenda-driven" negative atmosphere here would subside and at the very worst they'd slide into irrelevancy. The Marrone stuff is just an extension of the Rex-Jets culture hanging on... plus it didn't help that he opted out and the massive attention that brings. Reich is a quiet guy and would bring that to the organization. Rex was a lightning-rod that brought attention, and extra attention when he was winning a lot and extra attention when he was losing a lot. The same stuff was said at the end of the Herman Edwards era.. because Herman, like Rex, brought a lot of attention to himself and the team. They hired a quiet, football guy like Mangini and all that attention, negative or otherwise faded away. When they lost they were irrelevant with him and when they won they were praised. Specific candidates, like Reich, shouldn't worry about this.. they will take on his personality no matter what, the people that should worry about this are the fans. Does Johnson crave that attention good or bad to the organization? if so, than we might get another big personality in here and the stuff that Esiason is referring to will continue
