I give Rex the benefit of the doubt here. I don't doubt his motivation from game to game, I expect that he put the same effort into crafting his game plan every week. Clearly, his game plans only worked out in a handful of games each season--sometimes spectacularly. I think a lot of time his teams appeared to "come out flat" because the game plan simply didn't work. This would have been compounded on the field because of course Rex gave 110% of practice time that week to the brilliant/shit game plan, and now there was no time to work out something else. At least Rex seemed to make kind of half-time adjustments on occasion, which is not something we get much of out of Bowles. Rex sucked, but he's still #3 on my list, because just about everyone on that list sucked as bad or worse.
I lot of really good posts on this thread. Kudos to those putting them up. I'll just add my .02 worth as briefly as I can. For me, Parcells was the best coach. I know Weeb won a SB, but other than the prior year, his record other years was mediocre at best. The 1-15 to 9-7 achievement was spectacular for a coach. I always considered the '99 team in the second half of the season one of the best Jets teams ever. Had they been able to squeak into the playoffs that year, no telling what could have happened. Also liked that he brought back the old uniforms. Overall, I thought the team played at a consistently high level under him, although he did make a few mistakes and some were doozies. One thing I liked about Herm Edwards, was his coaching to avoid penalties. Under him, Jets were one of the least penalized teams in the league, a far cry from the current team. I liked Mangini too. Thought he got a raw deal when they brought Favre here. Despite naming his kid after Favre, I think Favre was all about Woody not Mangini. Did not think he deserved to be fired. One common defect among all Jet coaches except Weeb and Parcells, was a failure to recognize the value of the QB position. Edwards and Mangini continued to trot out Pennington every year in spite of the well known arm weakness, which despite his other assets, was fatal to him and the organization. At least the Ryan regime tried to address it (unsuccessfully) with Sanchez. However, the current regime continues the neglect.
Oh, boy, here we go. F Parcells. At the end of the day, he gave me nothing. I am so sick of the love affair to nowhere with this guy. But, but, but, respectability. But, but, but, the coaching tree. Yeah, well, that and a handful of pennies won't get me on the subway. The glare from the cubic zirconias on the Jets second SB ring is blinding. Charley Winner, haha. I mentioned that guy in a post recently. I think it was the slogan thread. I have to say, I call BS on this list. Bruce Coslet's daughter isn't on it. This picture just gave me cancer.
1. Weeb Ewbank 2. Bill Parcells 3. Walt Michaels 4. Rex Ryan 5. Eric Mangini 6. Pete Carroll 7. Bruce Coslet 8. Winner, Edwards, Holovak, Shipp Bowles 9. Kottite 10, Holtz 1. Belichick
If feel like most of that list is the equivalent to one Rachel Phelps pulls out at the beginning of Major League.
You could be right, here, but the bottom line is that the team came out flat way too often and his game plans didn't work way too often.
IMO even though Parcells had the team playing at a consistently high level, he did more harm than he did good. Yes, he gave the franchise some credibility and respect following Kotite. Yes, he turned the W-L record around dramatically. The fact remains however, that he quit on us with the job undone. He was a failure just like every other Jets HC aside from Weeb, and he was just a big tease for Jets fans. He was hired to get us to and win a SB. If he had stayed another year or two, it's possible it may have happened. But then again, he brought in all those old, expensive vets, and I think he saw the handwriting on the wall. The team was gonna be in cap hell, and he was going to have to try to win with younger players. Supposedly, when he quit as our HC, he was done with coaching, yet within 4 years he was back at Dallas as their HC. Worst of all, he stuck us with Tanny, Bradway and Groh, and cost Belichick as HC. For that reason alone, Jets fans should hate him. I disagree with you regarding Edwards and Mangini failing to recognize the value of the QB position. Yes, they continued to start Chad with his weak arm, but with good reason. Chad could still play in spite of the weak arm. After the Jets released him, at least 6 teams were interested in signing him. When he went to Miami in 2008, he had one of, perhaps the best year of his career. He threw for 3,653 yards (the first Dolphins' QB to do that since Marino), threw 19 TDs against only 7 interceptions, completed 67.4% of his passes (which led the NFL and broke the Dolphins' single-season record of 64.2% [Marino in 2984], had a passer rating of 97.4, started all 16 games for the Dolphins (who went 11-5 under his leadership), and led them into the playoffs. Oh, and he finished tied for second in the NFL MVP voting and won the Comeback Player of the Year Award. So do you still really think that Edwards and Mangini really failed to recognize the value of the QB position? Methinks not, but if they did, the problem was that they didn't value/appreciate Chad enough to build a topnotch OL to protect him and surround him with enough weapons.
As a longtime suffering sports fan, i at times at least look for the fun factor. Which makes the game i love a little more fun. Every season has ended with frustration but i had the most fun under both of Parcells and Ryan. 1997 turning our franchise around into 1998's AFC Championship team and 2009-2010's runs under Ryan were 4 of my favorite seasons. For that Ryan & Parcells have my respect. They gave a hopeless fan base hope and out of all our beloved Jet players they went the furthest under those two head coaches. Keyshawn, Chrebet & Martin. Revis, Ferguson, Harris, Magold. These players had a fighting chance and knocked at the SB door 3 times. And came out of nowhere while doing so. Parcells & Ryan. I can't recall better.
1) Ewbank 2) Parcells 3) Rex Ryan 4) Michaels 5) Edwards None of the others are even worth noting. Since following the team in early 80's the best I've seen are Parcells and Ryan, and the worst I've seen are Kotite and Mangini. If Bowles doesn't turn the ship around a little with the conservative uninspired nonsense, he might enter that worst list also.
The Jets have had only one good HC - Weeb - so the whole idea of ranking the rest is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. If Parcells hadn't have basically quit on them, I would have more respect for him. For all the love in hindsight given to Mangini here, he simply wasn't effective, which is why he got fired. Maybe he should've been GM given his ability to id talent, but he alienated a lot of people, including his players. Michaels, Edwards did okay, but certainly weren't great. Rex was mediocre at best. He could get his team motivated for certain games, but he didn't have the knowledge or ability to put a good team on the field, with a winning game plan, and be able to make adjustments during the game. He played favorites, which is often the undoing of many coaches, as the guys who aren't his pets eventually quit on him. He was a "one trick pony", and Bowles shares many of his same deficiencies, the only real difference is that he's not as loud and brash. The lack of great HCs in their history is second only to the lack of FQBs in their consistent failure. Of course these are closely followed by the lack of great GMs, and all of this flows from the clueless ownership over the past nearly 50 years. We fans have really been ill-served by the two rich kids playing at owning a major sports franchise.
Every coach is hired to win a Super Bowl. Parcells came very close in '98 and the team was probably favored to go the SB in '99 if Vinny hadn't gotten hurt. I don't hold it against him that he didn't want to continuing coaching anymore. It's a personal decision and I wouldn't want a guy coaching if his heart wasn't in it. Besides, he wasn't very successful coaching in Dallas anyway. With Miami, Pennington had a typical Pennington year when he's healthy. As a master of the play fake, he had two pretty good running backs (Brown and Williams) to help him plus a new wrinkle called the "wildcat." Statistics aside, as was always the case with Pennington, he could not overcome his weak arm when facing the better defenses that he inevitably had to face in the playoffs. The following year, he started 0-3 before he gave way to Henne. Pennington was a decent QB, probably better than most at the time, who had all the tools needed for greatness, except the most important one, arm strength. His legacy would have been much greater if he had average arm strength, but it was clear he didn't even have that. That is what I fault the Jets coaches and FO for. Failing to recognize his deficiency was significant despite his other strengths.
Lots of coaches have come close to getting to the SB, that doesn't necessarily mean that they were great coaches. Rex got pretty close himself, and he's anything but a great HC. I wouldn't want a guy as HC whose heart wasn't in it, either. That's not the main reason I despise him. He cost us Belichik, and stuck us with Groh, Bradway and Tanny. Yes, a typical Pennington year. In other words, a solid, franchise QB level year. He could just have easily stayed healthy with the Jets if they had the same commitment to their OL and offense as the Dolphins did. The following year, he gave way to Henne because he was injured on a sack and tore the labrum in his throwing shoulder yet again (the 3rd time), not because of poor play or no arm strength. As far as his arm strength, you are mistaken. Pennington did have average arm strength when he came into the NFL. He was robbed of that by 3 torn rotator cuffs. It's obvious that you've never suffered that injury, and I'm glad you haven't. I have. It's extremely debilitating and hard to overcome. I worked very hard to try to get back to where I had been before but was unable to, either in range of motion or arm strength. I'm amazed that Chad was able to play as well as he did after tearing his rotator cuff twice. Of course he was young, in his prime and an athlete, and had the advantage of the best training methods available and could work full time on that. I was a middle-aged man working a desk job, but still was in pretty darned good shape. IMO you're also mistaken about the Jets not recognizing the deficiency. They did. They dropped certain passing routes from their offense, and other teams quickly learned that, so didn't have to cover the deep outs, and the longer routes. Opposing teams could sit on the shorter routes (which they did), and it severely hampered the Jets' offense. It's funny however, that the Miami coaches were able to figure out a way to get around that, but the Jets' offensive coaches were not. One doesn't throw for 3,500 yards throwing screens and short routes. At any rate, that's why the Jets eventually released Pennington, because they thought he limited the offense too much.
Well written DWC. Quite impressive. I'm with you on 1 and 2, but I'm torn on the 3 spot. I liked Herm (a lot) and Walt Michael too. Pete Carroll had won me over as well and I was really sad to see him go. I'll tell ya the one coach I was WAY off on was Belicheck. I saw him as a sniveling troll and was happy when he resigned after one day. I couldn't imagine ANY team wanting him. Then bam.....20 superbowls later. Yes, he did luck out with drafting Tom Brady, but it was Billichek who hand picked Brady and moved him up quickly to BU just in time for Bledsoe to have his heart broken (lol hahahaha).They had 4 QBs on the roster with Brady being at the bottom and Beli leapfrogged him into #2 which pissed ppl off, but there he was, ready to step over Bledsow's lifeless body and start winng SBs, so I have to begrudgingly give Beli his props. If I hadn't before, then his last come-from-behind SB win was a classic for the ages, and was ALL Bellichec.
