He came across like a bumbling idiot and then it came out that he was lazy as fuck. Say what you want about Gase but 1) No would would ever call him lazy and 2) his teams never quit on him. My vote is for Kotite. Leon took a big swing and fell down when he missed. That guy sucked.
It’s not politically correct to say this anymore, but there’s an old saying about the one-eyed man being king that seems to fit. You can look it up.
@mrjet80 yep. Jimmy had been waiting down in the Keys for a few years for the Miami Media and Blockbuster Wayne to finally nudge old man Shula out the door so he could coach the Phins.
@mrjet80 I would definitely agree with this. He always came across to me as a nice albeit dim-witted HC with the personality I described above....kinda buffoonish but in an endearing kind of way, so long as he wasn't coaching your team. He had the personality, at least during his interviews and press conferences as a lovable lunkhead in over his head as HC. Almost as if Hess had just hired an "Everyman" to coach the Jets for 2 years, like he had decided to let his plumber have a go at coaching the team to see what happened.
It may sound like I am contradicting myself, but I have to agree. The story was that Kotite didn’t do a lot of coaching. He took the attitude that they are pros, and they know what they have to do. The proof is with Parcels coming in, and starting to win with basically the same players. The Kotite Years did get me to give up my season tickets. There was a feeling of hopelessness about it. So there’s that.
That's right. The story was that Johnson had no interest in the Jets. My only point was that he was one of the guys out there, and the Jets never approached him, or anyone else. Leon just had to have Richie Kotite.
yeah I hear you @RPOZ51 I know what you were saying. I was just expanding on what Mr Jet had said. I remember Jimmy catching heat during that time for being a "vulture circling overhead waiting for Shula to be put out of his misery"
Leon liked him. Remember he was the OC during the Walton years so Leon had familiarity with him. He figured it was a convenient fit. Leon wasn’t exactly a football guy himself ....
And living down there at the time I can attest that that is all the fans and radio talk shows talked about the entire season leading up to Shula’s “retirement”. It was almost on demand - the pitchforks were out. To me at the time it was very indicative of the South Florida mentality which is truly miserable if you’ve ever lived there.
LOL Neither was Norman Braman, who was the Eagles owner when Kotite was promoted from OC to HC after Buddy was fired for being unable to win in the playoffs 3 years straight AND for consistently pissing Braman off on a personal level, lol. So the two HC jobs Kotite got in the NFL were jobs where clueless (regarding the football knowledge) owners decided they liked him and would trust him to coach their teams.
Well even in the real world how many times has a job applicant come across as likable and the interviewer forgoes the resumes and hires the likable guy ....
Funny you say that. I was talking to a colleague the other day about this. A lot of times I'd think most people fudge things in interviews that they believe they'll be able to figure out even if they don't have a ton of experience doing something. Forget Kotite though. Gase must be a master interviewer to generate a second job as quickly as he did after a so-so job (not horrible really) in Miami. Not many fired head coaches get hired without a 3-4 year stint somewhere as a coordinator like he did.
I would put Bill Bruford, Carl Palmer and Neil Pearl ahead of both of those guys significantly. Bonham was an animal though and if there is one musician I wish I would have gotten a chance to see live that I didn’t, he would be at the top or near it.
The '95 Jets were in a maddening number of one score games that they let get away in the 4th quarter so that the scores did not reflect the closeness of the games. Parcells would have taken that team to 10-6 or better instead of the 3-13 Kotite managed. The '96 team was just blown out of a lot of games by half time. Kotite was the worst HC the Jets have ever had and they have had some real doozies.
as a thoroughly unlikeable weirdo loner who is also undeniably brilliant, I fully endorse this post! Life is infinitely easier if people like you....since you know, we are a very social species and all, what with the family units and cliques and communities and the networking and whatnot.
I always thought the 1996 team had more talent but they blew a lot of late leads. Just to make sure I researched the schedule - aside from the opening game in Denver, the Raiders game, and a string of three late 35-10 losses in a row - that team was in every other game. They blew huge leads to Miami twice, NE, the Eagles, could have easily beaten Buffalo (home), the Colts away, and the Giants (lousy play by both teams). In reality that was a 7 win team with lousy coaching that couldn’t put away games and always made mistakes in the fourth quarter during otherwise tight games. After researching the 1995 Jets ( I remember them lacking in talent particularly at the offensive skill positions ) they too were blown out opening day in Miami, blew a huge lead to the Colts, beat up an expansion Jacksonville team and then proceeded to lose four straight including an embarrassing SNF 47-10 loss to the Raiders before beating the Dolphins at home by one point with Marino injured. The rest of the season they only played in a couple of close games not including their only other win in Seattle by 6 points. The last two games they scored a total of 6 points. The 1995 season was so bad when it ended the Jets decided to go on that massive FA spending spree in an attempt to renew fans interest after deciding to continue with Kotite. The truth is this is a fun debate but let’s face it. Both of Kotite’s years in charge were complete nightmares and the lowest point in Jets history up to now anyway.