http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=5188879 FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Woody Johnson looked tired. He had spent a good part of Thursday in damage-control mode, trying to calm an angry fan base. There was a newspaper story about thousands of unsold PSLs in the new stadium and potential TV blackouts in the New York market -- the fandom equivalent to Armageddon -- and the Jets' owner spoke with several media outlets, attempting to clean up the mess. Now it was quiet in a glass-enclosed conference room at the Jets' sparkling headquarters, where Johnson sat down with ESPNNewYork.com -- and a cup of hot tea -- to discuss an anniversary of sorts: Ten years as the team's owner. On Jan. 18, 2000, Johnson's purchase of the Jets -- for a cool $635 million -- was unanimously approved by the NFL owners. He walked into turmoil -- Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick had just quit on consecutive days -- and now he's in the middle of another firestorm. Never a dull moment in Gotham. Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger/US Presswire After a decade of ownership, Woody Johnson says he's ready to finally take the Jets -- and their fans -- to the promised land. Johnson, known mostly in high society and the financial world when he took control of the Jets, was a newcomer to the local sports landscape. He was so unaccustomed to the spotlight that he actually phoned a friend, actor Michael Douglas, for advice on how to handle his first news conference as owner. "Just be yourself, Woody," Douglas told him. Initially, Johnson was perceived as a mild-mannered, almost meek boss, but his voice -- inside and outside the organization -- has become louder. Example: In his sitdown with ESPNNewYork.com, Johnson said he expects to reach the Super Bowl this season, claiming the Jets' talent is as good as any other team in the league. The expectations, already high, just climbed another notch. But, at the same time, he admitted that, even with no salary cap in the NFL, the Jets are operating on an internal budget. In 10 seasons under Johnson, the Jets have been the quintessential middle-of-the-pack team -- an 80-80 record, 16th in the league. But Johnson, 63, said he's obsessed with winning a Super Bowl, and he vowed to make it happen. In the first of a two-part interview, he discusses the team and the upcoming season. Q: You've made a lot of splashy moves this offseason -- LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Cromartie, Jason Taylor and Santonio Holmes. A lot of people think the moves were made to drive PSL sales. What do you say to that? WJ: The thing that drives us is getting to a Super Bowl and winning that. Every one of these moves, if you look at the design of them, is to take last year's team, make it better and drive us to that Super Bowl. I mean, look what happened to us at the end. We played the Colts [in the AFC Championship Game] and we were weak at corner. We broke down at corner, so we changed that. Who was the best corner on the market? Cromartie. Who's better than Cromartie? Are we doing that for flash? I think that's called good team-building myself. We're probably going to face them again and we'll be ready for it. Q: How disappointing would it be if you don't make the Super Bowl? WJ: I'm not going to speculate. I think we're going to make it. Q: You sound like Rex Ryan. Has he rubbed off on you? WJ: A little bit, yeah. It's very refreshing to be able to tell your players and your fans what you want to do and not have to hide it. I like that. It's liberating. You can actually tell people where you want to take them, where they want to go. Do you want to jump aboard a team that comes in 15th? That's not what we're shooting for. That isn't why we're here. Q: Why so many moves after coming so close to a championship last season? WJ: Every move we made was well thought-out ... you don't like to lose someone like Thomas Jones or [Alan] Faneca, but we have to make tough choices in this environment, in this business. The Herd with Colin Cowherd Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum addresses the team's challenges selling PSLs and the possibility of TV blackouts. He also comments on Darrelle Revis' future with the team. More Podcasts » Q: There is no salary cap this year, but you got rid of Jones and Faneca, two team leaders, and you played hardball with Jay Feely over maybe $500,000 -- and lost him. It looks like you're cutting payroll in a year where that shouldn't be a concern. Are you trying to save money? WJ: No, we got everybody we wanted. It's just that the rules make it more difficult to spend. We had a budget; it's still a pretty hardy budget in the NFL. I don't know if it's the highest, but we're spending quite a large chunk. Q: You were criticized for acquiring players with off-field issues, namely Cromartie and Holmes. It's a 180-degree shift in philosophy from a few years ago. Why the sudden change? WJ: We looked at those two as young men that had what we thought was manageable risk. Yes, they made mistakes. We've all made mistakes -- maybe they've made a few more -- but the coach and the security people looked at it. It was a group decision that, yes, this is a manageable risk. These are very young men. We talked to them, and we believed them that they wanted to make a change. We're doing everything we can to help them along. We feel both of those players ... will make us a better team. Q: What about signing Jason Taylor, a former rival hated by Jets fans? Did you consider how your fans might react before making that move? WJ: The fans are going to react if he sacks a couple of quarterbacks. What do you think the reaction will be when he comes out and sacks three or four quarterbacks in a row? He's a high-character guy, and we're happy to have him with us. Q: You've taken an active role in recruiting free agents, especially Taylor. Some people around the building call you "The Closer." Are you The Closer? WJ: No, Mike [Tannenbaum] is The Closer, but I'm part of the process because you want to give the athlete a sense of where he's going. You're Jason Taylor and you're coming into enemy territory. He had trepidations. How do you make him feel he's welcome here? We want to embrace Jason Taylor when he comes up here. We can't wait until he gets here, and make him immediately part of the family. A lot of people let him know what the deal is here: 'You're one of us now.' Q: Were you that involved in your early years as the owner? WJ: No, it was a different situation. This is much better. There are a lot more ways you can make a player feel welcome. That's very important. That's why we're getting all these guys. Everybody wants to play here now. Q: You have a lot of players at the end of their contracts, some of whom you acquired this offseason -- Holmes and Cromartie. It has created the perception, even among some of your own players, that it's all-or-nothing in 2010. Is it? Jets blog Looking for more information on the green and white? ESPNNewYork.com has you covered. Blog WJ: That could be the perception, but it's not true. We're in a strange kind of cap situation, where we're very, very limited [by the "Final Eight Rule"]. The fact that Mike and his team put this together is pretty much a miracle. We got four major players, so it's, "How in the heck did you do that?" It was threading the needle. Q: Tannenbaum often says it's his charge to win the Super Bowl. How often do you remind him of that? WJ: We talk about it every day. We talk about what it takes to build a team and how to build sustainable success. You've got to manage your financial resources. ... You have to be careful. It's part talent and part balance sheet. And bookkeeping; you have to be good bookkeepers. You have to really understand how to place assets in the portfolio to give you the highest probability of success. Q: Is winning a Super Bowl an obsession? WJ: Yes, that's what I'm obsessed about. We talk about it, we plan for it. It's going to happen at some point, hopefully this year.
This is an area I think we'll see that Tannenbaum is especially adept in. That's going to be important once we have to re-sign Mangold, Revis, Harris, etc.
Good post. Woody has come a long way as owner, that's for sure. A lot of decisions I have not agreed with, but overall if he gets us a superbowl this year, it's redemption.
its that part about sustainable success and bookkeeping that is most important. all the great teams do it.
There's definitely that identifiable marker now on the Jets for sustained successful franchise trends throughout the NFL. Coach that knows football and knows the players he needs. A GM that can go get them. An owner who is driven and trusts his guys enough to sign off on the efforts. Even if it doesn't translate somehow to a Superbowl this year, I'm happy that I can finally feel like there is no guessing anymore with the front office. Instead there's only calculated operations designed with the prupose of prolonging our opportunity window towards the title.
I've said before and I'll say it again. As much as I want an SB win for this franchise while I am alive, I will be very happy with a perennial playoff team. That just increases our chances of making it to the final dance.
For those who don't want to read it all heres the compacted version: "We're going to win the SB so if you don't want to miss it BUY PSL'S!!!!!
I'd love to believe that the recent comments from Woody regarding this team would finally kill the ridiculous notion that all he's doing is trying to make money, but it won't. This guy actually cares about the success of the franchise, but he won't get credit for it. Hopefully he will, at least when we finally win it.
I just hope if this is the year we don't get a bunch of bitter.... "shit I missed it because I didn't buy PSL's" and people turning on the team because they didn't buy them. I've got serious reservations about the issue and think it's complete BS but I'm in no position to worry about it either. That being said you can buy them or you don't. If you don't I don't blame you but please don't be bitter and take it out on the team. For the record I wouldn't buy them.
Not buying it ...he doesn't care about the team, he cares about his investment. Big Difference. When you care about the team, you don't treat certain players like shit. Yeah, it'a a business but that's the difference in owners who truly "care about the team."
Who have they treated like shit? Leon? He and his agent brought that on themselves, Faneca? He knew he was making too much money and was likely going to be cut. He was also a liability giving up 7 sacks last year. Not good enough for the highest paid OL on the team. Like he said and I think it was a clear shot at Mangini is that he wasn't involved as much as he is now. If the Jets were treating people like shit vets like Taylor and LT wouldn't be lining up to come play here.....
i always try to argue that selling psl's goes hand in hand with woody caring about the team doing well. the best way to sell psl's is to have a winning team and that is what the jets are looking to become.
Seriously? You think they're lining up to play here and it's because the owner cares about them? c'mon....old vets on their way out looking at the best shot for them to try and get the elusive ring...that's all that is and it has nothing to do with an owner who cares. That's exactly what it is....he is only doing it as a business nothing else.... He sees it as a product, which as you already said goes hand in hand. I don't get how people don't see this. In the end we get a good team and as a fan that's what you want but unfortunately @ a price.
I'm not saying he cares about them but how many players do Robert Kraft and Chicken care about? Those fuckers have 3 rings. You don't have to care about the players but I think it's clear that Woody wants to win... and you still haven't told me who we treated like shit.
Woody talks proudest moments, regrets In Part II of our two-part Q&A, Johnson says he's comfortable being an NFL owner EmailPrintComments 1 Share 3 retweet7 By Rich Cimini ESPNNewYork.com Archive FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- For a seemingly mild-mannered person, Woody Johnson has waded into his share of controversy during his 10 years as the New York Jets' owner. There was the Spygate scandal in 2007, when the Jets accused the New England Patriots of illegal videotaping. Just recently, Johnson called out Roger Goodell, questioning the commissioner's secret coin flip to determine which team would play the first regular-season game at the new Meadowlands Stadium. "He'll say what a lot of people won't say," former Jets star Curtis Martin said of Johnson. "He has this quiet tenacity about him. I think most people close to him know about it." Johnson has experienced a few foot-in-mouth moments over the years in a tenure marked by upheaval and fairly consistent success on the field. From 2000 to 2009, the Jets reached the playoffs five times; only seven other teams did it more often. So no, they're not the Los Angeles Clippers. But the Jets haven't won a Super Bowl since 1969, perhaps because of the instability. Johnson is on his fourth coach and fourth quarterback, although he firmly believes the Rex Ryan-Mark Sanchez tandem will win a Lombardi Trophy. If the turnover seems familiar -- early Steinbrenner, anyone? -- it might be because Johnson is a big fan of the Yankees boss, as he reveals in Part 2 of his two-part interview with ESPNNewYork.com. Here, he reflects upon people and events that shaped his first decade as owner. Q: Is there is a sports owner, perhaps someone in New York, that you really admire? WJ: The guy I admire the most is George Steinbrenner. He's a winner and has a lot of personality. The Yankee record is unparalleled in sports. Q: Do you think you have some similarities with Steinbrenner? WJ: No, he has a lot more rings. When I get some rings, maybe. Q: In what ways are you a better owner now than when you first took over? WJ: Better coach, for one. [Laughs.] Being an NFL owner, at least for me, has been an apprentice period. It takes a while to assimilate the workings of the NFL and to make intelligent decisions, to be able to trust and assemble a great team, to trust your own instincts, to have enough contacts to make intelligent decisions. So I think you do get better over time. We've had a lot of change over the years. Q: Are you more hands-on in terms of the football operation than you were in your earlier days? WJ: Yeah, definitely. I leave the ultimate personnel decisions to Mike [Tannenbaum], but I'm not shy about expressing my point of view. I have discussions with the coaching staff, with Mike and with scouting. Q: Reflecting on your 10 years, what has been your proudest moment? WJ: The best situation was when I bought the team, when I was actually approved by the other NFL owners. That was a moment where I knew my life had changed, and the journey began at that point. Q: Worst moment? WJ: Losing a game is always a really, really, really bad moment. It stokes you up, emotionally. Apart from family matters, I don't know if you can feel worse than that. Q: Your smartest move in 10 years? WJ: You mean other than buying the team? I'd say the hiring of the Rex Ryan team, Rex and his coaching staff. I think we have an incredible group of people on the coaching side. To build a team, you need good coaches. Our core players are young and very, very talented, four or five that we picked up over the last four years. I think our players are just as good as anywhere else in the league. Q: Biggest regret? WJ: That we put all that effort into the West Side [Stadium]. On the other hand, I'm glad we're not on the West Side now because [that project] may not even be started. But we did put a lot of effort into it, and we gave it everything we had, but I'm so happy because I wouldn't be in Florham Park, N.J., if the political powers that be hadn't said no to the West Side. That would've been a shame, because I think being in Florham Park is the best move. You want to talk about good moves? This was one of the best moves, because what we have here is second to none in the world. Q: Let's discuss some names and events, with quick impressions. Let's start with Bill Parcells, who ran your football operation the first year. WJ: Funny. Extremely opinionated. Great memory. Q: The whole story never came out, but did you try to convince Parcells to return to coaching when Bill Belichick quit in 2000? WJ: My begging didn't do it. Q: You begged? WJ: Oh, yeah. I used everything I could to get him to come. I wanted him to come. He wouldn't come. I could tell. I didn't push as hard as I maybe could have, because I could tell he wasn't feeling it. Q: What about Al Groh, your first coach? WJ: Another very intelligent human being. [It was] one year and out, but he filled a gap and he did a good job that year. He got us to 9-7. Q: Herm Edwards, your second coach? WJ: Herm is great on ESPN. He was probably the best speaker I've ever heard -- brilliant, brilliant. A lot of enthusiasm. Kept himself in great shape. Q: Eric Mangini, coach No. 3? WJ: Very, very smart guy. Very smart. He had the Mangini way. He was very rigid in the way he looked at building the team and coaching the team and disciplining the team. Q: Rex Ryan? WJ: Rex is a leader among men. He's a great leader. He leads through humor and expertise. He's the best X's-and-O's guy I've ever had, but it's not just X's and O's. It's the desire to lead his team. This is a man's sport. He's unique. Q: Another name from the past -- Cablevision's James Dolan, the leading opponent to your bid for a West Side Stadium. WJ: I thank him for that. Not at the time, of course, but he was watching out for his own business [Madison Square Garden]. I don't begrudge that at all. Q: Spygate? WJ: That's in the past. [Patriots owner] Bob Kraft and I have put that behind us. Q: Did it take a while? WJ: It took a while, yeah, but that's behind us. We're competitors on the field and partners off the field. Q: Brett Favre? WJ: Oh, just bigger than life. You can see why we got him after he did what he did last year. Incredible. Best year that he had. Q: No regrets on that trade? WJ: No way. It was a privilege to have him in the building. What a great experience it was to have him here. I think he helped the franchise. What he gave to the locker room is still there. Q: Are you still ticked off by the commissioner's secret coin flip, won by the Giants? WJ: No. Q: How long did it take you to get over that? WJ: A while. I've totally moved on. Roger and I, we're way past that. It was just … just something we lived a while ago. Q: Some fans were happy because you stuck up for your team. Was that part of the motivation, to show fans they have a fiery owner? WJ: Once again, I've answered all those things about it. It was in the past. I'm glad the fans like some of the moves we're making. Q: Do you consider yourself a demanding boss? WJ: No, not really. As long as we win the Super Bowl, I'm good. [He smiles.] tell you what i like woody more and more these days. with all he is doing for the team(and i believe it is more then just trying to sell PSLs) i would hate to see him still get booed when he comes onto the field and things like that
