If the Jets don't make the playoffs this year, and in a perfect world, Woody Johnson comes to his senses and cleans house completely, including Joe Douglas and the 74 year old scout from the Namath days, who are the top candidates to rebuild the entire franchise? Like I said, perfect world, so don't hold back and give who you think are the best guys for the job. Sadly we know the Jets franchise is not an attractive job for top guys and most will avoid it in favor of other situations but let's hear who your top guy would be. I'll start. Pete Carroll. He would instantly command respect and accountability from his players and all of his coaches. Players absolutely love playing for the guy. He coaches with such joy it's contagious. He would give this franchise a new makeover right from the jump and they would look buttoned up on the field. I would probably want him as Head Coach because he has that "It" factor and his track record backs that up completely. He wants to get back in the game as an HC so bad. So then, we would still need to bring in a GM type to work with him on all personnel decisions since Carroll's record isn't as unblemished there. But as a head coach, the Jets couldn't do any better. If you bring in a very strong HC like Carroll then you probably just need to look for a good talent evaluator as the GM for the draft and trades. Basically what I'm saying is in this specific case, you wouldn't need the GM to figure out the HC of the future because Carroll has a good 5-7 year run left in him. Who you got?
There is no best person for the job. The Jets are not a serious franchise and there's no changing that.
Can't argue that but if they ever were serious about getting their shit together, who would you go with?
My #1 criteria for the job would be to hire someone for VP with a successful resume. No more OJT guys. Let the VP run the show. I think Pete Carrol for that job.
I would have more hope if woody dies soon. Imagine he just croaks and the clouds part, a ray of sunshine hits Aaron Rodgers and we win the Super Bowl
If Carroll wants to still coach as you say, and he'd be willing to come back to a franchise that shot canned after one season, and work for Woody - both pretty big "IFs" - I'd be fine with that. If that happened, then maybe you don't need to get rid of Douglass - if Douglass doesn't mind taking a lot of direction and input from Carroll. It could be the best solution to the current situation. Other than that, if Andy Reid wins another SB, maybe he'd want the challenge of building a team from the ground up. That said, very few great HCs ever became good GMs (Lombardi, Shanahan to name two), so maybe that's not a good idea. OTOH, it's a really low bar to clear. Unfortunately, the successful candidates are likely happy where they are and their owners aren't going to let them go, which means being left with unproven - at the GM level - guys. This is why I'm not saying Douglass should be fired for sure at this point. Of course if a really good candidate is available, I'd say "So long Joe!", otherwise, finding a really strong, proven, offensive minded HC might be the best we can do at this point.
The GM piece, to me, is the toughest. On the one hand JD has done a fairly decent job of building the roster, in general. He's had his whiffs though, BIG Whiffs. In my opinion, the biggest was trotting out Zach Wilson as Aaron Rodgers backup last year. To go into last season, Aaron 'Freakin' Rodgers or not, he should have had an adequate backup solution in place that wasn't Zach Wilson. Zach was a known "loss" at that point and he shouldn't have gone into 2023 so unprepared. He had a ton of options that would VASTLY superior to Wilson. The Jets missed a VERY good opportunity last year and that just sits raw to me since it's such an OBVIOUS need. Carroll would be my choice for coach....if he would even bother with our mess.
Woody sucks and is directly responsible for the franchise being dormant for decades, but this is disgusting dude. Chris Johnson would take over again in your scenario and that situation was far worse FWIW
Leaving aside the GM component and focusing on HC, there are a handful of qualities I’d consider minimum requirements. I’m not looking to expand the field of candidates, I’m looking to limit both the field and the likelihood that in 4-5 years we’ll have another new HC Candidates thread here. So, here’s what I’d want. First off, I’m done with last season’s most competent coordinator. I can’t think of any successful HC that didn’t get promoted because of success as a coordinator, but the list of successes is a thousand times smaller than the list of failures. Yeah, sure, every hire is a crapshoot, but I’m tired of experimenting. The most sure-footed I ever felt about this team, was in the late-1990s. It felt like we had some structure and direction. I’ll ignore the 100-page thread where we discuss why that fell apart. HC experience, first and foremost. Successful HC experience goes without saying. Second, as much as we’re hiring a new HC, we’re also hiring a guy to find and groom stability and success at the QB position. Whether that’s through free agency or the draft, I don’t care. The average tenure of an NFL HC is less than half the career length of a successful QB. As much as I’d like a HC to have enough success that he’ll stick here for 10-years, odds are that won’t happen. I want a guy who adds stability, generally, and stability at QB specifically. I’d prefer someone young, although you can only limit the field so far. I don’t hate the idea of Pete Carroll - but he’s probably got only about three years of coaching still left in him. I also doubt, at his age, the thrill of coaching and a pile of money is enough to put a 3000 mile move on his radar. He’s done NY. I doubt he wants his last job to be cleaning the tiger cage. However, if he came in with the stated goal of fielding a competitive team, adding structure and setting the team up for future success behind him - fine. As long as we’re all clear in that. I’d like someone who understands NY fans and the NY market. NY ain’t for everyone. More people, more anger, bigger spotlight, more pressure. Plenty of examples of people who washed out in NY and went on to perfectly fine careers elsewhere. Here, one ham-handed comment, followed by two straight losses, any coach would be wise to start interviewing real estate brokers. Things spiral fast. Lastly, this is a point aimed more at management - I’d be willing to give up high draft pick compensation to fulfill those minimum requirements. I’ll also be ripping mad if money is an obstacle. It makes zero sense to throw $12 million at one player and cap your starting HC salary at $5 million. Especially when HC salaries aren’t factored into the salary cap. Pay to get what the team needs. So, wrapping this up, one candidate keeps sticking in my head that fills all those minimum requirements. I didn’t scribble this out with him in mind, although it seemed like I was describing him as I was typing. Kevin O’Connell. Catch him before he signs a contract extension.
It’s tough to attract anyone to the job when the owner and his cronies meddle. There’s a reason Eric DeCosta wouldn’t even take the fucking phone call back in 2014.
And that’s the problem…when you have a clueless idiot owner who likes to meddle, it’s not a good combo. The only type who would work in that situation is a proven commodity who has clout walking in the door to go with a strong personality. I’m thinking a Bill Parcells type. Sad part is that candidate was available last year and his name was Jim Harbaugh…he is enough of a bastard to tell Woody to shut up and sit down and let him do the work. And he’s been proven. That’s the housecleaning that needed to happen, but god forbid we potentially piss off Rodgers so here we are. I too would like a proven guy, but those aren’t sitting around all day…I wouldn’t mind Carroll but I doubt he’d be interested in this shit show. Kingsbury is an interesting option…former HC, success as a creative OC…he’d be a good type of HC to go draft and groom a young QB to sit behind Rodgers for a year or two until AR hangs it up. I also worry about the up and coming OC/DC route as we’ve done that often and it’s not worked out for us…it just gives the clueless Woody more room to get in the middle of everything. No easy answers
You bring in Pete Carroll to manage football operations/GM...and Shane Waldron as your new head coach. Can't be any worse than what we've got going on.
Rex, Bowles, and Saleh were all defensive coordinator hires.. we only went with one offensive guy in Gase and he had shown nothing except being carried by Peyton Manning that one year. I think ya gotta bring in a young creative OC to be the next head coach like a Zac Robinson from Atlanta.
You have to wonder how his memory is... 1 year as HC and canned.. also he sh*t the bed after letting Wilson go, kinda like Beli after Brady left so I'm not sure there is interest from either side.
Since these are just opinions I will add mine.....for head coach I am looking at: 1. Ben Johnson 2. Mike Vrable 3. Pete Caroll (that's one I totally forgot about. He would have to be committed to atleast 5 years) 4. Rex Ryan (flame away with this one. Rex has always LOVED the Jets. He has so much passion for the game and the Jets as a whole. He needs to bring a really good OC with him) With all that, if Brich wins games then he gets first bite at the apple. At the bottom of it all, Hackett needs to go....
