N.Y.Times Article

Two Jets Coaches Try Out Life on Their Own


By KAREN CROUSE
Published: July 31, 2006

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., July 30 ? While sweat-soaked fans searched for precious spots in the shade Sunday, Eric Mangini and Brian Schottenheimer were on the Jets? practice field choreographing their way around two immense shadows.

Mangini, the 35-year-old first-time head coach, is motivated to prove he is more than a mimic of his mentor, New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Schottenheimer, the 32-year-old first-time offensive coordinator, is out to demonstrate he can succeed in the family business independently of his father, Marty, the coach of the San Diego Chargers. How far the Jets go this season is largely dependent on how well Mangini and Schottenheimer manage their independence.

Mangini?s faithful and fruitful association with Belichick, under whom he earned three Super Bowl rings, loomed large in his hiring by the Jets, but now that training camp is under way, Mangini?s focus is firmly on the present, not his past.

He appears eager to move beyond the question of where Belichick?s influence ends and his initiative begins. ?Bill is Bill and I am who I am,? Mangini said. ?I?ve learned a lot from him and there will be tons of things I take away from him, but at the end of the day he?s Bill and I?m Eric, and that?s the way we?re going to approach it.?

Mangini?s efforts to distance himself from Belichick and his authoritarian regime can come off as plodding. He asserts his authority by making his players run a lap every time they mess up in practice, then, as if to affirm his autonomy, he says, ?I couldn?t tell you where the genesis of that idea came from.?

His eagerness to establish his own persona can also be endearing, as when he solicits feedback on his performance in news conferences or makes a fat joke at his expense. Asked to elaborate on the conditioning test that receiver Justin McCareins initially failed, Mangini politely declined but offered, ?It?s something I wouldn?t want to do.?

Mangini wants to establish control, but not to the point that he comes off as cold; he is critiquing players? comments to the news media and collecting fines from anyone who speaks out of turn, but the door to his office is open if players want to talk.

?It?s his first year,? said Jerricho Cotchery, a second-year wide receiver. ?He has to get his point across and let everybody know where he is coming from.?

Schottenheimer spent the previous five years working under his father, first as the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Redskins and then in the same capacity for the Chargers.

?Some people painted a picture that this kid is coaching with his dad because he?s not good enough to get a job elsewhere,? Schottenheimer said in an interview last month. He professed not to care what some people thought. ?It was one of those things where I enjoyed working for my father,? he said.

Mangini?s interest in Schottenheimer was serendipitous, coming as Schottenheimer was feeling the itch to strike out on his own. ?I felt like it was time to get out from under Marty,? Schottenheimer said.

The Jets were not Schottenheimer?s only suitors. Mike McCarthy, the Green Bay Packers? first-year coach, who was a groomsman at Schottenheimer?s wedding, asked the Chargers for permission to talk to him about becoming the Packers? quarterbacks coach.

Marty Schottenheimer refused the request because he has a rule about his assistants not breaking contracts to pursue lateral moves.

?I was a little bit disappointed,? Schottenheimer said, ?but Marty had to do what was in the best interests of the San Diego Chargers, and I understood that.?

In the end, everything worked out for the best. ?One of the things Marty takes the most pride in is this is something I completely did on my own,? Schottenheimer said. ?He didn?t make a call on my behalf. He had no connections to Coach Mangini.?

Mangini said Sunday that he had focused on Schottenheimer because his name kept coming up in conversations with close advisers. When their introductory meeting went on for hours, Mangini, a defensive specialist, knew he had found his offensive soul mate.

?We spent a lot of time watching tape, discussing ideas, discussing offensive philosophies, discussing defensive philosophies and discussing adjustments within those philosophies,? Mangini said. ?A lot of time passed before we came out of the room. That?s why I really felt comfortable with him.?

They are two coaches in a cocoon, their dreams hitched to no one now but each other.

EXTRA POINTS

The first five practices have averaged 2 hours 31 minutes. ... Kerry Rhodes, a second-year safety, has made an interception in each of the first three days of camp. ... Jerricho Cotchery caught Coach Eric Mangini?s eye before he ran his first long route in camp. ?He was the most outstanding player in our off-season program,? Mangini said. He added, ?I?m happy to be working with him.?