I have to admit my opinion on Tannenbaum has soured. Looking at the Mangini press conference firing, and the way the HC interviews are being held I have come to realize one thing: This is all about Tannenbaum getting more power and furthering his career, and nothing about making the Jets a better team long term. It is a power play pure and simple and one Tannenbaum is winning. We all would like to view football teams as somehow different than other for-profit organizations and that everything is done solely for the sake of the teams success and for the fans. Maybe some NFL teams are like that, but the Jets are not. They are run like a corporation and no where is that more evident than in Mike Tannenbaum. In corporate culture, people rarely get ahead solely on being good at their jobs, they get ahead by playing the corporate game, making sure that their butts are covered, manipulating things so that they get full credit when things go well, but also being just separated enough that when things go to crap there is someone they can point out to take the blame. These people often have the president's and high level executive's ear, and subtly manipulate them to get ahead. Usually they get away with this because the people above them in the first place got there the same way. I did not realize until recently that this is what Tannenbaum is. Interestingly, Mangini is the other type of corporate worker: the very smart, super hard working guy who ultimately gets let go because he is not politically savvy or polished. Now I believe that Mangini should have been fired, but only because I believe that ultimately Mangini does not really understand the "game" of football and the ebbs and flows of momentum and the role that raw emotion and feel have in the game. But Tannenbaum started to set up Mangini for the fall WELL before it became obvious that Mangini was in over his head. Tannenbaum and Mangini have been so tied at the hip that we called them Tangini. They often decried how every decision was joint and how Mangini and Tannenbaum went through every "scenario" each night to make the team better. But in the press conference, we heard that Woody and Tannenbaum "talk every day" and that this has been "in process for the entire season:. Tannenbaum realized that with the FA signings if the team failed to perform that someone would take the fall. So in classic corporate politics form, Tangini started sowing the seeds of laying the blame solely on Mangini FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. So much so, that when the Jets wound up where they were, Tannenbaum was viewed as completely separate from Mangini, Woody's guy, and they fired Mangini. This allowed Tannenbaum to not only avoid getting fired with Mangini, but actually increase the influence over the team that he has. Now, in this sham of a coaching search everything is being done to secure Tannenbaum's future, sell PSLs and almost nothing is being done to make the Jets better. Look at the events and what has been happening: 1. The assistant coaches are not fired and are told that "many will be kept on". WTF? You could make the argument that the assistant coaches should be gone, but instead the Jets start from the position that some of the assistants are already in place. This is a good move for Tannenbaum in securing more power and also insures that the top candidates will not come here. 2. Cowher, who regardless of what he says now, WAS VERY INTERESTED. Yet Tannenbaum I truly believe manipulated it so that you had the assistant coach thing, and an interview without Woody even present. This is guaranteed to insure that Cowher would go away. Another Tannenbaum power move 3. Now we here that Spagnuolo "did not impress". Again, WTF? Spagnuolo has done all that is needed on and off the field to make him the top assistant available, yet we eliminate him for an interview? BS. Spagnuolo can take any position he wants and Tannenbaums role would not be as secure with Spags here nor would Tannenbaum have the same level of power. 4. Now we here thay Schott is the leading candidate. Again, WTF? He should be the second leading candiidate to be fired. But, Schott accomplishes several things in the corportate world Tannenbaum is setting up: a. He would be a "yes" man, and an instant built in scapegoat b. He would keep the same system, increasing the odds of retaiing Favre c. It makes Tannenbaum more powerful and removes another potential adversary in his climb up the corporate ladder I could go on more, but I have to say I am saddened and somewhat disgusted to see the Jets become just another BS corporate entity. As long as Tannenbaum is here, decisions will be made for his personal career goals, not to make the Jets better.
It's pretty typical that the assistant coaches are kept under contract until after the new head coach is hired. The new head coach decides whether to keep them or replace them. I don't think Tannenbaum purposely set up an individual meeting with Cowher. If you want to blame anybody on not getting Cowher it should be Johnson. I'm assuming Cowher wanted to meet the owner, and wants to work for an owner who pays the upmost attention to the team. Woody probably gave the wrong impression when, during what are arguably the most important days of the offseason for the team, was traveling. He may have also found it insulting that the owner didn't care enough to meet with him.
Good post but it is all hearsay with not one fact in it. 1. The new coach will decide which coaches stays and which go. I can't figure out why the fans are making such a big deal out of this. 2. How in the world do you know Cowher WAS VERY INTERESTED! You have no clue about Cowhers intention. It sounds much more likely that he just is not ready to get back into coaching then any of the conspiracy theories that are floating around. 3. Spags has already been interviewed, again you have no basis for your theories other then speculation. You don't even know if Spags has been eliminated as a candidate. Maybe he just wasn't very prepared for any number of reasons like he is preparing a D for a playoff game? or he was spending more time preparing for the interview he was having later in the day for the team he really wants to coach next year? 4. Schott is a leading candidate according to who? the media? has he been hired yet? The Jets have held about 3 interviews so far, the search is far from over & this thread while well written and a good read just may be very premature.
If it's all about power and "furthering his career", how can he do that unless he builds a winner? I'm not saying he isn't in it for himself because I have no idea what his motivations are. But at least in my career field, you don't get promoted if you don't produce.
And you were able to figure this out working from 8-5 doing something that probably is not football related, but Woody, who's main source of income is most likely football, is not able to figure this out and his financial advisors are also clueless....good observation.. ps. Woodys makes millions of dollars in this business and I doubt if he keeps his eyes shut...'I hearth no badth, I listenth no badth'
All of this is hearsay. You are basing all of your conclusions on speculations of incompetent reporters and "people close to the Jets organization."
Great to hear that...u must have had family ties with Cowher cuz I haven't heard this one before ... VERY interested??? Who told you he was VERY interested and not just "will hear out the Jets"
I'm sure Woody cares more for his bottom line than whether the team wins, he wants to sell his PSLs. What he is gambling on is that the buying public, the fans, don't catch on. And judging by people like you, his gamble is paying off.
Here's a fact: we don't know any facts asides from what the media feeds us. While the points in the OP's post can be debated, I absolutely can understand how he can come to the conclusions, and I get a lot of the same impressions myself. Woody is a businessman - not necessarily a football guy. Mike Tannenbaum is a lawyer, a suit, a number cruncher paper pusher - again, not a football guy. The two most powerful people in the Jets organization are not football guys. It is clear why Jets fans are so distressed looking at this team in its current predicament and not having hope for a positive resolution. I would say the best thing to do is to wait and see. Everyone obviously has their opinions on what should happen... and we will know what Woody / Tannenbaum are thinking in just a few weeks. Hopefully, whatever they are thinking is better than we might want to believe. Otherwise we're in for a very long ride.
And that's why he's saying the new coach will have a say in Favre's retirement...That could be another deploy, but it can only work for so long.
I don't dispute that Woody wants to make more and more money...its never enough BTW. But I just don't agree that Tanny is fooling Woody to gain more power.
I don't think anything sells more than a winning team. Sure he cares about the bottom line, but what owner doesn't? I'm not saying you're wrong because he wouldn't be the first or last to put profit over team, but I just don't get that sense from Woody. I'm probably one of the gullible fans you referenced, but my take is that he's still not very football saavy, and he's taking making his decisions based on input from a very young GM and HC. I still prefer him over the likes of Jerry Jones, Al Davis and Snyder.
Look at Daniel Snyder. His team hasn't won shit and he's sold freaking tickets to training camp, including parking passes. He's turned the Skins into one of the most valuable franchises in the league. Yes, winning sells the most. But it's not the only way to sell. Especially in a league where there are 31 losers every season.
