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Woody must appease fans with big-name coach hire
By Brian CostelloDecember 9, 2014 | 8:18pm
If Woody Johnson needs a reminder of the crisis he faces as the owner of the Jets, he should get one when he arrives at MetLife Stadium in 11 days for the Jets-Patriots game.
One segment of Johnson’s fan base is angry, evidenced by the “Fire Idzik” yellow towels being distributed for that game by the FireJohnIdzik.com guys. Another segment of the fan base, and this may bother Johnson even more, has grown apathetic. This is evidenced by empty seats and the large electronic “Tickets Available at All Gates” signs that line the MetLife parking lot these days.
It seems a given Johnson will fire coach Rex Ryan, and general manager John Idzik looks more likely to be fired with each passing week. That has become the easy part for Johnson. The tricky part comes after that, with whom he replaces them.
This is the most pivotal point of Johnson’s 15 years of ownership. His paying customers are not happy. While winning football games is paramount, Johnson also is running a business and unhappy customers are not good for business.
With this crisis in confidence among the fans, Johnson must hire a coach who is going to excite the fans and serve as the face of the franchise. The Jets currently have no star players at glamour positions whom they can market as the face. Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson are great players, but no one is buying tickets to watch them play. The Jets might land a face of the franchise in the draft, but you can’t count on that in January.
That leaves Johnson having to hit a home run with this hire, not only in terms of finding a good coach, but also a marketable one. Johnson must give his fans belief he is hurting as badly as they are and give them a reason to plunk down their PSL payments for 2015.
Winning the press conference is not always important, but for Johnson and the Jets it is. When he presents his new coach next month, it has to be someone with name recognition who immediately fires up the fans. If Johnson hires a no-name assistant coach from another team, it is not going to bring the fans back.
The last time the Jets were in such a sorry state was 1996, when Rich Kotite’s team went 1-15. Leon Hess went out and got Bill Parcells from the Patriots, and the move changed the direction of the franchise.
Johnson is at a similar moment.
The most obvious coach who fits the bill this time is Jim Harbaugh. It is clear Harbaugh will not be in San Francisco next season, but there are a ton of questions to be answered. Would he be interested in coaching the Jets? Would Johnson, who has only hired first-time coaches before, be willing to pay him the $7-$8 million he is expected to seek?
Will the 49ers hold out for draft picks? Is Johnson willing to turn over total control to Harbaugh, a respected coach, but one who is known to grate on people?
At the moment, it does not look like any other highly respected current coaches will be looking for new jobs, but you never know. Maybe Sean Payton gets fired by the Saints. He would be another coach to get excited about.
Johnson also could dip into the Super Bowl-winning coach pool. Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher seem to get mentioned for jobs every year and never take one, but maybe this is the job that excites them.
There is also the big-name college coach route. Could Nick Saban be lured away from Alabama? It’s doubtful, but it never hurts to ask. What about Urban Meyer? He has said in the past he does not want to coach in the NFL, but maybe he has tired of the recruiting trail.
Whichever way Johnson goes, I think the coaching hire is the most important one for him to make. If he gets one of the big-name NFL coaches, Johnson should basically allow him to hire the new GM. The Chiefs did this when they hired Andy Reid as coach and he hired John Dorsey as the GM.
Johnson has watched his team lose a lot of games this year. Now, he faces a must-win of his own. In four or five weeks he will be standing in front of the media introducing his new coach. The Jets can’t afford another loss.
For once, Jets have struck it ‘Rich’
Sheldon Richardson has been a rose stuck in the middle of a bed of weeds this year.
The second-year defensive tackle has played his tail off all season despite the Jets stinking it up for most of the year. Every week he seems to be all over the field, even if the stat sheet does not always show it. Many times Richardson pressures the quarterback, the QB moves and someone else gets the sack. But Sunday, he was the one piling up the stats with three sacks in the loss to the Vikings, including a safety.
Richardson has been everything the Jets could have hoped they would be getting when they took him with the 13th-overall pick in 2013, one of the picks they received from Tampa Bay in the Darrelle Revis trade.
In fact, if general manager John Idzik is fired after this season, Richardson will be remembered as his biggest contribution to the Jets in his two-year tenure. It was a pick that drew questions at the time about scheme fit and taking another defensive lineman, but it was absolutely the right pick.
Richardson showed his skills from the minute he arrived in Florham Park and he will be the player who always makes me question the argument that players need time to develop. This guy was a star from his first practice.
Richardson, who just turned 24, also has a passion that you don’t usually find. Sometimes that passion leads him to voice unpopular opinions, but more often it drives his teammates.
Richardson’s was the loudest voice in the locker room after the embarrassing loss to the Bills in Detroit last month. He questioned whether teammates cared as much as he did and they heard it. The Jets needed a kick in the rear. He gave it to them.
So, as depressing as this season has been for Jets fans, know you have a young superstar whom you should be watching for many, many years.
By Brian CostelloDecember 9, 2014 | 8:18pm
If Woody Johnson needs a reminder of the crisis he faces as the owner of the Jets, he should get one when he arrives at MetLife Stadium in 11 days for the Jets-Patriots game.
One segment of Johnson’s fan base is angry, evidenced by the “Fire Idzik” yellow towels being distributed for that game by the FireJohnIdzik.com guys. Another segment of the fan base, and this may bother Johnson even more, has grown apathetic. This is evidenced by empty seats and the large electronic “Tickets Available at All Gates” signs that line the MetLife parking lot these days.
It seems a given Johnson will fire coach Rex Ryan, and general manager John Idzik looks more likely to be fired with each passing week. That has become the easy part for Johnson. The tricky part comes after that, with whom he replaces them.
This is the most pivotal point of Johnson’s 15 years of ownership. His paying customers are not happy. While winning football games is paramount, Johnson also is running a business and unhappy customers are not good for business.
With this crisis in confidence among the fans, Johnson must hire a coach who is going to excite the fans and serve as the face of the franchise. The Jets currently have no star players at glamour positions whom they can market as the face. Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson are great players, but no one is buying tickets to watch them play. The Jets might land a face of the franchise in the draft, but you can’t count on that in January.
That leaves Johnson having to hit a home run with this hire, not only in terms of finding a good coach, but also a marketable one. Johnson must give his fans belief he is hurting as badly as they are and give them a reason to plunk down their PSL payments for 2015.
Winning the press conference is not always important, but for Johnson and the Jets it is. When he presents his new coach next month, it has to be someone with name recognition who immediately fires up the fans. If Johnson hires a no-name assistant coach from another team, it is not going to bring the fans back.
The last time the Jets were in such a sorry state was 1996, when Rich Kotite’s team went 1-15. Leon Hess went out and got Bill Parcells from the Patriots, and the move changed the direction of the franchise.
Johnson is at a similar moment.
The most obvious coach who fits the bill this time is Jim Harbaugh. It is clear Harbaugh will not be in San Francisco next season, but there are a ton of questions to be answered. Would he be interested in coaching the Jets? Would Johnson, who has only hired first-time coaches before, be willing to pay him the $7-$8 million he is expected to seek?
Will the 49ers hold out for draft picks? Is Johnson willing to turn over total control to Harbaugh, a respected coach, but one who is known to grate on people?
At the moment, it does not look like any other highly respected current coaches will be looking for new jobs, but you never know. Maybe Sean Payton gets fired by the Saints. He would be another coach to get excited about.
Johnson also could dip into the Super Bowl-winning coach pool. Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher seem to get mentioned for jobs every year and never take one, but maybe this is the job that excites them.
There is also the big-name college coach route. Could Nick Saban be lured away from Alabama? It’s doubtful, but it never hurts to ask. What about Urban Meyer? He has said in the past he does not want to coach in the NFL, but maybe he has tired of the recruiting trail.
Whichever way Johnson goes, I think the coaching hire is the most important one for him to make. If he gets one of the big-name NFL coaches, Johnson should basically allow him to hire the new GM. The Chiefs did this when they hired Andy Reid as coach and he hired John Dorsey as the GM.
Johnson has watched his team lose a lot of games this year. Now, he faces a must-win of his own. In four or five weeks he will be standing in front of the media introducing his new coach. The Jets can’t afford another loss.
For once, Jets have struck it ‘Rich’
Sheldon Richardson has been a rose stuck in the middle of a bed of weeds this year.
The second-year defensive tackle has played his tail off all season despite the Jets stinking it up for most of the year. Every week he seems to be all over the field, even if the stat sheet does not always show it. Many times Richardson pressures the quarterback, the QB moves and someone else gets the sack. But Sunday, he was the one piling up the stats with three sacks in the loss to the Vikings, including a safety.
Richardson has been everything the Jets could have hoped they would be getting when they took him with the 13th-overall pick in 2013, one of the picks they received from Tampa Bay in the Darrelle Revis trade.
In fact, if general manager John Idzik is fired after this season, Richardson will be remembered as his biggest contribution to the Jets in his two-year tenure. It was a pick that drew questions at the time about scheme fit and taking another defensive lineman, but it was absolutely the right pick.
Richardson showed his skills from the minute he arrived in Florham Park and he will be the player who always makes me question the argument that players need time to develop. This guy was a star from his first practice.
Richardson, who just turned 24, also has a passion that you don’t usually find. Sometimes that passion leads him to voice unpopular opinions, but more often it drives his teammates.
Richardson’s was the loudest voice in the locker room after the embarrassing loss to the Bills in Detroit last month. He questioned whether teammates cared as much as he did and they heard it. The Jets needed a kick in the rear. He gave it to them.
So, as depressing as this season has been for Jets fans, know you have a young superstar whom you should be watching for many, many years.
