Why Bronx’s Doug Marrone would be a perfect fit for the Jets
By Steve Serby January 1, 2015 | 3:57am
You can take the boy out of The Bronx, but you can’t take The Bronx out of the boy, and the Jets should go get Doug Marrone, the former head coach of the Bills and one of their own once, to succeed Rex Ryan.
Marrone is a tough, fearless, blue-collar football guy with nerve who has a chance to be a young Tom Coughlin, and not only because they share a connection with Syracuse University.
“Marrone is a spitting image of him,” Giants rookie defensive tackle Jay Bromley, who played at Syracuse under Marrone, told N.J.com over the summer. “There are a bunch of rules and stuff, but you don’t pay any attention to it. If you do the right things, you don’t ever run across anything where you are doing anything wrong.”
Marrone, with uncertainty surrounding new Bills owner Terry Pegula, opted out of his contract on New Year’s Eve, and the wheels began turning immediately inside the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
Hiring a head coach before a general manager isn’t the ideal way to go — unless you believe you have the right head coach (Pete Carroll/John Schneider, Andy Reid/John Dorsey).
Marrone not only knows the AFC East, he has proven to be a no-nonsense disciplinarian who isn’t afraid to make the tough decisions.
Unlike Ryan, who would not — or could not — bench Geno Smith early enough, Marrone yanked EJ Manuel after only four games and nearly made the playoffs with journeyman Kyle Orton, who just retired. And Manuel was the Bills’ No. 1 draft pick in 2013, ahead of Smith, the Jets’ second-round pick.
Marrone’s strong leadership during the blizzard that crippled Buffalo and forced the postponed Jets-Bills game to move to Detroit on a Monday night was exemplary.
When the Giants and Bills met in the Hall of Fame game, Marrone gushed about his admiration for Coughlin.
“He helped me out quite a bit when I was the head coach at Syracuse,” Marrone said. “We’ve always had a good relationship, and I think the common denominator is that we both went to school there, and we’re in this profession together.
“I have a lot of respect for him. I’ve always followed him, always admired the work that he’s done, and like I said before, we used to meet once a year. I’d go and talk to him and he helped me out quite a bit.”
When Marrone was hired by then-GM Buddy Nix, former Jets center Kevin Mawae, who played when Marrone was Jets offensive line coach under Herm Edwards from 2002-06, gave the Buffalo News a glowing recommendation.
“I’ve had four great offensive line coaches, and he’s definitely one of them,” Mawae said. “Buffalo’s lucky to have him. The one thing I always appreciated about Doug is he played the game. He played in college at a high level, played in the NFL. That gave him a perspective that a lot of times coaches don’t have. Players appreciate that.”
Marrone built Saints coach Sean Payton’s Super Bowl champion offensive line. “To be close to him and see what he went through as a head coach was obviously very helpful,” Marrone told SI.com.
Marrone always has been indebted to his coach at Syracuse, Dick MacPherson.
“Doug is a good coach,” Coughlin said in an interview not long after the Bills hired Marrone. “We’ve watched him closely when he was at Syracuse. He’s very serious, very smart. Syracuse is going to miss Doug Marrone, no doubt.”
So are the Bills.
The press conferences won’t be anywhere near as entertaining as Ryan’s. Marrone, secretive with injuries, is all football, all the time. Has been from Lehman High School, to watering the football fields at SUNY Cortland when he was tight ends coach, all the way to now. And that’s not a bad thing at all.:dancing-cat-smiley-:nudie:
By Steve Serby January 1, 2015 | 3:57am
You can take the boy out of The Bronx, but you can’t take The Bronx out of the boy, and the Jets should go get Doug Marrone, the former head coach of the Bills and one of their own once, to succeed Rex Ryan.
Marrone is a tough, fearless, blue-collar football guy with nerve who has a chance to be a young Tom Coughlin, and not only because they share a connection with Syracuse University.
“Marrone is a spitting image of him,” Giants rookie defensive tackle Jay Bromley, who played at Syracuse under Marrone, told N.J.com over the summer. “There are a bunch of rules and stuff, but you don’t pay any attention to it. If you do the right things, you don’t ever run across anything where you are doing anything wrong.”
Marrone, with uncertainty surrounding new Bills owner Terry Pegula, opted out of his contract on New Year’s Eve, and the wheels began turning immediately inside the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
Hiring a head coach before a general manager isn’t the ideal way to go — unless you believe you have the right head coach (Pete Carroll/John Schneider, Andy Reid/John Dorsey).
Marrone not only knows the AFC East, he has proven to be a no-nonsense disciplinarian who isn’t afraid to make the tough decisions.
Unlike Ryan, who would not — or could not — bench Geno Smith early enough, Marrone yanked EJ Manuel after only four games and nearly made the playoffs with journeyman Kyle Orton, who just retired. And Manuel was the Bills’ No. 1 draft pick in 2013, ahead of Smith, the Jets’ second-round pick.
Marrone’s strong leadership during the blizzard that crippled Buffalo and forced the postponed Jets-Bills game to move to Detroit on a Monday night was exemplary.
When the Giants and Bills met in the Hall of Fame game, Marrone gushed about his admiration for Coughlin.
“He helped me out quite a bit when I was the head coach at Syracuse,” Marrone said. “We’ve always had a good relationship, and I think the common denominator is that we both went to school there, and we’re in this profession together.
“I have a lot of respect for him. I’ve always followed him, always admired the work that he’s done, and like I said before, we used to meet once a year. I’d go and talk to him and he helped me out quite a bit.”
When Marrone was hired by then-GM Buddy Nix, former Jets center Kevin Mawae, who played when Marrone was Jets offensive line coach under Herm Edwards from 2002-06, gave the Buffalo News a glowing recommendation.
“I’ve had four great offensive line coaches, and he’s definitely one of them,” Mawae said. “Buffalo’s lucky to have him. The one thing I always appreciated about Doug is he played the game. He played in college at a high level, played in the NFL. That gave him a perspective that a lot of times coaches don’t have. Players appreciate that.”
Marrone built Saints coach Sean Payton’s Super Bowl champion offensive line. “To be close to him and see what he went through as a head coach was obviously very helpful,” Marrone told SI.com.
Marrone always has been indebted to his coach at Syracuse, Dick MacPherson.
“Doug is a good coach,” Coughlin said in an interview not long after the Bills hired Marrone. “We’ve watched him closely when he was at Syracuse. He’s very serious, very smart. Syracuse is going to miss Doug Marrone, no doubt.”
So are the Bills.
The press conferences won’t be anywhere near as entertaining as Ryan’s. Marrone, secretive with injuries, is all football, all the time. Has been from Lehman High School, to watering the football fields at SUNY Cortland when he was tight ends coach, all the way to now. And that’s not a bad thing at all.:dancing-cat-smiley-:nudie:
