Rex Ryan
The writing is on the wall that the tenure of Rex Ryan as the head coach of the New York Jets will come to an end following Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins. Ryan is set to finish his sixth season as the head coach of the Jets as he has compiled a record of 45-50. Ryan’s brash bravado took New York City by storm in 2009 at his introductory press conference with the team when he let it be known that he did not come there to “kiss the rings” of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. In Ryan’s first two seasons with the Jets, he guided the team to the AFC Championship Game and he was the best thing since sliced bread. But it hasn’t been a smooth ride for Ryan and the Jets since then.
The Jets have not had a winning season since 2010 and they are currently in the midst of their worst season since 2007 when they finished 4-12. Ryan is respected and admired by Jets owner Woody Johnson, but it is tough to maintain a head coach that is going on his fourth consecutive season of not making the playoffs (especially one that has never won a Super Bowl Championship). And after the 2010 AFC Championship Game, Ryan and the Jets have never been in a realistic position to win.
At the 2009 National Football League Draft, the Jets moved up twelve slots in the first round to select quarterback Mark Sanchez. Ryan and the New York media hyped Sanchez up as the next coming of Joe Namath which he wasn’t. Sanchez was the starting quarterback from his first day on the job with the Jets and he was never really tested. But in Sanchez’s first two seasons with the Jets, the team had a solid running game and one of the top defenses in the NFL which made life easier for the young quarterback. Sanchez’s numbers took a nosedive in 2011 and 2012 when he combined to throw 36 interceptions. The Jets also gave up most of their draft picks in 2009 and 2010 as they mortgaged the future on players such as wide receiver Santonio Holmes and cornerback Antonio Cromarite who had worn out their welcome with their previous teams. And when the Jets signed Holmes and Cromartie to long-term deals these players showed their true colors. Ryan and former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum never did a good job of drafting and putting a good team around Sanchez after 2010 and the results showed in the Jets record. Johnson fired Tannenbaum after the 2012 NFL season and he created a bigger headache for himself and the Jets.
Woody Johnson
When Johnson fired Tannenbaum he decided to retain Ryan as the Jets head coach which is recipe for disaster because general managers typically want to hire their guy as head coach. As a result of Johnson’s move, the Jets struggled in finding a worthwhile general manager and thus they had to settle on John Idzik. Idzik came from the Seattle Seahawks where he was known as a guy that managed the salary cap and he didn’t have any previous experience as a general manager. Under Idzik, the Jets have failed to bring in impact players which is evident by their record. Johnson decided to keep Ryan as the Jets head coach due to the fact that the owner loves to have his team consistently mentioned on the back pages of the New York tabloids and his head coach is a soundbite waiting to happen.
But for Ryan, in his six seasons with the Jets he has proven that he can coach. Ryan got a moribund franchise to believe in themselves while showing that they could hang with the elite teams of the National Football League. Ryan did what any good coach is supposed to do which is to get the most out of the talent that you have and then some. However Ryan has failed with the Jets as far as getting impact players to take his team to another level. Ryan won’t be out of coaching for long and it would not surprise me at all to see him as an NFL head coach with a different team in 2015. What Ryan needs is to have a general manager that can assess talent and put a roster together. Ryan also needs a solid offensive coordinator that knows how to run an offense. Ryan can coach defense in his sleep and wherever he ends up at the team that he leads will have one of the top defensive units in football.
The end for Ryan as the head coach of the Jets is a typical one for NFL head coaches as only a few of them leave on their terms. Former NFL head coach Bum Phillips famously said “there’s two types of coaches, them that’s fired and them that’s gonna be fired.” The ride up was good for Ryan with Jets while the fall hasn’t been great. But Ryan’s legs are sturdy enough for him to bounce right up and the man that has never met a camera that he didn’t like will land right on his feet.
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