Article Bashing Herm's Reputation

[raffyD]

Jets' Edwards can't put price on reputation

By IAN O'CONNOR

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: January 5, 2006)

Herman Edwards is one third-down conversion away from becoming Pat Riley and Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick, just another New Yorker bolting for the score of his life. Either that, or Edwards is a phone call away from running Al Groh scared from the bright lights and big city, retreating from the Herculean struggle that has always been the most dysfunctional franchise in the sport.

It doesn't matter, really. The agenda is an insignificant detail, a moot point. If Edwards goes to Kansas City, his reputation won't be worth a tear-stained tissue in Dick Vermeil's trash.

Right there in his bio, first paragraph, it says "Edwards' leadership style is a unique combination of honesty, innovation, motivation and trust."

Sounds like a punch line at a cocktail party now.

Much like Notre Dame became just another Touchdown Tech when it fired Ty Willingham, Herman Edwards becomes just another back room-dealing coach if he fires the Jets. Edwards has been all over the place assuring reporters and, by extension, dozens of players and hundreds of thousands of Jets fans, that he would return to the scene of his 4-12 crime.

He'd better tell that Kansas City realtor to find him a gated estate without mirrors.

Hey, I was among those who fell hard for the act. In late November, I even lobbied Jets owner Woody Johnson, your average clueless billionaire, to give his head coach a contract extension despite a record in 2005 that would've made Rich Kotite proud.

"Herman Edwards is as real as a steroid-pumped ballplayer is fake," I wrote. "In a sports marketplace overstuffed with counterfeit goods, with phony actions and phonier words, Edwards is a living testament to the merits of substance over style."

And now Edwards is making his way for the door after swearing he wouldn't go anywhere near it. Even if Edwards pulls a last-minute reverse here, he's already declared himself.

The Chiefs didn't have to get anywhere near him. All Edwards had to do was tell his friend Terry Bradway that he wasn't interested in replacing his mentor, Vermeil. These reported compensation talks between the Jets and Chiefs never would've happened.

Edwards had assured the world they wouldn't happen. "I'm going to be the coach here," he said to anyone who asked. This wasn't Parcells telling people he wasn't interested in this or that. If nothing else, Edwards was a man of his word. The son of a master sergeant who taught his child to salute the flag at least twice a day.

"The Army wants to build men, and that's no different from a football team," Edwards once told me. "You've got to build men, not players. Men who believe in you and don't want to disappoint you. That's what my father taught me."

Edwards was adored by Jets players because he treated them like men, this after Edwards' lightweight predecessor, Groh, treated them like kids. During his one-and-done season with the Jets, Groh kept a rock on his desk. Rocks, Groh would say, "don't blow in the wind. They don't change at every moment. They're there when you need them."

Then Groh turned out to be the worst kind of quitter, fleeing the Jets under the cover of a winter storm.

Edwards won't look any better if he lands in Kansas City to succeed the town crier, Vermeil, who sent up a warning flare on his way into retirement, suggesting Edwards should be named Coach of the Year for dealing with the loss of Chad Pennington and the rest.

No, Edwards wasn't anyone's Coach of the Year this time around. Prior to this train wreck of a season, he had taken the Jets to three playoff tournaments in his first four years; no Jets coach had ever appeared in three playoff tournaments, period. Edwards had even won a couple of postseason games, drilling Peyton Manning's Colts and surviving a wild night in San Diego.

Despite his game-management issues, Edwards proved to be a keeper. Did he deserve to be making something north of $2 million per year? Yes, he did. Should he be making less than the defensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins? No, he should not.

But the opportunity to make more cash in Kansas City doesn't supersede the responsibility Edwards should assume in restoring the Jets to respectability, in cleaning up this mess.

Edwards' mass appeal has been built around his perceived candor and integrity. He won't take that mass appeal with him to Kansas City. If he takes over the Chiefs, Edwards would've engineered a Meadowlands turnaround more shocking than the one he staged on Nov. 19, 1978, the day he scooped up Joe Pisarcik's fumble and ran into NFL lore.

The Jets and Chiefs were said to be close to a deal last night to make it all happen. So here's a question to put on the bargaining table: How many draft picks are worth a man's reputation?

I like the way this guy writes, the other "journalists" should take note. Herm is truly all BS, I have finally come to terms with this after many years of believing his crap. Go away you phony.

[T-Mac]

I don't see where this resembles what those 2 weasels did. KC asked for permission to speak with him. The Jets will decide whether or not to provide it. Who amongst us wouldn't work for more $$ if it were available? Herm's done nothing dishonest IMO. Did anyone really expect him to say that he's expecting an offer from the Chiefs while he was still coaching the Jets?

[Savage69]

I don't see where this resembles what those 2 weasels did. KC asked for permission to speak with him. The Jets will decide whether or not to provide it. Who amongst us wouldn't work for more $$ if it were available? Herm's done nothing dishonest IMO. Did anyone really expect him to say that he's expecting an offer from the Chiefs while he was still coaching the Jets?

When Tuna came to the Jets he said he would Coach for 3 years and he did!! End of story!

[Green DNA]

When Tuna came to the Jets he said he would Coach for 3 years and he did!! End of story!

I believe he also signed a six year deal, agreeing to stay on as GM/President for 3 years. He stayed for one and then bolted.

[T-Mac]

When Tuna came to the Jets he said he would Coach for 3 years and he did!! End of story!

If you say so. I didn't hear see where he said it, but IMO if we still had any shot at winning he'd have stayed as HC. He also didn't help us as GM. I can see why his sidekick wanted to get out of his shadow. Only when he returns the $1M then we can close the book on this sad chapter.