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Interesting Read on Marrone


sciond

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Doug Marrone will be on the visitor’s sideline on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, leading the Jaguars. If things had gone differently two years ago, he might have been on the opposite sideline for this game.

The Jets nearly hired Marrone in 2015 before picking Todd Bowles. In fact, Marrone was the early leader to land the job. He had the support of the people running the search, former Jets players and was a favorite of owner Woody Johnson until a smear campaign by one media outlet doomed him.

After two years as a Jacksonville assistant coach, Marrone is back as a head coach and could make the Jets look foolish for passing on him when they did. He is only three games into his time as the Jaguars head coach, so it is too soon to know whether he will flop in Jacksonville, but the team is 2-1 and coming off a 44-7 win over the Ravens.

You might think 2-1 is no big deal, but the Jaguars have not been over .500 in Week 4 of the season since 2007, the last time they made the playoffs. Marrone and former Giants coach Tom Coughlin have teamed up to try to turn around one of the worst franchises in the league.
If Marrone can get the Jaguars straightened out, imagine what he could have done for the Jets.

There were whispers as soon as Rex Ryan was fired the Jets were interested in Marrone, who had been an offensive line coach for the Jets from 2002-05 and had support from former players like Curtis Martin and Kevin Mawae. He had just finished a 9-7 season with the Bills, his second in Buffalo. It was the lone winning season the Bills have had since 2004.

On New Year’s Eve, Marrone opted out of his contract with the Bills. Sources said he was confident he was going to land the Jets job. The team had communicated its interest in him through back channels. Johnson, worried the Jets would face competition for Marrone’s services, had his private jet ready to fly to Buffalo and pick him up that night. Johnson was even quoted saying what a positive development it was that Marrone was free.

When it became clear Marrone wanted the Jets as much as they wanted him, the two sides agreed to wait three days for the interview after Johnson and the search committee returned from a trip to Seattle.

In those three days, an agenda-driven series of articles appeared bashing Marrone through anonymous sources. One article popped up just before Marrone’s interview began on a Saturday afternoon in Florham Park. Sources said Johnson got spooked by the bad press. He fixated on the claims that had been made in the story, and spent much of the interview asking Marrone about the allegations instead of what he would do to fix the Jets.

Marrone walked out of the interview knowing he was not getting the job.

 

The plan had been to team up Marrone and Mike Maccagnan as coach and GM. The two have known each other since 1991 when Maccagnan was a scout and Marrone a player for the London Monarchs in NFL Europe. They later worked together in the Canadian Football League and stayed close through the years.

Both Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf, who were leading the search for the new coach and GM, were on board with the Marrone/Maccagnan pairing. Johnson, influenced by the negative articles, got cold feet.

The optics of Marrone walking away in Buffalo and then getting spurned by the Jets were tough to overcome for Marrone. He interviewed for a few other head coaching jobs that year, but ended up coaching the offensive line for the Jaguars.

When the team fired Gus Bradley last season, Marrone became the interim coach for two games and then was named the permanent coach.

Marrone brings his 2-1 team to MetLife on Sunday. On a conference call with New York reporters Wednesday, Marrone said he is over the rejection from the Jets.

“I have no feelings at all,” Marrone said.

If Marrone turns the Jaguars around and proves he is a good head coach, the Jets should have plenty of feelings about how they handled his candidacy in 2015, starting with embarrassment

 

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He has feelings.  His feelings are that he dodged a bullet by not getting the jobs with the Jets.  Now he lives the good easy laid back life in Jax, FL instead of the bull sh*t he'd deal with in Jersey.  It's a great community with respectful media heads instead of the ass bags in NY.  Dude has a mansion on the intercostal in Ponte Vedra, no state income tax and he gets to hang out on Shad's yacht when ever he wants.  He reports to Tom Coughlin and Shad Kahn is one of the best owners in the league.

I'd say he's stoked he didn't land the job with the Jets.  

 

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7 minutes ago, JiF said:

He has feelings.  His feelings are that he dodged a bullet by not getting the jobs with the Jets.  Now he lives the good easy laid back life in Jax, FL instead of the bull sh*t he'd deal with in Jersey.  It's a great community with respectful media heads instead of the ass bags in NY.  Dude has a mansion on the intercostal in Ponte Vedra, no state income tax and he gets to hang out on Shad's yacht when ever he wants.  He reports to Tom Coughlin and Shad Kahn is one of the best owners in the league.

I'd say he's stoked he didn't land the job with the Jets.  

 

Yes, that's a pretty good gig down there. Zero pressure, most FANS are pseudo NFL fans but are truly college fans peaking at the Jags once in a while.

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6 minutes ago, JiF said:

He has feelings.  His feelings are that he dodged a bullet by not getting the jobs with the Jets.  Now he lives the good easy laid back life in Jax, FL instead of the bull sh*t he'd deal with in Jersey.  It's a great community with respectful media heads instead of the ass bags in NY.  Dude has a mansion on the intercostal in Ponte Vedra, no state income tax and he gets to hang out on Shad's yacht when ever he wants.  He reports to Tom Coughlin and Shad Kahn is one of the best owners in the league.

I'd say he's stoked he didn't land the job with the Jets.  

 

The laid back life filled with meth heads, geezers, long flat streets with no character, no sense of community, a disgusting Publix every 50 feet, and zero trees. 

Jokesinville FL is the anus of North America.  I'm sure he's thrilled.

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6 minutes ago, Jetster said:

Yes, that's a pretty good gig down there. Zero pressure, most FANS are pseudo NFL fans but are truly college fans peaking at the Jags once in a while.

Yep.  The city would be stoked with 6 wins.  Thats how low the bar is.  And believe it or not, Jags fans are pretty legit. They have a very dedicated passionate fanbase. 

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Just now, Pac said:

The laid back life filled with meth heads, geezers, long flat streets with no character, no sense of community, a disgusting Publix every 50 feet, and zero trees. 

Jokesinville FL is the anus of North America.  I'm sure he's thrilled.

We prefer you to think that and keep telling people that because unfortunately more US citizens move to Jax, FL than any other city in the country (other than Tampa) because it's pretty much the best place to live in the country.  Kind of a shame.  We had the best kept secret in the country and the cat is out of the bag.  All good though, we have an incredible community, unreal lifestyle, unbelievably nice people, the best beaches, surfing, golfing, fishing, entertainment and the most state parks in the entire country.  

 

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8 minutes ago, JiF said:

We prefer you to think that and keep telling people that because unfortunately more US citizens move to Jax, FL than any other city in the country (other than Tampa) because it's pretty much the best place to live in the country.  Kind of a shame.  We had the best kept secret in the country and the cat is out of the bag.  All good though, we have an incredible community, unreal lifestyle, unbelievably nice people, the best beaches, surfing, golfing, fishing, entertainment and the most state parks in the entire country.  

 

Fishing, no state income tax and you are enough for me. 

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34 minutes ago, JiF said:

We prefer you to think that and keep telling people that because unfortunately more US citizens move to Jax, FL than any other city in the country (other than Tampa) because it's pretty much the best place to live in the country.  Kind of a shame.  We had the best kept secret in the country and the cat is out of the bag.  All good though, we have an incredible community, unreal lifestyle, unbelievably nice people, the best beaches, surfing, golfing, fishing, entertainment and the most state parks in the entire country.  

 

Lol, right, I'm sure Marrone cant stand looking out over his view of the ocean from his bedroom steps from the beach. Never been to Jacksonville, I have a home in Beaufort SC, didn't realize how close to that area. My brother visited me once & has family in Palm Coast, he left my house, texted me 3 hours after that he was there.

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Woody's an idiot for basing his decision off a few Manish Mehta articles but Marrone takes blame in that whole saga as well.  He was the one opting of his contract he had to know what the optics of that would be.  Regardless, you'd have to think there's some extra motivation for him to beat the Jets.

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Way too much is being made of Marrone coaching this weekend.  He isn't Parcells, he's a
HC who had a shot at the Jet job in 2015 and didn't get it.  If anything that whole situation
highlighted the immaturity of the local media because some Syracuse alums (Cimini, Costello)
wanted him to get the job.  While Mehta and the Daily News were against him and there was
a pillow fight between the "journalists" (ha, ha) 

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1 hour ago, JiF said:

He has feelings.  His feelings are that he dodged a bullet by not getting the jobs with the Jets.  Now he lives the good easy laid back life in Jax, FL instead of the bull sh*t he'd deal with in Jersey.  It's a great community with respectful media heads instead of the ass bags in NY.  Dude has a mansion on the intercostal in Ponte Vedra, no state income tax and he gets to hang out on Shad's yacht when ever he wants.  He reports to Tom Coughlin and Shad Kahn is one of the best owners in the league.

I'd say he's stoked he didn't land the job with the Jets.  

 

Absolutely....  those who live in NY think its the center of the world. But a nice high floor luxury condo overlooking the ocean ( or his coast house), great golf, great restaurants , no state income tax  and absolutely JAX is a great place for a top coach. Especially to have Coughlin there as well.  Interestingly, all the top coaches here in Charlotte, and many players are offered membership to  the 2-3 truly exclusive golf clubs.  They waive the joining fee for them. They pay their dues like everyone else but to join a top 3 club here starts at 75K joining fee and way up from there.         John Fox still lives here in Charlotte and is a member at Quaill.

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Pac said:

The laid back life filled with meth heads, geezers, long flat streets with no character, no sense of community, a disgusting Publix every 50 feet, and zero trees. 

Jokesinville FL is the anus of North America.  I'm sure he's thrilled.

Yeah, smog, traffic, high taxes and dirty pathmarks are where its at.

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Hard to believe a putz like Mehta could have such influence, but I do remember Marone getting dirt poured on him when his candidacy for the Jets was announced. Forget what they said about him to sabatoge his coming to the Jets, but I still can't believe that wise guy journalists could have such sway.

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30 minutes ago, roscoeword said:

Hard to believe a putz like Mehta could have such influence, but I do remember Marone getting dirt poured on him when his candidacy for the Jets was announced. Forget what they said about him to sabatoge his coming to the Jets, but I still can't believe that wise guy journalists could have such sway.

I don't think they liked him in the interview.  A lot of what I read about him says he is a bit aloof and kind of an egomaniac.  Gamble was the same way - sure fire GM hire, then he interviewed poorly and poof he was gone.  If the guy couldn't explain why he opted out I would keep asking him too.  Especially since it may have led to tampering charges.  

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4 minutes ago, #27TheDominator said:

I don't think they liked him in the interview.  A lot of what I read about him says he is a bit aloof and kind of an egomaniac.  Gamble was the same way - sure fire GM hire, then he interviewed poorly and poof he was gone.  If the guy couldn't explain why he opted out I would keep asking him too.  Especially since it may have led to tampering charges.  

That was my understanding as well. Obviously the media likes to promote the idea that the media had considerable influence but I remember the issue being that Marrone bombed his interview.

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1 hour ago, drsamuel84 said:

Woody's an idiot for basing his decision off a few Manish Mehta articles but Marrone takes blame in that whole saga as well.  He was the one opting of his contract he had to know what the optics of that would be.  Regardless, you'd have to think there's some extra motivation for him to beat the Jets.

We can surmise Costello and Mehta do not carpool. 

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1 hour ago, KRL said:

Way too much is being made of Marrone coaching this weekend.  He isn't Parcells, he's a
HC who had a shot at the Jet job in 2015 and didn't get it.  If anything that whole situation
highlighted the immaturity of the local media because some Syracuse alums (Cimini, Costello)
wanted him to get the job.  While Mehta and the Daily News were against him and there was
a pillow fight between the "journalists" (ha, ha) 

And then the owner decided not to hire the guy he, Wolf, and Casserly thought was best for the job because Mehta told him not to (ha, ha)

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2 hours ago, Pac said:

The laid back life filled with meth heads, geezers, long flat streets with no character, no sense of community, a disgusting Publix every 50 feet, and zero trees. 

Jokesinville FL is the anus of North America.  I'm sure he's thrilled.

You say what you want about everything else, but leave Publix out of it. Those sandwiches are amazing.

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51 minutes ago, dbatesman said:

And then the owner decided not to hire the guy he, Wolf, and Casserly thought was best for the job because Mehta told him not to (ha, ha)

that's the point that's being missed.  No one's saying Marrone is the next Bellichek but to not hire him because Mehta wrote a nasty article speaks volumes to Woody as an owner.

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4 hours ago, Pac said:

The laid back life filled with meth heads, geezers, long flat streets with no character, no sense of community, a disgusting Publix every 50 feet, and zero trees. 

Jokesinville FL is the anus of North America.  I'm sure he's thrilled.

don't insult Publix.  That's where you cross the line with Florida people.

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