Youth serves as Jet gamble

[Smizzy]

Youth serves as Jet gamble

Eric Mangini has accepted an unforgettable present from Woody Johnson for his 35th birthday that's coming up in two days - the Jets' head coaching job. He must be too young to know better. Or to give it back.

This is such a treasured position that four coaches in the last six years have quit, including Mangini's mentor, Bill Belichick. The Jets are at their lowest point since the Rich Kotite years and have no available quick-fix. They are a complete mess, lacking a quarterback, a dynamic owner and a general manager to provide leadership.

Now they have a coach relatively unknown around the NFL until a couple of years ago. Is he the right fit for the Jets? He has a blue-chip pedigree, having been around Belichick for most of the last 10 years. He worked for Bill Parcells for three years. He has worked with Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis and Tom Brady and has three Super Bowl rings. But he has virtually no track record. This job could swallow him up.

But now he's out on his own after just one season as the Pats' defensive coordinator. The Belichick security blanket is gone. Mangini ran the defense, but Belichick was never far away. Now Mangini's security blanket as he tries to handle one of the toughest jobs in sports in the toughest market in the country is Terry Bradway, who has handled the pressure of New York so well himself as the invisible general manager.

Former Pats linebacker Ted Johnson said Mangini "absolutely" is ready for the challenge. The Jets are praying Johnson is right. The next five years depend on it.

"I think he's innovative and forward thinking," Johnson said. "He's a very likeable coach, a guy who can relate to players. He can motivate. He's young. That's the thing. I'm not saying he will unequivocally tear it up, because there is always a learning curve for someone. Especially with that kind of pressure. But he's been with Coach Belichick a long time and he's been under Parcells and (Al) Groh."

It's a weak year in the market for candidates. So, the Jets are better off with a fresh face than with one of those tired recycled coaches who have failed elsewhere. They have an opportunity to establish a new identity, and perhaps because Mangini is so young and will have to grow into the job, it buys the Jets a couple of years to rebuild the program. But they are one year too late on Weis, who would have been the perfect fit.

Mangini perhaps is the only candidate who can get Jets fans fired up, simply because he is a Belichick disciple. Can you imagine if the Jets tried to sell their fans on Mike Tice? He was in for a seven-hour interview yesterday and was the fallback candidate. Tice, like Mangini, had one interview. With the Jets.

If Mangini was such a can't-miss candidate, you would figure at least one of the other nine teams looking for a head coach would have set up an interview.

Mangini is taking a huge risk. If he fails, it could do irreparable damage to his career. But the Jets are taking a big risk, too, trusting their franchise to someone barely older than the players.

He will be the one setting the direction for the franchise, standing in front of the entire team, hiring a staff, managing the game - well, at least Herm Edwards didn't set the bar too high here - and being responsible for everything.

"His pedigree is so impressive," Johnson said. "As far as X's and O's, without a doubt. As far as managing a team, that will probably be his most difficult challenge."

The issue, of course, is whether he can handle it. It's too easy to say that because he received his graduate degree from Belichick University he will do great things. Bill Arnsparger came to the Giants after all those years with Don Shula and we know how that turned out. Dave Wannstedt and Norv Turner were trusted allies of Jimmy Johnson and each has failed twice as a head coach.

Belichick was four years older than Mangini when he was hired by the Browns and had been the defensive coordinator on two Super Bowl teams. And in his first three seasons in Cleveland, he was 6-10, 7-9 and 7-9. Two years later, he was fired.

Mangini's age doesn't mean he won't succeed. There is precedent for success for young head coaches: Shula, John Madden and Jon Gruden were even younger than Mangini when they were hired. They all went on to win Super Bowls.

The difference, of course, is they didn't inherit the Jets, a franchise with too little tradition of winning and too many problems. Mangini was with the Jets from 1997-99 and has coached against them with the Patriots twice a year for the last six years. So he is familiar with the Same Old Jets syndrome. His first major decision will be what to do at quarterback. He's not bringing along Tom Brady.

And now he has to face Belichick twice a year. Maybe he should have returned the birthday present.

[4HCrew]

"His pedigree is so impressive," Johnson said. "As far as X's and O's, without a doubt. As far as managing a team, that will probably be his most difficult challenge."

Umm lets see...managing a team, is that not what a coach does?