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KIRWAN : he's NOT a BILL 'CLONE' ~ ~ ~


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HE'S NOT A BILL 'CLONE'

By ANDREW MARCHAND

January 18, 2006 -- Unlike most media members, Sirius NFL Radio's Pat Kirwan has a strong relationship with new Jets coach Eric Mangini.Kirwan said he doesn't think the Jets just hired a Xerox copy of Bill Belichick.

"He is not a clone," Kirwan said.

Most of the media never had access to Mangini before yesterday because Belichick muted his assistants. Kirwan got to know Mangini in 1997 when they worked with the Jets together for seven months under Bill Parcells."This guy has got a tenacity about him and his own style," said Kirwan, who worked on the Jets' salary cap while Mangini was an assistant coach. "He is not going to come in and try to just duplicate Belichick. He is going to bring all the things he liked from Belichick, but he also will have his own flavor.

"A great example of that is that last year he called me and said, 'I would really like on my free time to go spend some time with Pete Carroll to try and understand what they are doing because I have studied their tapes and I think the guy has got some fascinating ideas.' "

Kirwan, who is best friends with Carroll, arranged for Mangini to travel to USC last spring."I thought it was interesting," Kirwan said. "Here is Eric, who is learning from Belichick, who is the master of what is going on there. Yet Eric has this thirst for more stuff to blend it all into his own. I put them together, and Eric went out and spent like four or five days with Pete. They exchanged ideas. Eric, as always, was a humble student who wanted to learn from Pete. I think that tells you a lot about him."

What did Carroll think of Mangini?

"When [Pete] got done, he said, 'He is a great one. I think the guy has a chance to be a great coach.' " Kirwan said. "[Pete] liked his style. He liked his inquisitiveness."

What's Kirwan's opinion of the Jets' hire?

"I love it," Kirwan said. "The first question may be: Is he too young? He may be a year too young, but I would take the risk. I would not wait. A year from now you will have hired a coach and someone else will go out and take him. To me, this really rivals when the Raiders grabbed Jon Gruden from the Eagles.

"He'll bring three huge things with him. One, the ability to install a defense that will be effective. Two, the ability to evaluate personnel and make less mistakes. Three, to understand how to integrate the cap in the acquiring of talent."

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"I love it," Kirwan said. "The first question may be: Is he too young? He may be a year too young, but I would take the risk. I would not wait. A year from now you will have hired a coach and someone else will go out and take him. To me, this really rivals when the Raiders grabbed Jon Gruden from the Eagles.

this is the point i think is lost on the mangini discussion. he won't be the best coach in the league this year, but he probably won't be the worst either (at least not while herm has a job).

if you think he has talent, why wait? charlie weiss would have been the hottest name this off-season, but he is now off the market. next year may have been the same with mangini.

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I am impressed by his trip to meet with Carroll but what sucks is having to sit through ANOTHER rebuilding season. Basically we are saying 2-3 years before on the right track again. I guess the big run is over and time to retool.. funny usually when teams do this they make a big run at the super bowl.. the big run for the Jets is just qualifying for the playoffs.

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