Francesa- "zero football people were involved in the interview process"

[faba]

Fine you do want to give the guy a shot before he even starts the job-I wil give him the opportunity

[unbanmadmike1]

Francesa is right. There is no reason to think the Jets have ANYONE in their organization who is competent in picking players.

[Matt39]

exactly, this is pure BS. Of course they talked personel in form of 'how will u assemble personell organization, approach to draft etc etc

I guess if you want to believe Francesa is making this whole thing up.

[Matt39]

Fine you do want to give the guy a shot before he even starts the job-I wil give him the opportunity

Im giving him a shot. I dont have anything against Idzik its Woody that is the problem. Its not about winning games with Woody.

[Klecko73isGod]

How do you hire a guy and not even bring up the actual game? He doesnt have any personnel experience and now he's in charge of personnel? Doesnt add up.

The Jets feel like the Knicks.

How do you know the game wasn't brought up? Were you or Fatcessa at the interview?

And from everything I've read about Idzik, he's been involved in personel decisions. From the Seahwaks website:

John Idzik begins his sixth season with the Seahawks after joining the club on February 16, 2007. With Seattle, Idzik oversees player negotiations, the team’s compliance with the NFL salary cap, player personnel transactions, all football operations budgets, staff and team contracts, team travel and most aspects of the day-to-day football operations while also remaining active in player evaluations. In addition, he serves as the club’s primary liaison to the NFL Office and represents the club at League meetings.

Stop listening to Fatcessa.

[nj meadowlands]

IDZIK HAS BY MANY ACCOUNTS BEEN INVOLVED IN EVALUATING PLAYERS FOR THE PAST THREE FRANCHISES HE HAS WORKED FOR. WHAT IS SO DIFFICULT ABOUT THAT

[Matt39]

Kleck Im just taking his word for it....I dont buy francesa is totally making this up out of thin air.

The Jets are a bad football team because their personnel stinks. I would have gone with more of a personnel guy than a cap guy to run the team, that's all.

[dbatesman]

I guess if you want to believe Francesa is making this whole thing up.

Impossible.

[unbanmadmike1]

Kleck Im just taking his word for it....I dont buy francesa is totally making this up out of thin air.

The Jets are a bad football team because their personnel stinks. I would have gone with more of a personnel guy than a cap guy to run the team, that's all.

Also why would you have ANY faith in Woody the moron and his yes men and stooges to pick a great GM out of a guy that other MUCH more successful franchises haven't even interviewed?

[Pac]

Kleck Im just taking his word for it....I dont buy francesa is totally making this up out of thin air.

The Jets are a bad football team because their personnel stinks. I would have gone with more of a personnel guy than a cap guy to run the team, that's all.

They tried and lost out on Caldwell. Who would you have them take - Gamble, Ross, Angelo? Don't you think there's a reason why none of them garnered any serious interest from other clubs?

[SenorGato]

This isnt Francesa's opinion. He's recanting what went down in the meeting.

Woody, Korn Ferry and Neil Glat arent football people. It isnt concerning they didnt bring up personnel philosophy at all?

Yeah Jed Hughes only played and coached IIRC. NOT FOOTBALLY ENOUGH!

[Matt39]

They tried and lost out on Caldwell. Who would you have them take Gamble, Ross, Angelo? Don't you think there's a reason why none of them garnered any serious interest from other clubs?

Neither did Idzik.

Making the GM keep Rex im sure limited the search.

[Matt39]

Yeah Jed Hughes only played and coached IIRC. NOT FOOTBALLY ENOUGH!

Just to completely understand your sarcasm....you dont think football people exist? It's all arbitrary. There's no difference between me, you, bitonti and Jerry Reece?

[slats]

This isnt Francesa's opinion. He's recanting what went down in the meeting.

Woody, Korn Ferry and Neil Glat arent football people. It isnt concerning they didnt bring up personnel philosophy at all?

Where did Francessa get this information from? I'm thinking his fat ass.

[LionelRichie]

This isnt Francesa's opinion. He's recanting what went down in the meeting.

Woody, Korn Ferry and Neil Glat arent football people. It isnt concerning they didnt bring up personnel philosophy at all?

I think you are too quick to criticize this one.

You don't hire a GM to scout players, you hire a GM to institutionalize a process for scouting and selecting the best players and then making decisions based on the information gathered through that process.

If Idzik leaves the entire scouting organization in tact then I will start to worry, but even then you won't see what is going on behind the scenes from a process perspective. You don't hire GM's to scout, the GM hires scouts to scout based on his standards.

[Bugg]

I guess if you want to believe Francesa is making this whole thing up.

Again, I've only seen it reported by Hubbuch, but no one has denied it. Bill Polian was in fact in on the interviews. Not clear when and with hwo, but there isn't anyone else in the NFL who is more of a respected football guy than Bill Polian. Heck, wouldn't have minded if theyJets offered him a job.

[SouthernJet]

This guy has a varied resume. It doesnt take much research to see this. He isnt business only and he isnt 100% scout/personell.

Nice mix IMHO. Plus I like that he played and coached and broke down film 1st 3 years he was with Tampa Bay.

[Matt39]

Where did Francessa get this information from? I'm thinking his fat ass.

Ok, that's fair. If you think he made it up then there's no point in arguing over it.

Francesa is a blow hard but he still has some NFL ppl(Glazer who's the best) feeding him info.

[BroadwayJoe12]

Not if they had hired Gamble who was the best candidate BY FAR for this job. Why didn't any other team even attempt to Interview Idzik for any other GM job?

Just so we're clear; you're talking about the same Tom Gamble, who's supposedly the best candidate by far, that hasn't been hired for one of the handful of GM spots open??

[LionelRichie]

Just to completely understand your sarcasm....you dont think football people exist? It's all arbitrary. There's no difference between me, you, bitonti and Jerry Reece?

The difference is that Bitonti loved the bowling ball with butcher knives, Gholston, and the boar hunter.

[Klecko73isGod]

Kleck Im just taking his word for it....I dont buy francesa is totally making this up out of thin air.

The Jets are a bad football team because their personnel stinks. I would have gone with more of a personnel guy than a cap guy to run the team, that's all.

That's your mistake right there. What in Francessa's history gives him any credibility where the Jets are concerned?

[unbanmadmike1]

Just so we're clear; you're talking about the same Tom Gamble, who's supposedly the best candidate by far, that hasn't been hired for one of the handful of GM spots open??

He hasn't been hired but he's been interviewed all over the league. Idzik wasn't.

[Bugg]

Also why would you have ANY faith in Woody the moron and his yes men and stooges to pick a great GM out of a guy that other MUCH more successful franchises haven't even interviewed?

I have no faith in Woody. But he cannot afford to continue to be embarrassed. Which is why he used the headhuinter, why he brought Glatt in from the NFL office and why he had Bill Polian as part of his process. Now Iszik could very well fail. But it's really not fair to before Iszik does anything to say right now he will fail.

[Integrity28]

You can say EVERY non GM on all NFL staffs didnt make 'decisions'/ The GM makes the final real decisions, not the staffees.

The staffs give input but GM makes call. Gee, this is silly and just Francessa stirring the pot.

This.

General Managers don't perform all tasks within the front office. It is Idzy's job to bring a philosophy and discipline to the front office, staff it accordingly, and then lean on that staff to make final decisions. Which means he won't be the only guy crunching numbers for the cap, he'll have a team that helps him with this. It also means he won't be doing all the scouting, free agent research, interviewing, etc. himself, he'll also have a team that helps him with that. Every great manager becomes great by surrounding themselves with specialists and/or subject matter experts. That is the whole point of having a manager.... build out the infrastructure, provide it a vision and then lean on it to accomplish goals.

I find it all laughable that "cap guy" vs. "personnel guy" is the argument of the day. It's more relevant to be discussing his management skills, and what his front office vision is. I'd like to know his prevailing philosophy about how a front office should be structured, and how a football team should be built.

I don't give a rat's backside about how many years of experience he had as a salary guy. Idzy has spent his whole career in football accumulating the breadth of experience necessary to eventually become a GM. I'm confident he knows enough about personnel to be able to have a vision, build his staff, listen to the right advisors, and go get players that make a difference for this team.

How can he do worse that what's gone on here the past 2 years? Throwing away draft picks left and right, and acquiring veterans that haven't had a productive year in 3 seasons, and who also have been pretty much scratched off the list by at least 30 of the other teams in the league. LOL

[SouthernJet]

That's your mistake right there. What in Francessa's history gives him any credibility where the Jets are concerned?

agree, he has zip credibility except when his buddy Parcells was Jets HC. Then he had inside info for sure. But not since then.

[Integrity28]

Neither did Idzik.

Making the GM keep Rex im sure limited the search.

20+ candidate names surfaced.

[SenorGato]

What if Idzik is Michael Corvin, some kind of potential hybrid of Football Man and Clueless about Football Numbers Guy? The blood of a Football Man of lore does course through his veins, so there is minor hope.

[unbanmadmike1]

I have no faith in Woody. But he cannot afford to continue to be embarrassed. Which is hwy he used the headhuinter, why he brought Glatt in from the NFL office and why nhe had Bill Polian as part of his process. Now Iszik could very well fail. But it's really not fair to before Iszik does anything to say right now he will fail.

I'm not saying he WILL fail.I hope he succeeds. I just don't see the different between the structure of the FO now than what it was with Tannenbaum and I have no faith in them picking players.

[SenorGato]

Just to completely understand your sarcasm....you dont think football people exist? It's all arbitrary. There's no difference between me, you, bitonti and Jerry Reece?

I think the race of Football Men gave way to the Business Men of the East some 30 years ago, though there are said to be a pack of Rangers in the Giant organization. One of those Rangers is Prince Marc Ross, rightful King of Footballor. He wanted nothing to do with the Jets, OF COURSE!

[slats]

Ok, that's fair. If you think he made it up then there's no point in arguing over it.

Francesa is a blow hard but he still has some NFL ppl(Glazer who's the best) feeding him info.

I'm thinking it was a pretty small couple of meetings, and it's difficult to imagine that any of the participants would leak to Glazer -or anyone else- that the Jets hired a GM without discussing personnel. Just as it's completely ridiculous to believe that the Jets hired a GM without personnel being a major part of the discussion.

So yeah, I think it's BS.

[SouthernJet]

I'm not saying he WILL fail.I hope he succeeds. I just don't see the different between the structure of the FO now than what it was with Tannenbaum and I have no faith in them picking players.

LOL, he is 2 days on the job and his resume is totally different than Tanny. tanny NEVER had personell background, never coached, never had a job where he broke down film, scouted prospects/free agents, was never in personell dept of a team before rising thru ranks..tanny was a cap guy, then a gm. Idzik is totally different resume.

This is getting silly.

[ECURB]

Wow you guys have reached a new low letting fatesca get your panties in a bunch.

[Pac]

A football man down to the core

Cimini

What makes a man a football man?

John Idzik, son of a coach, grew up in the sport. As a youngster, he scribbled X's and O's on a kiddie chalkboard, sat alongside his father for countless hours as he studied game tape and annoyed his sisters at the dinner table with intense, father-son football conversations.

As a teen, Idzik followed his father to NFL training camps, including the New York Jets' in the late 1970s. He washed jock straps, ran errands and served as a ball boy, staying close to the game he loved. He played wide receiver at Dartmouth, won a couple of Ivy League titles and earned an unsuccessful tryout with the New England Patriots.

Does that make the Jets' new general manager, better known for his salary-cap acumen, a football man?

Idzik discovered the answer to that question when he tried to get away from the game, when he got a job in the corporate world IBM figuring that was the best way to utilize his degree in scientific mathematics. It was a good life, but it wasn't the life he wanted.

After six years at IBM, Idzik returned to his parents' home in Chadds Ford, Pa., and made the big announcement. It started with, "I want you to sit down," his mother, Joyce, recalled Friday night.

"I know you and dad sacrificed a lot to get me into the school I wanted," Joyce Idzik remembered her son saying that day. "Solving math problems is terrific -- I like my job -- but there are no people involved. I miss football."

With that pronouncement, Idzik began a 23-year journey that took him from Scotland to Durham, N.C., to Tampa to Phoenix to Seattle and, finally, to New York. His career path reads like the lyrics to a Steve Miller Band song. Keep on rockin me, baby.

"Football was always in my blood," Idzik once said.

Now he gets a chance to fix one of the most publicized franchises in the NFL, a team on the decline. It's a tough job, but this is something he always dreamed about -- a chance to run his own team.

Until a few days ago, Idzik was a relatively anonymous executive with the Seattle Seahawks, their vice president of football administration. Now he enters one of the biggest stages in sports, taking control of the loud and controversial Jets and trying to prove he's more than a numbers guy.

"He's apparently very good with the cap, but he likes to have his hand in football, too," his mother said. "He doesn't want to be excluded from being around the ballplayers."

His father was a ballplayer, and a good one -- a football man to the core.

John Idzik was a schoolboy star in Philadelphia, played in the Marines and played fullback at the University of Maryland in the late 1940s. He got into coaching, college and pro -- 10 different places in 27 years, including three seasons as the Jets' quarterbacks coach under Walt Michaels.

Sadly, Idzik's health is failing. He's 84, battling dementia, diabetes and heart problems, according to his wife, who said neurologists believe the dementia was caused by too many blows to the head in football. She recalled times when he was knocked unconscious and returned a few plays later.

"It makes me sick to see him go downhill," Joyce said. "He was so vibrant."

The eldest Idzik uses a walker and requires 24-hour care. He doesn't speak much. He says "yes" and "no," and nods his head. When told the news Friday that his son was the new boss of the Jets, he nodded and said, "Jets," according to Joyce.

"Sometimes," she said, "he opens his brain and he's back for a short time."

She once asked him if he regretted playing football, and he said "no," because there was no other way he could've gone to college.

Keenly aware of the ravages of the sport, Idzik refused to let his son play football until middle school. That didn't make John happy, but he also played baseball and tennis. He was so obsessed with sports that his mother once asked, "Don't you want to date?"

No time for that, he told her.

Much like Rex Ryan, whose father, Buddy, was a longtime coach, Idzik had the benefit of seeing the NFL from the inside. During his high-school years, he worked as a summer ball boy with the Philadelphia Eagles and Jets.

"I was hanging around as a ball boy, a PR assistant, doing odd jobs," Idzik once said. "[The NFL] was always a big part of my life."

His father coached the Jets' quarterbacks from 1977 to 1979, in the middle of the celebrated Richard Todd-Matt Robinson controversy. Idzik reportedly sided with Todd, leading to a clash with Michaels, who fired him and hired Joe Walton.

"The fact that I didn't get along with the old man doesn't mean the son isn't good," Michaels said by phone, recalling vague memories of young John as a ball boy.

The Jets had a couple of players from Dartmouth, and they sold him on the school. Idzik was an athletic and academic standout, playing wide receiver and graduating with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors.

Idzik's quarterback was Dave Howard, the New York Mets' executive vice president of business operations. In fact, they lived in the same dorm, Howard only a couple of doors down from Idzik. Dartmouth's Class of '82 is well represented on the New York sports landscape.

After Dartmouth, Idzik coached the receivers at the University of Buffalo for a year before deciding to join the real world. He landed a job at IBM, moving from White Plains, N.Y., to Atlanta to Tampa.

Six years in a shirt and tie was enough

"I wasn't shocked that he wanted to get back into football," his mother said. "Life is too short. You have to be happy."

Idzik's return didn't occur on American soil; in 1990, he got a job as an assistant coach with the Aberdeen Oilers of the British American Football League. He and his pregnant wife, Carol, lived in Scotland.

He returned to the States and became a graduate assistant at Duke, where he assisted the offensive line and running backs and earned a master's degree. He also served as a liaison to NFL scouts who visited the campus.

After two years, Idzik returned to his previous home -- Tampa -- with no job and a house payment. He landed a job as a pro-personnel assistant with the Tampa Bay Bucs, starting an 11-year climb through the organizational ranks.

With his math background, Idzik gravitated toward the business side of the operation and eventually was put in charge of managing the salary cap. A former Bucs colleague described him as bright and a hard worker, an excellent cap manager.

"John was pushy; he wanted to get into personnel," the former colleague said. "He had a goal: He wanted to be a general manager."

Those were good times. After decades of misery, the Bucs assembled an outstanding team and won the Super Bowl after the 2002 season. It was the second Super Bowl ring for the Idzik family; his dad was a backfield coach for the Baltimore Colts, which captured Super Bowl V.

Eventually, Idzik lost his job as assistant GM, the result of a power struggle in which coach Jon Gruden brought in his own people to the front office. He spent three years as the Arizona Cardinals' senior director of football operations before moving to the Seahawks in 2007.

"He's a sharp individual, a very bright guy," said player agent Alan Herman, who has negotiated several contracts with Idzik. "He knows his stuff, and he has a feel for personnel. It's a real good hire, in my opinion."

Idzik became an integral part of the Seahawks' front office, surviving a house cleaning and climbing the ladder. He was the No. 3 man, behind coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider. In recent years, Idzik dabbled in personnel, attending meetings and taking a couple of scouting trips.

Schneider called Idzik a "well-respected, lifelong football man who I believe will be a strong addition" to the Jets.

Despite Schneider's description -- football man -- Idzik is regarded throughout the league as a cap/business guru. He's been a fixture at owners meetings and Management Council sessions, but not at the scouting combine or Senior Bowl.

The scouting community is sharply divided on whether someone with Idzik's background can succeed in the big chair. Some believe the Jets need a leader with a strong personnel background; others say the GM position has evolved into an all-encompassing, CEO-type job.

"How difficult will it be for him?" asked former Denver Broncos GM Ted Sundquist, who interviewed for the job. "Things will come up that will surprise John because he hasn't done it before. Ultimately, it boils down to, how do you solve problems?"

Those problems, Sundquist said, could range from settling draft-room disputes to deciding whether to serve chicken or beef on the team flight. With the Jets, it'll mean co-existing with a polarizing coach, trying to fix the quarterback situation, and so on.

For the first time in his life, Idzik will have to deal with the media.

"He's kind of private," Joyce Idzik said of her son. "That doesn't mix with New York, but I think he's tough enough to handle it. He gets that from his father."

[faba]

Any new GM would not come in and fire the whole scounting staff and organizational personnel- if he wants and i am sure he will bring people in gradually to support him. Just like in your and my job when we get a new manager

[SouthernJet]

Wow you guys have reached a new low letting fatesca get your panties in a bunch.

LOL, agree.

I think some folks want a GM who has been in Days Inns, on per diem, scouting college players his whole career. Idzik will find guys like that to give input, not run the team/