My Evaluation of every Jets head coach since I started watching

[Jetsfan80]

31 minutes ago, Trotter said:

Saleh is our modern day holtz

fight songs slogans same end result

At least Holtz had the decency to quit!  😂

[doitny]

you know what i notice from most if not all of your answers? defensive HCs were the best for us.

Parcells, Michaels, Rex, Mangini... all fare better than

Kotite, Gase, Coslet, Walton

just interesting considering most of you dont want a DC to coach us ever again.

we suck at OCs being our HCs, and suck even more having OCs being our OC.

maybe a strong DC as our HC is our identity.? 

[Jetsfan80]

10 minutes ago, doitny said:

you know what i notice from most if not all of your answers? defensive HCs were the best for us.

Parcells, Michaels, Rex, Mangini... all fare better than

Kotite, Gase, Coslet, Walton

just interesting considering most of you dont want a DC to coach us ever again.

we suck at OCs being our HCs, and suck even more having OCs being our OC.

maybe a strong DC as our HC is our identity.? 

No we just hire the worst offense-minded HCs.  Doesn’t mean that the philosophy doesn’t work. 

[Jet_Engine1]

13 minutes ago, doitny said:

you know what i notice from most if not all of your answers? defensive HCs were the best for us.

Parcells, Michaels, Rex, Mangini... all fare better than

Kotite, Gase, Coslet, Walton

just interesting considering most of you dont want a DC to coach us ever again.

we suck at OCs being our HCs, and suck even more having OCs being our OC.

maybe a strong DC as our HC is our identity.? 

Kotite and Gase were ABSURD signings, regardless of what they were supposed to be experts in. They were both manifestly terrible hires before they were even interviewed. 

 

Don't get past Jets organizational incompetence confused with the correct decision going forward.  

 

The Jets are trapped in Neanderthal Football during the space age 

[RutgersJetFan]

6 hours ago, GregButtleFan said:

If you got a good roster he will get you to the playoffs, if you have a bad roster he will win 4-5 games.

oh wow

[doitny]

8 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

No we just hire the worst offense-minded HCs.  Doesn’t mean that the philosophy doesn’t work. 

Kotite has 2 seasons of 10 and 11 wins in Phila and finished 36-28 with 2 playoff games.

Gase was 23-25 in Miami with one playoff game.

but they come here and fall of a cliff. its not that they were bad choices at the time, but here they were the worst HCs we ever seen.

teams have identities. 

the Yankees always have to have HR hitters. they will never be a team that hits singles, steals bases and bunts.

the Mets always produce good pitchers.

ours comes from Joe Namath. a flashy, larger than life guy who had the audacity to predict a SB win. our 2 best HCs , Parcells and Rex were also loud and larger than life. we perform our best with guys who predict SBs and tell the media we arent here to kiss anybody's rings.

your right that the philosophy "could work" but it doesn't for us no matter who the owner or GM is.

i guess we will see by the end of the year if im right on this. we have another larger-than-life big mouth QB and defensive HC. 

 

[sciond]

4 hours ago, Trotter said:

with you 100% on Walt

Curious about your take on Holtz.

Most myself included just did not care for him in the pros - great college coach but considered an absolute failure with the Jets.

Holtz was pretty good but the pros weren't really his thing it seems

[TuscanyTile2]

5 hours ago, Biggs said:

 Belicheck was the best Jets HC.   He took one look at Woody and quit. 

The 1st time or the 2nd time?

[TuscanyTile2]

5 hours ago, Trotter said:

you guys are pups which is a good thing.

you missed charlie winner (yup his real name), Ken Schipp, good ole Joe Walton (which in case you care another fan favorite Rich Kotite was his assistant head coach - the original dumb and dumber) and not to leave out the all time classic Lou lets sing fight songs at halftime Holtz 

Walton/Kotite once beat Parcells/Belichick in a big game for the Giants.

 

 

[Trotter]

14 minutes ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

Walton/Kotite once beat Parcells/Belichick in a big game for the Giants.

 

 

Blind squirrel?

broken clock?

[Trotter]

21 minutes ago, sciond said:

Holtz was pretty good but the pros weren't really his thing it seems

Very good college

funny because I think saleh would be successful as a college coach

[Arsis]

If it were up to me I would have given Mangini another year or two.

[sciond]

3 minutes ago, Trotter said:

Very good college

funny because I think saleh would be successful as a college coach

I am not sure because his issue is game planning and in game adjustments. He gets out coached many weeks

[Randy Rasmussen]

 Belicheck was the best Jets HC.   He took one look at Woody and quit. 

But whats his win loss record with the Jets?
Whats his win loss record without Brady?


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[Rich Thornburgh]

7 hours ago, Bungaman said:

More oldie references: letting Pete Carroll go after he was a DC for three years and a HC for one was a mistake, as it turns out. Goes under the category of missed opportunity, I suppose.

Al Groh was, as was said - solid - but I don't know whether his methods didn't suit pro players, or the other way around.

Groh was a good coach he just didn’t get along with the veteran players at the time.  

[Rich Thornburgh]

4 hours ago, JohnnyLV said:

I think Parcells is the best BUT I also think he is sort of massively overrated.  I think Parcells best trait was picking a staff. Our staff in 1998 was ridiculous.

However I think Saleh is the worst head coach by a very very large margin. He is literally good at nothing that is required from a head coach whereas all the others did have areas of strength. He is the worst HC I have seen. A complete politician hiding behind trite slogans that is the most stuck in the mud rigid and stubborn head coach I have ever seen.  In addition, he actually has good players and still manages to get the worst out of them. And on the defense I think there are at least 25 coordinators that would get as good or better results out of the talent we have. He is a complete zero.

Rex Ryan is interesting. Outside of the color coded plays Ryan was one of the best head coaches in football his first two years.  But instead of getting better and learning he just got worse and worse eventually turning into essentially a caricature of himself. The league adjusted and he had no response at all until in the end he was an absolutely awful head coach

It’s wierd. Parcells was both the best and the worst.  Yes he took a 1-15 crapshow and got to a AFCG 2 years later, he also told Peyton Manning and his dad to take a hike because he was too old school. He then compounded that mistake by not drafting Orlando Brown. Both moves were OBVIOUS at the time

 

If we draft Peyton Manning in 1997 the last 27 years is completely different. 

[Sperm Edwards]

4 hours ago, JohnnyLV said:

I think Parcells is the best BUT I also think he is sort of massively overrated.  I think Parcells best trait was picking a staff. Our staff in 1998 was ridiculous.

However I think Saleh is the worst head coach by a very very large margin. He is literally good at nothing that is required from a head coach whereas all the others did have areas of strength. He is the worst HC I have seen. A complete politician hiding behind trite slogans that is the most stuck in the mud rigid and stubborn head coach I have ever seen.  In addition, he actually has good players and still manages to get the worst out of them. And on the defense I think there are at least 25 coordinators that would get as good or better results out of the talent we have. He is a complete zero.

Rex Ryan is interesting. Outside of the color coded plays Ryan was one of the best head coaches in football his first two years.  But instead of getting better and learning he just got worse and worse eventually turning into essentially a caricature of himself. The league adjusted and he had no response at all until in the end he was an absolutely awful head coach

The color coded plays were specifically introduced for one person, and one person only: Mark Sanchez, who needed red-yellow-green to remind him that, since we're down 2+ scores and it's 3rd & 15 on their 40 don't bother throwing a 3-yard checkdown to Thomas Jones (green); or it's 1st down not an emergency so don't just chuck & duck (yellow); or we're barely in FG range and/or the clock's running & we have no TOs left so no matter what, don't take a sack (red). Truth is while Rex had plenty of negatives on his own, this was a net positive for Sanchez who had no situational awareness at all. What's most pathetic about the whole color coded plays is that it was needed in the first place.

Also the original post is awful by definition just for saying anything at all complimentary about Herm Edwards. 

[Jet2020]

I started watching in 2000 with Al Groh. Always hated him, not sure why. Maybe cuz he ditched us. 

Best: Sexy Rexy. Hands down. Football used to be fun for me. Last decade+ has taken a toll and I don’t know how the old timers have any interest whatsoever. Rex brought so much excitement to the game for Jets fans. We were the sh*t for 2-3 years and players wanted to come here. Circus? Maybe because of the loudmouth Rex was but that’s also what brought the excitement. 

2nd Best: Sadly there is none. Maybe Herm? But only because we were somewhat relevant back then. I was a late teenager back then so it might’ve been the hormones that brought out the excitement made the Jets seem more attractive. I remember disliking his trade away. 

Meh: Mangina  as the name suggests  he did some good things but his press conferences were horrendous and full of nothing. He did set up the team for a nice run, something he couldn’t manage. Favre brought a lot of excitement and ultimately, lots of misery and eventually hatred towards him.

Worst: Gase. No discussion.

2nd worst: Toilet Bowles. Good riddance.

3rd worst: And soon to be 2nd worst, Saleh. Uninspiring, illogical, garbage. 

 

[JKlecko]

9 hours ago, GregButtleFan said:

The Best: Bill Parcells

Joe Beningo likes to trash Parcells for underachieving in 1999 after Vinny injury. That’s fair. He screwed up with Rick Mirer. Still, Parcells built a foundation here that lasted long after he left. Those Edward’s teams were largely built by Parcells. Hell, Shaun Ellis lasted thru Rex. 
 

The worst: Rich Kotite

It’s well documented that Kotite did not work very hard as a HC. The results showed. Not much more to say here. The only positive is he was the only coach that was able to actually get us the #1 draft pick. 
 

The second best: Rex Ryan 

He was a clown, but also a creative defensive coach that took a borderline top 15 defense under Mangini and transformed them to #1 in a single season. His win and game plan against Brady in 2011 was the best of my lifetime and likely cost the Pats another ring. Unfortunately he didn’t  have a clue how to construct a modern NFL offense and was terrible at talent evaluation and roster construction. Rex set the foundation for our current playoff drought. 
 

The second worst: Adam Gase

Supposed offensive genius that put forth the worst offenses of my lifetime. He also failed to develop Sam Darnold who was probably the most promising of the young QBs the Jets drafted. Gase never really seemed to be engaged when he was with the Jets. It was almost as if he got the sense that he knew this was his last payday and he was getting out of coaching. Those four games he coached with Sam Darnold on the bench with mono was probably the worst football I have ever seen from a Jets team. 
 

Most disappointing 1: Eric Mangini

Mangini did some good things here. The 2006 and 2007 draft classes were probably the best in team history with DBrickashaw, Mangold, Revis, and Harris among others and he was a big part of that. However he oversaw the most disappointing Jets season of my lifetime in his last year. Going from 8-3 to 9-8 and missing the playoffs to Chad Pennington and the Dolphins was absolutely brutal. Terrible coaching job that year. 
 

Most disappointing 2: Robert Saleh

He is what he is. A defensive coordinator who has been uncomfortable since day 1 as a head coach. His best attribute is developing young unheralded defensive players and getting them to play well. He did that in SF and that has translated here. How do you underachieve with a talented roster? Hire Nathanial Hackett, Keith Carter, and Todd Downing as your offensive brain trust. That’s a trio of 💩 that only the Jets can conjure up. 

Also rans:

Todd Bowles: The type of coach who is net neutral. If you got a good roster he will get you to the playoffs, if you have a bad roster he will win 4-5 games. This is an upgrade over Kotite, Gase, and Saleh who are the three net negative coaches in my lifetime. 

Herm Edwards: I liked Herm, but he was 100 percent coordinator dependent. Former player that was great in press conferences and garnered respect from players, but he didn’t know sh*t about Xs and Os and was brutal in clock management. 
 

Al Groh: he was actually a solid coach, but his style definitely fit college more as vets will tune that type of coaching out quickly. 
 

 

You've forgotten the offenses of Richie Kotite.  They were much more inept than the offenses of Gase.  Gase actually won games. The offense with Richie was stumbling, bumbling and a total embarrassment.  I'll never forget in a game against the Panthers, a Panther defender (Sam Mills?) steals the ball from the QB or intercepts a handoff or lateral and runs for a TD.  Hackett is running a close second to Kotite in the worst offenses dept.  Both make Gase look like a genius.

As for Mangini's draft classes, they may have been the best drafts you saw, but were nowhere near the best, but maybe in the top 10.  The best draft classes were 1977 & 1978.  Add in '79 and it was trifecta.  '77 was the best Jets draft ever and they drafted Klecko, Wesley Walker, Dan Alexander, Kevin Long, Marvin Powell, Scott Dierking, and Matt Robinson.  In '78 they drafted Chris Ward, Micky Shuler, Mark Merrill, Bobby Jackson, Derrick Gaffney, and Pat Ryan.  In '79 they added Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, and Johnny Lynn.  That was 3/4 of the Sack Exchange (they drafted Abdul Salaam in '76), their starting OTs in Powell and Ward, a starting OG in Alexander, their starting TE in Shuler, and one of the best WRs in team history in Walker, along with several other useful players who contributed.

You didn't see Weeb, Charley Winner, Ken Shipp, Lou Holtz, Mike Holovak, Walt Michaels, Joe Walton, Bruce Coslet, and Pete Carroll.  Weeb was a great HC.  Walt Michaels could have been a great HC if he didn't have a drinking problem. I think the Jets could have possibly won a SB or two with him as HC.  Joe Walton had a ton of talent and couldn't win consistently. 

[JKlecko]

8 hours ago, Bungaman said:

More oldie references: letting Pete Carroll go after he was a DC for three years and a HC for one was a mistake, as it turns out. Goes under the category of missed opportunity, I suppose.

Al Groh was, as was said - solid - but I don't know whether his methods didn't suit pro players, or the other way around.

I have to disagree.  While Pete was a very good DC for the Jets, he was not good as a HC.  He was more interested in having fun and shooting hoops with his players than he was in winning.  I read an interview several years ago where Pete himself said that it took getting fired by the Jets and the Pats to make him sit and take a long, hard, serious look at his coaching style and philosophy.  He said that if the Jets hadn't fired him, that he probably wouldn't have learned or improved.  It was getting fired that made Carroll change his approach, then he went to USC and won, and then of course went to the Seahawks and won.

In Pete's defense, he had good defensive talent on the team, but his OL and offensive talent were pretty lacking.

[RoadFan]

5 hours ago, JohnnyLV said:

I think Parcells is the best BUT I also think he is sort of massively overrated.  I think Parcells best trait was picking a staff. Our staff in 1998 was ridiculous.

However I think Saleh is the worst head coach by a very very large margin. He is literally good at nothing that is required from a head coach whereas all the others did have areas of strength. He is the worst HC I have seen. A complete politician hiding behind trite slogans that is the most stuck in the mud rigid and stubborn head coach I have ever seen.  In addition, he actually has good players and still manages to get the worst out of them. And on the defense I think there are at least 25 coordinators that would get as good or better results out of the talent we have. He is a complete zero.

Rex Ryan is interesting. Outside of the color coded plays Ryan was one of the best head coaches in football his first two years.  But instead of getting better and learning he just got worse and worse eventually turning into essentially a caricature of himself. The league adjusted and he had no response at all until in the end he was an absolutely awful head coach

Rich Kotite is not only the worst coach in Jets history by a large margin, he is in the conversation for worst in NFL history.

His decision to ask poor Vance Joseph, a guy who literally just began learning to play CB, to try and cover Tim Brown without any help is the dumbest and most indefensible thing I have ever seen in an NFL game…

Saleh is useless and a liar.  He is not a total imbecile.

[JKlecko]

4 hours ago, doitny said:

you know what i notice from most if not all of your answers? defensive HCs were the best for us.

Parcells, Michaels, Rex, Mangini... all fare better than

Kotite, Gase, Coslet, Walton

just interesting considering most of you dont want a DC to coach us ever again.

we suck at OCs being our HCs, and suck even more having OCs being our OC.

maybe a strong DC as our HC is our identity.? 

While that has been how things worked out, you have to take into consideration that both Hess and Woody are clueless doofuses.  The OCs they hired to be HCs were just horrible hires.  Kotite had just sucked with the Eagles.  There's no way that he should have been hired.  The same goes for Gase.  I believe that Walton had been OC of the Jets and Hess just promoted hm.  Coslet had done pretty well as Cincinnati's OC, but was a mediocre HC.  There were some good OCs the Jets could have hired over the years, but they either passed on them, or had just hired a DC the year or so before and the timing was wrong.

What's been wrong has been the Jets owners.  Until that changes, we'll likely never have a great HC or perennial winner.

[JKlecko]

1 hour ago, Sperm Edwards said:

The color coded plays were specifically introduced for one person, and one person only: Mark Sanchez, who needed red-yellow-green to remind him that, since we're down 2+ scores and it's 3rd & 15 on their 40 don't bother throwing a 3-yard checkdown to Thomas Jones (green); or it's 1st down not an emergency so don't just chuck & duck (yellow); or we're barely in FG range and/or the clock's running & we have no TOs left so no matter what, don't take a sack (red). Truth is while Rex had plenty of negatives on his own, this was a net positive for Sanchez who had no situational awareness at all. What's most pathetic about the whole color coded plays is that it was needed in the first place.

Also the original post is awful by definition just for saying anything at all complimentary about Herm Edwards. 

Thanks for explaining what the color coding meant.  I have never heard or seen that explained before.  Sanchez had talent, but was dumb. I never wanted him, and then when he was yucking it up on the sidelines during games they were losing and eating a hot dog on the sidelines in another I knew he had to go.

[GregButtleFan]

4 hours ago, doitny said:

you know what i notice from most if not all of your answers? defensive HCs were the best for us.

Parcells, Michaels, Rex, Mangini... all fare better than

Kotite, Gase, Coslet, Walton

just interesting considering most of you dont want a DC to coach us ever again.

we suck at OCs being our HCs, and suck even more having OCs being our OC.

maybe a strong DC as our HC is our identity.? 

Kotite, Coslet and Walton were hired 30+ years ago. How is that relevant? And Gase was an offensive coach that nobody wanted. 

[Sperm Edwards]

8 minutes ago, JKlecko said:

Thanks for explaining what the color coding meant.  I have never heard or seen that explained before.  Sanchez had talent, but was dumb. I never wanted him, and then when he was yucking it up on the sidelines during games they were losing and eating a hot dog on the sidelines in another I knew he had to go.

He was athletic enough, and whatever nice guy he seems off the field, he was a f***ing imbecile as a player.

[GregButtleFan]

7 hours ago, LIJetsFan said:

Based on their W/L record Gase is 2nd worst to Saleh.  This comes as a surprise!  

Robert Saleh has a 19–34 record and a .358 win percentage since being hired in 2021. 

Gase 2019-2020 New York Jets 9-23, giving Gase a .391 

 

 

 

Every victory in the Gase era was completely meaningless. The year he went 7-9 the Jets started 1-7. Who cares if they reeled off 6/8 against really bad competition? 

[JKlecko]

3 hours ago, doitny said:

Kotite has 2 seasons of 10 and 11 wins in Phila and finished 36-28 with 2 playoff games.

Gase was 23-25 in Miami with one playoff game.

but they come here and fall of a cliff. its not that they were bad choices at the time, but here they were the worst HCs we ever seen.

teams have identities. 

the Yankees always have to have HR hitters. they will never be a team that hits singles, steals bases and bunts.

the Mets always produce good pitchers.

ours comes from Joe Namath. a flashy, larger than life guy who had the audacity to predict a SB win. our 2 best HCs , Parcells and Rex were also loud and larger than life. we perform our best with guys who predict SBs and tell the media we arent here to kiss anybody's rings.

your right that the philosophy "could work" but it doesn't for us no matter who the owner or GM is.

i guess we will see by the end of the year if im right on this. we have another larger-than-life big mouth QB and defensive HC. 

 

I have to disagree.  Kotite's good years in Philly were his first 2 as HC.  Things went downhill after that, and I think I rember that the Eagles players were ready to revolt if Kotite wasn't fired. Hess rushed back from a vacation to hire Kotite and didn't even interview anyone else. He only hired Kotite because he had been with the team from '83-89 as WR Coach and then OC and Hess considered him "family."  Gase went to the playoffs his first season in Miami (10-6) and then over the next 2 seasons went 6-10 and 7-9.  I don't remember the details, but their record made him look better than he was.  Those teams had talent and underachieved.  I think Gase was hired within a week or two of being fired by Miami without anyone else being interviewed.  HCs that were hired by other teams in 2019 (when Gase was hired) were Kliff Kingsbury, Doug Pederson, Bruce Arians, Brian Flores, Dan Quinn, Matt LaFleur, Freddie Kitchens, Vic Fangio, and Zac Taylor.  Aside from Matt Patricia, any one of those guys would have been better than Gase.  I didn't want a DC, so I didn't want Flores, Quinn, or Fangio.  I didn't think Kingsbury or Taylor had enough experience , but I loved Arians, and Pederson was my 2nd choice with LaFleur being the #3 choice.  So good offensive coaches were available, Hess and Woody were too stupid to hire them.

[JKlecko]

22 minutes ago, GregButtleFan said:

Kotite, Coslet and Walton were hired 30+ years ago. How is that relevant? And Gase was an offensive coach that nobody wanted. 

They're relevant because they were coaches in Jets history.  If you're gonna talk about the best and worst HCs in Jets history, all have to be included.  That's not rocket science.

[JKlecko]

3 hours ago, Arsis said:

If it were up to me I would have given Mangini another year or two.

Mangini had lost the team.  He was too anal and too much of a micro manager. He was a very good coach, and a great evaluator of talent, but just too controlling and secretive. Having Favre forced upon him didn't help matters.

Perhaps if he hadn't gotten hired immediately by the Browns, he might have had time to sit back and reflect on where he went wrong, but based on what I read, he got even worse in terms of being a micro manager, controlling, and secretive.

[Joe W. Namath]

Coaches ive seen:

Joe Walton - C+
Really good offensive mind.  Coach a few really talented teams.  Not enough playoff success though

Bruce Coslet - C

Got us to the playoffs in the early 90s but we lost to the Oilers.  Not much other than that.

Pete Carrol - C

Started off hot but then collapsed.  Really didnt get a fair shake as he only coached 1 season.

Rich Kotite - D

He had some talent but this team way underachieved.  He brought us Keyshawn and Chrebet which keeps him out of F territory.

Bill Parcells - A

Turned around the entire franchise.  Won a division and made an afc championship game.  1998 was the 2nd best season in team history.

Al Groh - C+
Al had a nice 1st season w/ an aging qb coming off an achilles.  Almost made the playoffs in his 1 season.

Herman Edwards - B+
Herm Edwards took us to the playoffs multiple times and won a division.  If chad doesnt get hurt, he may have gone down as the best coach in team history.

Mangini - B-

Took us to the playoffs in year 1.  Drafted some really good players.  Had us in the drivers seat in his 3rd year and then favre got hurt.

Rex Ryan - B-

Rex was all smoke and mirrors.  Had every ball bounce his way and got extremely lucky his 1st 2 years.  The real rex came out and he ran the team into the ground.  He was a clown show but we did make 2 afc championship appearances under him.  That keeps him out of C/D category.

Todd Bowles - D+
He stunk.  Conservative, boring, never took us to the playoffs.  

Adam Gase - D

Had a 9 win season but then the wheels fell off.  Was so bad he never got another job.

Robert Saleh -C+
Kept the team together and won 7 games multiple times with 0 qb play.  Always has one of the best defensive units in the league.  After he wins the div and wins a playoff game this year, he will enter B or B+ territory.