Jets news 6/1/08

[Kentucky Jet]

UNDER PRESSURE

By MARK CANNIZZARO, NY POST

JET PILOT: Coming off a 4-12 season and an offseason spending spree, Eric Mangini knows how important it is for him and the JetsNew York Jets to improve this season.

June 1, 2008 --

HARTFORD, Conn. - Eric Mangini went home again yesterday.

As he's done for the last six years on the first Saturday after Memorial Day, Mangini was roaming the urban playing fields at his alma mater, Bulkeley High School, which sits right in the shadows of the Hartford skyline.

You couldn't see it on his face as he smiled and interacted with the 700 kids from 71 high schools and four states at his annual Carmine and Frank Mangini Foundation's Football Fundamentals Mini-Camp - but Mangini is a coach who's just three months away from the most important coaching season of his life following the 4-12 Jets mess in 2007.

Though yesterday's camp, which was started and named after his father Carmine and uncle Frank and has served more than 3,000 underprivileged kids during the last seven years, was a time for giving back and fun, there's an unmistakable pressure on Mangini to bring the Jets back to contention this year.

We live in a "what have you done for me lately" era, which is magnified by the lofty expectations of New York.

This cannot be illustrated better than watching what MetsNew York Mets manager Willie Randolph has been enduring. Mangini has watched Randolph's struggle from a box seat of sorts since Randolph's agent, Ron Shapiro, is the brother of his wife, Julie.

Then there's Giants head coach Tom Coughlin.

A year ago, Mangini was the darling football coach in this town, fresh off of an unexpectedly successful 10-6 rookie season that included a playoff berth.

Across the Hudson, Coughlin was one step from being run out of town. One more subpar season in 2007 and Coughlin was a goner.

But the result from the unanticipated twists and turns of the '07 season has left the two coaches in a role reversal.

Coughlin is wearing a Super Bowl ring after leading the GiantsNew York Giants to an improbable run, and has a lucrative new contract as a reward.

"Julie and I had dinner with Tom and his wife at the owners meetings [in 2007] when he was under a lot of pressure and saw how difficult it was for him, so I couldn't be happier for him, because I knew he was a good coach," Mangini told The Post yesterday.

For all the goodwill he built in 2006, the scrutiny has heightened for Mangini after 4-12 and he understands that. He refuses to flinch, though.

"I really believe in the things we're doing organizationally," Mangini said. "I believe in the people we've hired. I believe in [GM] Mike [Tannenbaum] and the way we work. There's a vision and I sincerely believe in that vision."

At the owners meetings in March, Jet owner Woody Johnson told The Post that Mangini is not on a hot seat, required to win a certain amount of games or make the playoffs or else. Mangini appreciates of Johnson's patience.

"Woody has been unbelievable," Mangini said. "I love talking to Woody about the mission statement at Johnson & Johnson and the greatness of that company. That's what we're all trying to do - build a Johnson & Johnson, just in a different form."

Mangini loves the platform he has as an NFL coach to be able to do the things like he does with yesterday's camp, which is close to his heart thanks to his late father, who used to collect clothes and toiletries for men's homeless shelters and put on barbeques for them "to create a sense of normalcy for them," Mangini said.

Mangini remembered former Bear great Mike Singletary coming to Bulkeley and speaking to his class as a moving moment for him.

"It was a big deal," he recalled. "I remember thinking, 'I can't believe this guy is taking the time to come to Hartford, Connecticut, to Bulkeley High School to talk to us,' and how cool that was. I'm hoping that there are kids [at the camp] thinking the same things."

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com

[Kentucky Jet]

Mangini Gives back- Erik Boland, Newsday blog

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BY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com

June 1, 2008

: HARTFORD - Graham Martin had the dirt on Eric Mangini, his former linebacker. "Our film sessions used to be 45 minutes," said Martin, the former football coach at Bulkeley High here. "When Mangini got involved, it got to an hour and a half. He was tuned into these minute details. And it was about him, obviously. 'Coach, see that half-tackle I got?' ... He made sure that we were aware of his contribution."

So when will statistical awareness become a Jets core value?

Jets coach Mangini, told of the comments of the coach for whom he played at Bulkeley from 1985-88, smiled. "I think Graham might have misrepresented that," said Mangini, host of yesterday's seventh annual Football Fundamentals Minicamp at Bulkeley. "I think I was very accuracy-conscious. I wanted to make sure he was as accurate as possible to help out the team."

The camp, an initiative of the Carmine and Frank Mangini Foundation, was a homecoming for Mangini. He has seen it grow from 236 participants in 2002 to 700, from 71 high schools and four states. Some campers come from under-resourced families.

Graham Martin's wife, Jane, said the idea has been broached of moving the camp to a bigger facility or out of Hartford, but Mangini won't consider it. "I want people to come into Hartford. I want people to see the good things that are in Hartford," he said. "It's about being in Hartford. I believe in the city. I believe in the kids in the city. I want this event to be in the city."

Most of the Jets' coaching staff served as volunteer coaches, along with Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and former Giant Mark Bavaro. All of the Jets' rookie class - except for Vernon Gholston, still in class at Ohio State - coached at the camp, joined by a handful of veterans, including third-year quarterback Kellen Clemens."It's good for the coach/player relationship," he said. "The same way you want to spend time with your teammates away from the building, it's nice to be able to do that with the coaches."

Mangini more than did that kind of bonding with Martin, who became a surrogate father after Mangini's father, Carmine, died in 1987. "When my father died, Jane and Graham were just very special people and have been," Mangini said.

Jane, a Bulkeley special education teacher, retired last week, and the family invited Mangini to the retirement party dinner at an area steakhouse May 22. Mangini could not make it but called the restaurant that morning and put the party of 80 people on his bill. The money that guests donated for the dinner instead went to the school library. "I've never had anyone do something like that for me," Jane Martin said. "It was overwhelming."

Notes & quotes: Mangini offered his first public comments regarding LB Bryan Thomas' remarks Thursday that he "slacked off" at points last year. "One of the things we talk about quite a bit, whether it's after a practice or after a game, after a season, everybody spend some time and be honest with themselves," Mangini said. "That's how you're going to get better. It's good that everybody does that."

[Kentucky Jet]

Link: Florio Thinks The Jets Were Desperate

Posted on May 31st, 2008 by Mack Rosenberg

I was fishing around the web for some interesting viewpoints on the Jets free agent acquisitions, and I cam across an interesting piece via Mike Florio of the Sporting News, and of course the well known Pro Football Talk.com. What Florio had to say about the Jets had me thinking some people really don

[Kentucky Jet]

Erik Boland: Inside the Jets

Breaking news, commentary and insider information on the New York Jets

[Kentucky Jet]

By GREG BISHOP

Published: May 23, 2008

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y.