WyBlog

The Jets fire head coach Eric Mangini

Well, that didn't take long. Not even 8 hours after the culmination of their historic collapse at the hands of Chad Pennington's Miami Dolphins Jets owner Woody Johnson emailed a pink slip to head coach Eric Mangini. Johnson sent the email at 2:30 AM this morning after consultations with GM Mike Tannenbaum. They made if official at a 10:00 AM news conference held at their Florham Park, NJ headquarters.

Johnson stressed that this was not a hasty decision born of yesterday's defeat. The Jets started the season 8-3 and seemed destined for a playoff berth and perhaps a first round bye. Then the bottom fell out as they lost to 3 woefully mediocre teams (Oakland, San Francisco, and Seattle) and were outplayed by Denver and Miami. The team seemed to lack cohesion and direction, and each week saw an ever increasing rotation of questionable play calls and missed opportunities. Sure there were moments of brilliance; beating the Tennessee Titans ought to rank up there as one of the all-time Jets victories and it's always fun to whack the Patriots at home.

But, yesterday's loss hurt. Badly. To lose to the Fish is never a good thing. But to lose the way they did, playing unispired football against their former quarterback, showed just how much Mangini's ability to lead the team had deteriorated. It also showed that Mangini was not cut out to develop Pennington's skills — Chad's tenure with the Jets was marked by mishaps, but he quickly blossomed under the tutelage of Bill Parcells to lead the Dolphins to the AFC East championship. The Jets thought they needed a new QB, but what they really needed was someone who could coach the QB they had.

GM Mike Tannenbaum will lead the search for a new head coach. Bill Cowher is mentioned as a leading contender. I hope the Jets realize that their problems run deeper than Mangini's office. Their organization needs to embrace a philosophy of winning. They have to forget how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They need inspiration. They need to believe they can be winners. Until then, no matter who ends up as head coach, they'll still be the Same Old Jets.

Posted at 10:39 by Chris Wysocki   [/jets]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |   |   Tweet