Another former Jets coach interested in job? He didn’t say no

One former Jets coach has spent much of the last month campaigning to return to the job, and get his former team back to the playoffs as its playoff drought is set to hit 14 years — the longest streak of futility in franchise history and the longest active drought in the major American professional sports.
But Rex Ryan isn’t the only one interested getting his old job back. The coach who preceded him, Eric Mangini, was floated as a possible candidate by The Athletic over the weekend. And Mangini was asked about it this week by radio host Colin Cowherd on “The Herd.”
“I obviously not lobbying for the job,” Mangini said on FS1, where the former coach works as an analyst. “But I feel pretty good about what I did while I was there. We just had three of those guys that I coached go into the Jets’ ring of honor. And I think we were a smart, disciplined, tough team.”
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That’s certainly far from a no from Mangini, who came closer to lobbying for himself on FS1’s “First Thing First.”
“Look, it would make sense because I finally sold my house in New Jersey,” Mangini joked. “Once you sell your house you get a job, once you buy a house you get fired. I mean, if you want a team that’s smart, tough, hard-working, competitive, selfless, and [with] guys that football’s important to, filled with guys going into the ring of honor, you could make that case.”
Mangini did oversee the early development of three players who developed into some of the best in franchise history: Hall-of-Fame cornerback Darrelle Revis, center Nick Mangold, and left tackle Nick Mangold all have been enshrined in the team’s ring of honor. All helped the Jets make back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship game under Ryan in 2009 and 2010, under Ryan who took over for Mangini who was fired after the Jets finished the 2008 season with four losses in their final five games to go from 8-3 to out of the playoffs.
Mangini was 35 when he was hired by the Jets in 2006. Despite having two winning seasons in three years, he was fired after things went awry with Brett Favre concealing an arm injury late in the 2008 season. Mangini finished with a 23-25 record as Jets coach, and noted that the guy who hired him initially, then GM Mike Tannenbaum, is playing a key role in the search once again.
“I didn’t realize we were getting the band back together,” Mangini said with a laugh, “bringing Tannenbaum back in. It’s like any other situation: there’s a lot of things you can do with an organization from a vision and principle standpoint, and I feel good about what I did when I was there.”
We think the Jets would be wise to stay away from past coaches who didn’t work out, like Ryan and Mangini, especially considering how much the game has changed in the last decade. Mangini last coached the Browns from 2009-10, finishing with a 5-11 record in both seasons to bring his overall coaching record to 33-47 in five years. He hasn’t been on a NFL coaching staff since 2015 when he was the 49ers defensive coordinator under Jim Tomsula.
But hiring Mangini would make just about as much sense as hiring Ryan, who had two winning seasons in six years as coach, the same amount Mangini had as three seasons.
One thing Ryan and Mangini have in common? They don’t seem to think the Jets need to tear things down to the studs under a new coach and GM.
“I thought they were going to win the division,” Mangini said. “I thought they were going to win it last year before [quarterback] Aaron [Rodgers] got hurt and I thought they were going to win it this year. Look, I went through this with Brett and we were 8-3 until Brett got hurt and I thought it was going to be a similar trajectory with Aaron Rodgers and it should be a similar trajectory.
“Look, he’s not what he used to be, but he should make everybody around him better because of the things that he can do and he took over for a situation that was arguably as bad as any situation in the league from a quarterback perspective, so naturally you thought there’d be a jump there.”
Instead it has been more frustration for the Jets and their fans, who saw their team make the playoffs in six out of 11 seasons from 2000-10, only to finish above .500 once in the 13-plus seasons since.
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Andy Vasquez may be reached at [email protected].