The “safe choice” is always about minimizing criticism at the time of the choice instead of trying to maximize what you can get out of said choice. The “safe choice” won’t put you on the wrong end of being criticized immediately, but it’s by far the best way to find yourself with a ceiling of mediocrity. To want to hire Mike McCarthy, Jim Caldwell or Adam Gase is to say you’re so concerned with getting it wrong that you’re not willing to risk trying to get it right.
“Hire a proven coach with experience,” they say, not realizing there’s far more failures with retreads than there are success stories. Of course the same applies to first-time coaches, but the difference is retreads will almost always continue to do what they have always done, to continue to do what they did that got them fired (after all, they got hired again so they think they must be doing something right), when looking at first-time hires you should be willing to look for someone willing to think outside the box. Someone willing to try different things, someone who will try to be ahead of the curve instead of behind the curve or struggling to catch up to the curve. The game has changed dramatically over the past few years, don’t go to someone still clinging to the past and unwilling to adapt with the times. Go with someone that’s innovative, someone that will be aggressive and put pressure on their opponents. It’s the innovative and aggressive coaches that are having the most success in today’s NFL so use that same mindset when hiring a head coach. Focus on the right choice, not the safe choice otherwise you’ll end up exactly where you started.
Let’s look at the three retread coaches that are having success right now; there’s Bill Belichick who is always changing and adapting his scheme, not even year-to-year but week-to-week, Pete Carroll who not only has been willing to change and adapt but also had to go back to college for nine years, and there’s Andy Reid. Reid has always been a great offensive choice that stayed ahead of trends, but everything got stale in Philadelphia. He got fired and knew he had to make changes, not small tweaks but wholesale changes and he went to Kansas City and immediately became a better coach. This is the selling point people are making with McCarthy and sure, if McCarthy were willing to do that then maybe he could dramatically improve in the same way but go ahead and look at the screenshots in this tweet and convince yourself that this is a man willing to actually make the necessarily changes.
These are among the things I am concerned about McCarthy (via @geoffschwartz and @robertmays) https://t.co/6nVh685FRXhttps://t.co/SYYa2qEYOi pic.twitter.com/fwHH0gXW0U
— Joe Caporoso (@JCaporoso) January 4, 2019
People wonder why McCarthy gets criticized for only winning one Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers yet people still praise Sean Payton despite him only winning one ring with Drew Brees, well this is the answer. If you watch the Saints offense you can see all the good Payton does, you can see how he schemes players open, how it makes Brees’ job easier for him. When you watch the Packers offense you see scheme and play-calls making Rodgers’ job harder, you see him having to work harder to get similar results. Rodgers has been so otherworldly it often worked anyway and people confuse that with thinking the entire offense was working. Regardless of how insanely good the quarterback is you want a coach that will help make the quarterback’s job easier, McCarthy failed to do that.
Gase, to his credit, actually did a solid job of making the job easier for his quarterback this year. He added a ton of speed and went heavy with short passes, setting up his speedy receivers to have wide open space in front of them for big plays. This is why Gase would make an excellent offensive coordinator, but he failed as a head coach because he tried the old-school, disciplinarian, my way or the highway approach. He was more interested in having his players fall in line and follow orders than figuring out how to work with the talent he had. Imagine how Gase would respond the first time Jamal Adams says something Gase doesn’t like.
Caldwell would be fine, but do you really think a 63-year-old Jim Caldwell is going to bring something new and innovative to the table? Do you see him being ahead of the curve? You think this is the guy that will lead the Jets to the Super Bowl?
The “safe choice” limits you’re chances of being the worst team in the league, but it equally limits you’re chance of being the best team in the league. The Jets are in a great position, they have a potential franchise quarterback who is only 21-years-old and will be on a rookie contract for the next four years with over $100 million in cap space, they can’t afford to waste this opportunity on a “safe choice.”
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Strong points, Chris. Btw, congrats on the new ownership!
People can say what they want about the Johnson’s not being “football people.” However, one positive takeaway from Monday’s presser was Chris coming out and articulating that he “Would not stop until the Jets get a Super Bowl.”
It’s a small detail. but even the mere mention and statement of the goal being to “Get to the Super Bowl and win it” is a major step forward for the organization.
The whole concept of wanting to return to the playoffs is everything that has plagued this franchise, in a nutshell.
As you stated, the goal should not be to merely avoid criticism and hire someone who’s simply “better than Bowles.” The Jets need to take a shot on someone who they believe can lead this team to glory. Swing for the fences, and even if you miss, well…you’ll probably only end up 1-2 games worse than if you had hired a “safe” candidate.
Totally agreed. Let’s get a HC candidate with some fresh ideas. Even if they fail at least there was an effort made to change the culture. I wonder how Jets history might have been different if Pete Carroll was given a real chance to put his stamp on the team. He was so different in his approach that Hess didn’t understand him at all, and fired him after one season.
Pete carroll would still be gone he went to new England and got fired he needed a few more years in college to learn so your argument makes no sense. The Jets need a experienced football guy to bringknoeledge and culture on winning you have a owner and a GM that dont have a clue on how to achieve that.bring in Mcarthy who developed Aroon Rogers won a superbowl and handled the turmoil of going from Farve to Rogers. Putting another newbie with no coach experience will be a disaster for Darnold who right now run west coast offense which is identical to what Mcarthy runs. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel Mcarthy would put this team back in the playoffs within a year or 2. Bring in another rookie coach we will be discussing this again in 3 years
Disagree completely this team has hired fresh blood since Parcells left town. Where has it gotten this team Rex Ryan was good for 2 years and the rest is history. Bowles was supposed to be the next upcoming coordinator with new ideas on defense. Mac was supposed to be the new fresh GM well where has it gotten this team 4-12. The Jets have a young QB who runs the west coach Mike Mcarthy runs an identical system has developed Aron Rogers and won a superbowl plus spent 9 of 11 seasons in the post season who handled transition from going from Brett Farve to Arron Rogers. Thats what the Jets need a experienced head coach somebody who knows what they are doing. You have a owner and a GM that are clueless on how to build and bring a winning culture to the locker room. Sorry chris but you bring in a Cliff kingsbury, Richardson with no nfl coaching experience you will have the same experience and you will be writing this blog again in 4 years. This team needs another Parcells not another coach getting experience learning on the job. Mcarthy is the closest thing to Parcells.
First of all, Chris, congratulations on the new gig. Hope it goes well for you. Jetslandistan needs as much common sense reportage as we can get.
You do make a most valid argument, and one that I heartedly agree with; hiring a retread would not be my choice either. But then Maccagnan will most likely fall in step with what the owners want: someone who they think will put fannies in seats. That’s not what should be the bottom line motivating factor for any franchise. But until the Johnsons sell this team I don’t expect the Jets will ever rise above mediocrity at best, let alone being putting a winning product on the field, and one with a consistently legitimate shot at playing for, and winning, the Lombardi.