Earlier this week, we posed the question of whether Jets owner Woody Johnson would bring back Rex Ryan to coach the team. While whether Woody would do it isn’t known, the other half of the equation is.
Rex would come back in a heartbeat.
During his weekly appearance on ESPN New York’s Bart & Hahn, Ryan brought up his desire to coach the team again without a question on the topic. Instead, Ryan was talking about Dan Campbell’s impact on the Lions as the face of the franchise, in cooperation with the rest of the front office, when he pivoted to his not-so-secret ambitions.
“I had a vision for the team and we weren’t gonna take any shit,” Ryan said. “And that’s exactly how Dan Campbell is. And that’s what I think, the other thing is, too, get a guy that connects with the fan base and all that. That’s why I want to be the next coach of the Jets.”
Ryan added that he hasn’t spoken to Johnson about the returning, that Johnson won’t commence the search until after the season ends.
Eventually, the discussion turned to the balance between keeping the nucleus of the current roster in place versus “blowing this whole thing up.”
“I look at it this way,” Ryan said. “Blow it up? We’re gonna blow the opponents up. There’s way too much talent on this team to play the way we’ve been playing. Period. Period. And how hard can you get a guy to play? . . . . That’s the thing. Like, nobody’s seen a team gonna play the way — as hard as this team’s going to play in the future, trust me. If I’m the guy. Trust me.
“And that’s gonna be it. That’s what gonna separate me from all these other guys you’re gonna bring in. Your [Jon] Grudens, your whoever, whatever. Give me a break. They ain’t fu — they ain’t New York Jets. I’m all about the Jets. . . . .And the great thing is — here’s the great thing. Yeah, you get a second chance at it and that doesn’t happen very often. Well, when it does it’s usually special. And so we’ll find out if I get that chance or not. If not, I hope they have one hell of a guy in place ’cause I still wanna be a fan of the Jets. I still wanna be, but you know when I look around I know nobody’s better than me. So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.”
Before making his fairly subtle and nuanced pitch to return, Ryan provided a full-throated defense of Johnson, explaining that he gives the front office and coaching staff whatever they want in order to win and that his involvement in football decisions is no different than the involvement by other owners with other teams.
“Woody Johnson was awesome,” Ryan said. “I can just tell you firsthand from my perspective, he was fantastic. You know what he’s guilty of? He’s guilty of giving you what you want. And that’s exactly what happened with this group. He gave them exactly what they wanted. You’re convincing him that all you need is a quarterback? Well, he gave you a quarterback. The one that you picked. He gave you everything that you asked for.
“This man wants to win in the worst way. That’s what I can tell you about Woody. . . . From my perspective, he was fantastic. Fantastic. . . . He wasn’t the one [who] told you to go get Aaron Rodgers. You told him to go get Aaron Rodgers. And so that’s what he did. And it never worked out. But at least he fired his gun. Why? Because he wants a championship.”
Rex also made a strong case for interim G.M. Phil Savage to be the General Manager going forward.
Ryan coached the Jets for six years, leading them to their most recent playoff appearances, in 2009 and 2010. They went to back-to-back AFC Championship games, and they haven’t been back to the playoffs since then.
Could they do better that Rex? Given the current state of the team and Johnson’s reputation as an owner who is influenced more by outside voices than sound football principles, maybe not. Could they do worse? They pretty much have in the decade since Rex was fired.
Again, it all might trace to Johnson. It could be that Rex was able to manage Johnson better than other coaches have managed him.
Whatever the reason(s) for the team’s struggles since Rex left, the reality is that Rex wants to come back. Will Woody welcome him?