groundgame
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2004
- Messages
- 1,085
- Reaction score
- 104
Michael Smith should be Mangini's agent
Updated: Jan. 10, 2006, 2:43 PM ET
Jets need Mangini to clean up messBy Michael Smith
ESPN.com
Archive
Talk about your rags-to-riches tales.
It was just a dozen years ago, in the summer of 1994, that Eric Mangini was putting his Wesleyan education (political science) to use collecting athletic supporters and folding laundry as a 23-year-old ball boy for the original Cleveland Browns, who later that year hired him as a PR intern.
This Sunday, four days shy of his 35th birthday, in a hotel near Foxborough, Mass., Mangini, the New England Patriots' defensive coordinator, will interview with the New York Jets for their vacant head coaching position and explain to them how he plans to clean up the mess Herman Edwards left behind.
During conversations with Jets executive vice president/general manager Terry Bradway, assistant GM and senior VP for football operations Mike Tannenbaum and, perhaps, chairman and CEO Woody Johnson, Mangini will undoubtedly bring up the fact that in his first season as a coordinator, the Patriots won the AFC East and advanced in the playoffs despite starting, in essence, four cornerbacks. And certainly Mangini will mention that a year ago, as New England's defensive backs coach, he converted a linebacker and a wide receiver into defensive backs and started nine different players in the secondary -- yet the Patriots claimed their third Super Bowl title in four seasons. Mangini can point to many miracles he has performed in six years with the Patriots, but really, all he has to do is name-drop to reassure the Jets that he is, indeed, the young coach who can lead the long-term building of a consistent winner.
Nick Laham/Getty Images
Mangini has helped the Patriots' defense overcome a spate of injuries this season.
Calling him the leading candidate might be a bit of a stretch at this point, but according to sources involved in the search process, Mangini certainly has as good a shot at landing the Jets job as any of the other eight coaches they are considering. Among them are former head coaches Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett, Mike Sherman and Mike Tice. This is, as noted earlier, Mangini's first season as a coordinator, his 11th in the NFL. And although his résumé does not include extensive experience, it lists some impressive references:
• At the top, of course, is Bill Belichick, who gave Mangini his first coaching job, as a coaching assistant/offense with the Browns in 1995. Mangini counted among his colleagues that year Kirk Ferentz and Pat Hill, now head coaches at Iowa and Fresno State, respectively, and regulars in the NFL coaching rumor mill, and Mike Sheppard, the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator. That was just on the offensive staff. Nick Saban was Cleveland's defensive coordinator, current Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jim Bates coached the defensive line, and Saints defensive coordinator Rick Venturi headed the linebackers. Jim Schwartz, the Tennessee Titans' defensive coordinator, for whom it is merely a matter of time before a team taps him to be its head coach, was a defensive assistant/scout with the Browns. Chuck Bresnahan, Cincinnati's D-coordinator, was a quality control coach on that Cleveland staff, as was the current Browns general manager, Phil Savage.
The Browns' personnel department was crowded with future executives. In addition to Savage, Scott Pioli (Patriots vice president of player personnel), Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens general manager), George Kokinis (Ravens director of pro personnel), as well as an intern with the surname Tannenbaum worked under Mike Lombardi, now the Raiders' top personnel man.
• Mangini moved with the Browns to Baltimore in 1996 and worked for Ted Marchibroda as a defensive assistant. Mangini got to work closely with Marvin Lewis, then the Ravens' defensive coordinator.
• From 1997 to '99, Mangini was a defensive assistant/quality control coach for the Jets on Bill Parcells' loaded defensive staff. Belichick. Romeo Crennel. Al Groh, who would coach the Jets for a year following Parcells and now is the head guy at Virginia. Among the offensive coaches were Maurice Carthon, Crennel's offensive coordinator in Cleveland, who will be a head coach soon; Dan Henning, who had been a head coach; and Charlie Weis, Notre Dame's head coach after serving as New England's offensive coordinator for four years under Belichick.
If that isn't a "who's who?" of pro and college football staffs, then what is? If it's all about who you know, Mangini knows plenty. That's no fewer than a dozen current or former head caches he's worked with (including two interim). He's a bright guy, having learned from some of the best teachers and communicators around.
True, Mangini hasn't overseen an organization, but he's seen how it's done watching Belichick and Parcells. He's different in his approach, but he has no choice but to value the same characteristics in a football team that they do -- intelligence, toughness and desire. Neither Parcells nor Belichick is coming back to New York and Saban is taken, so the Jets would be wise to snatch up Belichick's longtime protégé early, not to mention steal a piece of the Patriots' dynasty. There's a reason Al Davis wanted to make Mangini the Raiders' defensive coordinator and Edwards had interest after the '03 season and why Belichick, Crennel and Saban were in a bidding war over his services last offseason. He's that good.
Not only is Mangini right for the Jets, New York is an ideal spot for him. If Edwards' return to Kansas City was a homecoming, then Mangini to the Jets would be a family reunion. Assistant GM Mike Tannenbaum, director of pro personnel JoJo Wooden and defensive backs coach Corwin Brown (who played for Mangini with the Jets) are regulars at the Carmine and Frank Mangini Foundation's annual Football Fundamentals Camp, which draws more than 30 NFL coaches and players to Mangini's alma mater, Bulkeley High in Hartford, Conn., where they tutor hundreds of boys, mostly from the inner city, for a day. Tannenbaum, one of the best cap guys in the business, would have little trouble reducing the Jets' $30 million deficit for next season, $18 million of which supposedly is tied to phony incentives, anyway. The bet here is that Mangini would bring Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, whose contract has expired, aboard as defensive coordinator (Ryan was a Patriots linebackers coach before Davis hired him away, after Mangini turned down the gig). Markus Paul, New York's director of physical development, was New England's assistant strength and conditioning coach for five years.
The Jets have no reason to hesitate about hiring a first-year coordinator who's only slightly older than his star outside linebacker, Willie McGinest. Andy Reid hadn't been an NFL coordinator when the Eagles hired him. Nor had Edwards. Jack Del Rio was Carolina's coordinator for one year before he got the Jacksonville job. They've all worked out all right. Plenty of experienced coaches have failed. And more than likely, the Jets can get Mangini for half the asking price of the "retreads."
New York looked bad in losing Edwards and getting a mere fourth-round pick in return from the Chiefs. And although I love Edwards as much as the next guy, the Jets will make out better in the long-run should they land Mangini as his replacement, not to mention weaken their division rival in the process. And, just as important, they'd be getting a coach who wouldn't be looking to bail on them anytime soon. It's really a no-brainer, provided the interview goes as expected despite Mangini's spending most, if not all, of his time this week preparing for the Patriots' divisional round game against the Broncos Saturday.
Should the Jets go ahead and hire Mangini (even if it means waiting a few more weeks for the Patriots' season to end), what we'll have is Belichick coaching the Patriots, Saban the Dolphins and Mangini the Jets, adding more intrigue to the AFC's East division.
Updated: Jan. 10, 2006, 2:43 PM ET
Jets need Mangini to clean up messBy Michael Smith
ESPN.com
Archive
Talk about your rags-to-riches tales.
It was just a dozen years ago, in the summer of 1994, that Eric Mangini was putting his Wesleyan education (political science) to use collecting athletic supporters and folding laundry as a 23-year-old ball boy for the original Cleveland Browns, who later that year hired him as a PR intern.
This Sunday, four days shy of his 35th birthday, in a hotel near Foxborough, Mass., Mangini, the New England Patriots' defensive coordinator, will interview with the New York Jets for their vacant head coaching position and explain to them how he plans to clean up the mess Herman Edwards left behind.
During conversations with Jets executive vice president/general manager Terry Bradway, assistant GM and senior VP for football operations Mike Tannenbaum and, perhaps, chairman and CEO Woody Johnson, Mangini will undoubtedly bring up the fact that in his first season as a coordinator, the Patriots won the AFC East and advanced in the playoffs despite starting, in essence, four cornerbacks. And certainly Mangini will mention that a year ago, as New England's defensive backs coach, he converted a linebacker and a wide receiver into defensive backs and started nine different players in the secondary -- yet the Patriots claimed their third Super Bowl title in four seasons. Mangini can point to many miracles he has performed in six years with the Patriots, but really, all he has to do is name-drop to reassure the Jets that he is, indeed, the young coach who can lead the long-term building of a consistent winner.
Nick Laham/Getty Images
Mangini has helped the Patriots' defense overcome a spate of injuries this season.
Calling him the leading candidate might be a bit of a stretch at this point, but according to sources involved in the search process, Mangini certainly has as good a shot at landing the Jets job as any of the other eight coaches they are considering. Among them are former head coaches Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett, Mike Sherman and Mike Tice. This is, as noted earlier, Mangini's first season as a coordinator, his 11th in the NFL. And although his résumé does not include extensive experience, it lists some impressive references:
• At the top, of course, is Bill Belichick, who gave Mangini his first coaching job, as a coaching assistant/offense with the Browns in 1995. Mangini counted among his colleagues that year Kirk Ferentz and Pat Hill, now head coaches at Iowa and Fresno State, respectively, and regulars in the NFL coaching rumor mill, and Mike Sheppard, the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator. That was just on the offensive staff. Nick Saban was Cleveland's defensive coordinator, current Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jim Bates coached the defensive line, and Saints defensive coordinator Rick Venturi headed the linebackers. Jim Schwartz, the Tennessee Titans' defensive coordinator, for whom it is merely a matter of time before a team taps him to be its head coach, was a defensive assistant/scout with the Browns. Chuck Bresnahan, Cincinnati's D-coordinator, was a quality control coach on that Cleveland staff, as was the current Browns general manager, Phil Savage.
The Browns' personnel department was crowded with future executives. In addition to Savage, Scott Pioli (Patriots vice president of player personnel), Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens general manager), George Kokinis (Ravens director of pro personnel), as well as an intern with the surname Tannenbaum worked under Mike Lombardi, now the Raiders' top personnel man.
• Mangini moved with the Browns to Baltimore in 1996 and worked for Ted Marchibroda as a defensive assistant. Mangini got to work closely with Marvin Lewis, then the Ravens' defensive coordinator.
• From 1997 to '99, Mangini was a defensive assistant/quality control coach for the Jets on Bill Parcells' loaded defensive staff. Belichick. Romeo Crennel. Al Groh, who would coach the Jets for a year following Parcells and now is the head guy at Virginia. Among the offensive coaches were Maurice Carthon, Crennel's offensive coordinator in Cleveland, who will be a head coach soon; Dan Henning, who had been a head coach; and Charlie Weis, Notre Dame's head coach after serving as New England's offensive coordinator for four years under Belichick.
If that isn't a "who's who?" of pro and college football staffs, then what is? If it's all about who you know, Mangini knows plenty. That's no fewer than a dozen current or former head caches he's worked with (including two interim). He's a bright guy, having learned from some of the best teachers and communicators around.
True, Mangini hasn't overseen an organization, but he's seen how it's done watching Belichick and Parcells. He's different in his approach, but he has no choice but to value the same characteristics in a football team that they do -- intelligence, toughness and desire. Neither Parcells nor Belichick is coming back to New York and Saban is taken, so the Jets would be wise to snatch up Belichick's longtime protégé early, not to mention steal a piece of the Patriots' dynasty. There's a reason Al Davis wanted to make Mangini the Raiders' defensive coordinator and Edwards had interest after the '03 season and why Belichick, Crennel and Saban were in a bidding war over his services last offseason. He's that good.
Not only is Mangini right for the Jets, New York is an ideal spot for him. If Edwards' return to Kansas City was a homecoming, then Mangini to the Jets would be a family reunion. Assistant GM Mike Tannenbaum, director of pro personnel JoJo Wooden and defensive backs coach Corwin Brown (who played for Mangini with the Jets) are regulars at the Carmine and Frank Mangini Foundation's annual Football Fundamentals Camp, which draws more than 30 NFL coaches and players to Mangini's alma mater, Bulkeley High in Hartford, Conn., where they tutor hundreds of boys, mostly from the inner city, for a day. Tannenbaum, one of the best cap guys in the business, would have little trouble reducing the Jets' $30 million deficit for next season, $18 million of which supposedly is tied to phony incentives, anyway. The bet here is that Mangini would bring Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, whose contract has expired, aboard as defensive coordinator (Ryan was a Patriots linebackers coach before Davis hired him away, after Mangini turned down the gig). Markus Paul, New York's director of physical development, was New England's assistant strength and conditioning coach for five years.
The Jets have no reason to hesitate about hiring a first-year coordinator who's only slightly older than his star outside linebacker, Willie McGinest. Andy Reid hadn't been an NFL coordinator when the Eagles hired him. Nor had Edwards. Jack Del Rio was Carolina's coordinator for one year before he got the Jacksonville job. They've all worked out all right. Plenty of experienced coaches have failed. And more than likely, the Jets can get Mangini for half the asking price of the "retreads."
New York looked bad in losing Edwards and getting a mere fourth-round pick in return from the Chiefs. And although I love Edwards as much as the next guy, the Jets will make out better in the long-run should they land Mangini as his replacement, not to mention weaken their division rival in the process. And, just as important, they'd be getting a coach who wouldn't be looking to bail on them anytime soon. It's really a no-brainer, provided the interview goes as expected despite Mangini's spending most, if not all, of his time this week preparing for the Patriots' divisional round game against the Broncos Saturday.
Should the Jets go ahead and hire Mangini (even if it means waiting a few more weeks for the Patriots' season to end), what we'll have is Belichick coaching the Patriots, Saban the Dolphins and Mangini the Jets, adding more intrigue to the AFC's East division.
