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Jets must ignore it this time around . . .
In 2015, the Jets were close to hiring Doug Marrone as their coach.
I was told by a league source that one of the Jets consultants told Marrone that that job was his if he wanted it.
And then the Daily News went on smear campaign against Marrone, and the Jets backed away. Their Jets beat writer led the smear campaign, with an assist from former Daily News sports columnist Mike Lupica, not known for his football acumen. It seemed like he was just helping out the beat writer.
We hear one of the sources, who smeared Marrone, wasn’t actually a Bills source, but a Buffalo sportswriter who didn’t like Marrone.
But it certainly wasn’t presented as a sportswriter.
Why was the Daily News writer so against Marrone?
Simple.
Marrone is very close with ESPN’s Jets beat-writer Rich Cimini. In fact, Cimini, a prominent alumnus of Syracuse University, helped Marrone land the Orange football job.
Also, New York Post columnist Mark Cannizzaro, a former Jets beat writer, is also close with Marrone.
So clearly the Daily News undercut Marrone for competitive reasons. If Marrone got the Jets’ job, the Daily News writer clearly felt he would be at a competitive disadvantage with two big rivals – ESPN and the New York Post. So he clearly felt he needed to keep Marrone out of the building. Mission accomplished!
Time for the Jets to learn from history and absolutely ignore all the suggestions this writer is making right now about who they should hire. He ripped Mike McCarthy today.
Todd Bowles struggled his last three years in the Jets’ head coaching job, but this writer continually defended him? Why? Easy. He was getting a lot of good stuff from a source close to Bowles.
So right up until the end, he was defending Bowles. He was asking players after the Jets’ blowout loss to New England in Week 17 if the GM gave Bowles a strong enough roster to win.
Bowles biggest issue wasn’t the roster, but a lack of accountability under this watch, since he stuck with struggling players WAY too long. It’s almost like he didn’t want to humiliate them publicly, so he kept rolling with them in the lineup, even though they were hurting his job security.
Marrone, who led the Jacksonville Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game in 2017, would have probably been the better choice for the Jets in 2015. Granted the Jaguars didn’t have a very good season this season, but there are several reasons for that, including horrific QB play, a lot of injuries, and losing his first three left tackles.
Look, I’m not putting Marrone in Canton, but seems like a better head coach than Bowles.
So the bottom line is the Jets need to go out and find the best darn head coach they can find – an alpha dog leader, who is a great communicator, top-shelf strategist who will hold players accountable at all times.
And through the interview and vetting process, they need to ignore the Daily News at all costs.
January 7, 2019
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