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This should have been a non-story . . .
Naming your assistant coaching staff should not be a not be a controversial thing.
Honestly, who is saying a word about the staffs put together in places like Green Bay, Miami and Arizona?
But fair or unfair, the Jets’ announcement of their coaching staff on Friday has created a storm.
The New York Post had a column on Sunday painting a very negative picture about certain aspects of the Jets’ new staff.
“This is a train wreck waiting to happen,” said WFAN’s Bart Scott.
The two potential problems leading to Scott’s comment, and the critical Post column, was the hiring of Joe Vitt as a defensive assistant after he testified against Gregg Williams during the Bounty-gate scandal. Also, the hiring of Blake Williams as a defensive assistant. ESPN’s Rich Cimini announced that Gase initially didn’t want Blake Williams on his staff, but had his arm twisted to make it happen.
How is any of this healthy?
All of these dominoes were predictable.
You don’t need to be Adam Schefter to realize that Gase was going to want to hire his father-in-law, Vitt, for his staff. This is absolutely no surprise. Vitt was on his staff in Miami, and as I have pointed out, he’s a Jersey-guy with a house on the Jersey Shore where the Vitt’s and Gase’s spend a couple of weeks a year.
Also, the fact the Gregg Williams would want to hire his son for the Jets’ staff was also a a no-brainer. Who didn’t see that coming? Blake Williams was the Cleveland’s defensive coordinator last year when his father was the hired as the Browns’ interim head coach last year. Blake Williams needed a job after the Browns made a coaching change. Of course his father wants him on the Jets’ staff.
You didn’t need to be Nostradamus to see these moves coming.
So if Gase didn’t want Blake Williams on his staff, perhaps he should have found a different defensive coordinator.
If Gase was going to hire his father-in-law, maybe he should have found a different defensive coordinator.
Look, I think the hiring of Gregg Williams was a good move by the Jets, but his push back against Blake Williams, is flat-out bizarre. For goodness sake, you’d have had to be living in a cave to not realize that Blake was going to follow Gregg to Florham Park. Why wasn’t this ironed-out up front?
And who is already leaking this stuff to reporters that Gregg Williams and Adam Gase fighting over Blake Williams? Good job by the reporter, bad start for the Gase regime on the media leak front.
One of the things that surprised some people is the Jets announced their coaching staff on Friday afternoon, home of the Friday news dump. Isn’t a coaching staff announcement a positive thing you want to reach as many people with? Why announce your staff on Friday. Look, I have no idea if this was a news dump, but the Blake Williams and Joe Vitt controversies that followed make you wonder.
Also, one of the most important strategies in PR is to “get in front of the story.”
The Jets had to realize the Vitt move was going to kick over a hornet’s nest, so why wouldn’t you sent out quotes with Gregg and Joe saying they’re good with each other and have buried the hatchet?
Who didn’t see the Vitt/Gregg Williams reunion causing a firestorm?
If the Jets think this is going away, they are kidding themselves?
And if you are truly into “getting in front of a story” you need to handle this now.
If not now, the first access to these guys, it’s going to be front of center.
The Jets need to jump on this now, not at mini-camp.
December 11, 2019
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