It did not take long for the New York Jets to upset their fanbase this offseason. On Wednesday night, Adam Schefter reported that the Jets have decided to hire former Miami Dolphins HC, Adam Gase, to be their new head coach. I have said before that this is the most important offseason for the Jets in my lifetime and it is not off the start it could have been. At first glance, the best thing that comes from hiring Gase is that they made the decision early. Making the decision early does not leave doubt in the heads of free agents in terms of not knowing who they would be playing for. The flip side of that is that they very well could have been playing for someone with a more proven track record, Mike McCarthy.
Mike McCarthy was arguably the most desirable head coaching candidate on the market and said that the only job he was interested in was being the head coach of the New York Jets. Think about that. A Superbowl winning coach with a career record of 125-77 wanted to be the head coach of the New York Jets; instead the Jets decide to go with a coach with a career record of 23-25. It’s painfully true to say that this sort of stuff just doesn’t surprise the fanbase anymore. It is not out of the realm of possibility that McCarthy’s track record was significantly helped by the fact that he coached the best quarterback in football, Aaron Rodgers; while Adam Gase coached a team that was led by a quarterback that he refused to refer to by name at numerous points last season, Ryan Tannehill. While it is fair to assume that Rodgers led to a great deal of success for McCarthy, you also cannot ignore the possibility that McCarthy greatly contributed to the development and success of Aaron Rodgers. If you are the New York Jets who just drafted your franchise quarterback, don’t you owe you it to Darnold to find out if McCarthy had anything to do with what Aaron Rodgers has become? I guess not.
Only time will tell if the Jets made the right decision in hiring Adam Gase over Mike McCarthy. Certainly, the Jets did not make the move that would “win the press conference.” They did not make the hire that just clearly made sense to the fanbase and maybe even people closer to the NFL. What Jet fans can and should take comfort in is that this is the first time since 1997 where the Jets hired a head coach with actual NFL head coaching experience when they hired Bill Parcells. I think that it is important when it comes to attracting free agents, gaining respect in the locker room, and developing a system for the team. Maybe it will come out later on why the Jets decided to not hire Mike McCarthy, but as of right now I think the Jets made the wrong coaching decision and unfortunately, I’m not surprised.
