I’ll admit it: When you break down the positives of Aaron Glenn’s head coaching resume, it almost sounds like a verbatim retelling of Robert Saleh’s resume.
But that should not remove Glenn from consideration for the New York Jets.
As rumors of Glenn-to-New York heat up, many Jets fans are on board with the idea of Glenn potentially becoming the next head coach in Florham Park. However, there remains a section of the fanbase that is opposed to the former Jets cornerback returning as a head coach.
Among these skeptics, the most commonly cited reasons are usually among the following:
- The Jets have tried the first-time head coach route before, and it didn’t work.
- The Jets have tried the defensive head coach route before, and it didn’t work.
- The Jets just hired a very similar candidate in Robert Saleh, and it didn’t work.
While those arguments are heard loud and clear… they shouldn’t matter.
New York cannot allow parallels from the past to influence future decisions. That applies to all aspects of team-building, but especially in regards to choosing a head coach.
Take a look around the league as we prepare for Divisional weekend. Among the NFL’s version of the “Elite Eight,” there are multiple teams who would have missed out on a great coach if they followed the logic of “Don’t hire this coach because he’s too similar to his predecessors.”
In 2024, the Washington Commanders hired Dan Quinn – a second-time head coach with a defensive background. This followed four years of failure under Ron Rivera – a second-time head coach with a defensive background.
Quinn proceeded to lead Washington to its best regular season since 1991 and its first playoff victory since 2005. This may have never happened if the Commanders listened to fans who believed the team should bypass him because his resume seemed too similar to Rivera’s.
Sure, Quinn could easily be viewed as a similar candidate to Rivera through a quick comparison of the titles on their resumes, but that’s merely the tip of the iceberg. These are two different men who likely offered vastly different philosophies and coaching styles. Each coaching candidate deserves an opportunity to present their unique perspective and be judged as an individual without stigmatization.
Another Elite Eight team that falls under this umbrella is the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills are in the midst of their seventh playoff trip in eight seasons under Sean McDermott, whom they hired in 2017. McDermott comes from a defensive background, last serving as the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator before he was hired by Buffalo. McDermott’s predecessor was Rex Ryan, another defensive-minded coach. Ryan went on to fail as Buffalo’s head coach.
It’s also worth noting that Buffalo, very similar to the Jets today, had become a franchise known for chronic offensive ineptitude while typically fielding solid defenses. Entering 2017, the Bills were on a 17-season playoff drought; over that span (2000-16), Buffalo ranked 30th in total yards per game (313.6) but an impressive 10th in total yards allowed per game (330.7).
Given Ryan’s failure and the Bills’ reputation as an offensively-challenged franchise, it would have been easy for them to write off McDermott. They instead chose the best candidate regardless of stigmas.
Imagine if the Bills decided to overlook McDermott. Each of the other three candidates interviewed by Buffalo in the 2017 cycle was not a head coach or even a coordinator in 2024 (Anthony Lynn, Kris Richard, and Harold Goodwin), despite two of the three coming from offensive backgrounds.
Just because Saleh did not work out, it does not mean candidates with a similar resume are also doomed to fail in New York. For every Robert Saleh, you have a DeMeco Ryans. With almost an identical resume to Saleh, Ryans was able to achieve the same feat Saleh could not: inherit a bottom-feeding franchise and instantly turn it into a back-to-back division winner.
Saleh’s resume was excellent and he deserved a chance to be the Jets’ head coach. He didn’t work out; it happens. Missing a wide-open shot doesn’t mean you pass up the same shot next time down the court.
