The New York Jets learned a very hard lesson in 2019. Just because a coach had success with a Hall-of-Fame quarterback, it does not mean that success can be replicated with a lesser roster.
This is especially true if a division rival had already fired that coach.
New York has had its share of bad coaches over the last few years. It’s a big reason why the team has struggled to make the playoffs or even finish .500 in the previous two decades.
One of their former head honchos takes the cake above all the rest as the worst of the bunch.
And now he’s getting his moment of ultra criticism again – years after being let go.
Former Jets Coach Left on Bad List
Former Miami Dolphins and Jets head coach Adam Gase became a commodity in the coaching ranks following his run as the offensive coordinator for Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Gase helped Manning win a league MVP and a Super Bowl during their time together in Denver.
Following Manning’s retirement, Gase found head coaching jobs in Miami, where he finished with a 23-25 record, and in New York (a 9-23 record). His time with the Jets was among the worst for any coach, though.
So much so that CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin placed Gase’s time with the Jets as the 12th-worst job by any head coach hiring since the start of the century.
“Plenty of folks poked fun at (Adam) Gase for his wide-eyed introductory news conference, but more folks probably should’ve redirected their giggles toward Jets management, who’d just witnessed Gase go 23-25 running the rival (Miami) Dolphins,” Benjamin wrote.
“Once celebrated as Peyton Manning’s position coach, his two-year run was synonymous with Sam Darnold’s rocky start, when the first-round quarterback infamously said he was ‘seeing ghosts’ on the field.”
There were many reasons why Gase did not work out in New York. Among them were his inability to develop a young quarterback in Sam Darnold, his inability to think creatively from an offensive perspective, and an increasingly poor draft record.
Perhaps Gase was always doomed once his introductory press conference, when his eyes wandered alarmingly around the room for most of the day, was taken so poorly around the league.
At the end of the day, though, Gase’s struggles could be chalked up to one key fact.
A lot of coaches find success with Hall-of-Fame signal-callers. Replicating that with others isn’t something that magically happens.
Since the turn of the century, the Jets have had eight coaches try to lead the team. Some enjoyed a level of success despite a short stint with the team, while others found consistent and sustained success over time.
Gase does not have the worst winning percentage in Jets history, but his .281 is the second-worst of any coach who has been at the helm for more than one season.
While there have been plenty of bad coaches over the last two decades, it is clear that Gase’s place among them is fair.
He may even be a bit too low for some.