Broadway Joe
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Eight days ago, the Jets abruptly fired G.M. Mike Maccagnan. The search for a replacement has not yet officially begun. When the time comes to make a hire, the hire will be made by one person: CEO and chairman Christopher Johnson.
That’s what coach Adam Gase explained to reporters in his first press conference following the firing of Maccagnan.
Gase characterized the search as being in the “beginning stages of our process,” and that the goal for now is to identify candidates.
“We’ve been working to really kind of finalizing what we’re thinking as far as people,” Gase said.
When asked what Gase is looking for, he reiterated that it’s Johnson’s decision.
“We’re doing our part,” Gase said. “There’s a group of us working on this.”
Gase acknowledged that, despite the “mold” that other teams use when hiring General Managers, Johnson is “looking for something a little bit different.” This meshes with Johnson’s comments from last week that he wants a “great strategic thinker,” and not necessarily a talent evaluator.
The first-year coach, who arrived after three seasons as head coach in Miami, explained that it’s not important that he have a prior relationship with the new G.M. Gase also made it clear that the new G.M. will have final say over the roster, and that he won’t be a “yes” man.
“I don’t really hang out with ‘yes’ men,” Gase said. “If it’s someone I already know, it won’t be a ‘yes’ man.”
Gase emphasized that roster development will be a collaborative process, but that at the end of the day the G.M. will have the power to make the decision that he wants to make.
Still, the reality remains that the Jets have two general options for hiring a new General Manager. They can hire the “best person for the job,” or they can hire the best person with whom Gase is already comfortable. If it’s the former, chances are that the new G.M. will arrive with a list developed over a lifetime in football of coaches the G.M. would hire, if/when he becomes a G.M. There’s a chance Gase’s name won’t be on that list, especially if the two men have no prior relationship.
That’s what could set the stage for further dysfunction. Every G.M. wants to hire his own coach, and the G.M. will be inclined to tread water for a year or two before making a move to hire the coach he would have hired in the first place. Given the turmoil Jets have endured in recent years, it would be far better to hire a G.M. with whom Gase is comfortable, make it clear that they will be equally accountable, and find out whether or not they can turn a long-suffering franchise into a team that more often than not makes its opponents endure the suffering.
If they can’t, the next move would be to clean house and start over, with a new G.M. and a new head coach. By then, team owner Woody Johnson could be back from his ambassadorship in the U.K., reclaiming control of the team from his younger brother, perhaps while simultaneously saying, “Hold my beer.”
Which would naturally cause Jets fans to once again hold their breath, and to hope for a better outcome.