As Rex Ryan vociferously campaigns for the New York Jets head coaching vacancy, Eric Mangini might be quietly raising his hand in the background.
Dianna Russini detailed just how dysfunctional the Jets have been this season in her recent report for The Athletic. And in the piece, Russini answered to Ryan’s recent pleas to get his old job with the Jets back by asking, “Why not Eric Mangini?” Monday afternoon, Colin Cowherd asked Mangini about his potential interest in returning to the Jets.
“I obviously am not lobbying for the job, but I feel pretty good about what I did while I was there.” Eric Mangini addresses potential interest in Jets head coaching job pic.twitter.com/BfVzPLVDxY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 25, 2024
“It would make sense Colin, because I just sold my house in New Jersey,” Mangini joked. “I think it was just part of an article. I obviously am not lobbying for the job, but I feel pretty good about what I did while I was there.
“I mean, we just had three of those guys that I coached go in the Jets Ring of Honor and I think we were a smart, disciplined, tough team. I didn’t realize we were getting the band back together bringing Tannenbaum in. It’s like any other situation, there’s a lot of things you can do with an organization from a vision and principle standpoint and I feel good about what I did when I was there.”
Mangini could have simply said, “no.” Instead, he more than left the door open to the possibility that he would consider a reunion with the Jets. Interestingly, the person who led the coaching search that landed Mangini in 2006 will be aiding the Jets in their current search for a general manager and head coach. The Jets hired Mike Tannenbaum’s The 33rd Team to help find identify and vet candidates. Tannenbaum served as general manager of the Jets from 2006-2012.
Tannenbaum was also the general manager who helped land Rex Ryan for the Jets in 2009. Ryan and Tannenbaum are currently colleagues at ESPN, while Mangini works at FS1 as an NFL analyst. But Tannenbaum’s role in the search might give Ryan and Mangini the feeling that they could have an in.
Ryan has loudly campaigned for a second opportunity to save the Jets in recent weeks. Mangini, meanwhile, has sat back knowing it was a lot of his players who Ryan won with during his first two seasons coaching the Jets. And if Ryan is going to sell himself back to the Jets on having won with Mangini’s players, then Mangini should seek a piece of that same glory. Unfortunately for the Jets, they can’t go back to Weeb Ewbank, the only coach who actually won them a Super Bowl.
[The Herd]
