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Wealthy Cimini
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Glenn has skilled one of the best and worst of the New York Jets.
He is aware of what it is prefer to be a laughingstock, which occurred in his third season as a participant — a 1-15 document in 1996. He additionally is aware of the flip facet, the adrenaline rush of being a part of one thing particular. The Jets gained a franchise-record 12 video games in 1998, captured their first division title in three a long time and reached the AFC Championship Recreation.
In recent times, they’ve hovered on the backside, rising the diploma of issue for Glenn, who begins his first coaching camp as head coach on July 22. He is been on the job for six months, altering all the pieces from the roster to the help workers to the best way they suppose and speak about soccer.
It is a full-blown overhaul of the tradition.
“We wish to create our personal narrative, we wish to write our personal e-book,” Glenn mentioned, including: “When it is all mentioned and finished, that is going to be a e-book that lots of people wish to learn.”
It will not be straightforward.
The final six full-time coaches completed with dropping information, together with Rex Ryan, the final coach to cause them to the playoffs (2010). Glenn does not want a historical past lesson; he is aware of how the franchise and its fan base have suffered. It is one of many issues that attracted him to the job. He desires to complete what his mentor, Invoice Parcells, nearly completed within the ’98 season, after they got here inside minutes of the Tremendous Bowl.
“That is a part of his legacy,” cornerback Sauce Gardner mentioned of Glenn.
Glenn will do it his method. He may chafe some folks together with his gruff character, however he has a plan and he isn’t more likely to deviate from it. Nobody has complained, he mentioned. For instance that, he shared a snippet from a dialog with linebacker Quincy Williams, who informed him, “Coach, the rationale I do know issues are altering is as a result of there is no bitching about something so far as how we do issues.”
That is the honeymoon interval, the time for unbridled optimism. Nobody was extra fired up than former coach Robert Saleh, who, at his introductory information convention in 2021, predicted a number of Tremendous Bowl titles. Then actuality set in, and the Jets continued with their dropping methods.
They’ve 9 straight dropping seasons.
Fourteen straight seasons out of the playoffs, the league’s longest lively drought.
Twenty-two seasons and not using a division title.
Profitable? What’s that?
Their longest-tenured participant, lengthy snapper Thomas Hennessy, was a junior at Duke for the Jets’ final successful season, 2015. Almost a whole technology of gamers has handed by means of One Jets Drive with out having skilled a plus-.500 document, not to mention a postseason berth.
It isn’t that totally different than the early portion of Glenn’s taking part in profession, when dropping was the norm. Former Jets star Keyshawn Johnson, who performed with Glenn from 1996 to 1999, mentioned his former teammate can use that to his benefit.
“He can inform them, ‘As soon as upon a time, I used to be 1-15 and we had a younger receiver in right here who had fireplace popping out of his nostril,'” mentioned Johnson, describing himself. “AG has seen all of it.”
For Glenn, who has no earlier head-coaching expertise, there are 4 keys to success, all of which can start to take form in coaching camp:
1. Set up toughness. The Jets had all of the earmarks of a comfortable crew final season, mentally and bodily. Glenn’s problem is to alter the mentality and make them imagine they are often the bully, the crew that dictates the tenor of a sport.
To try this, they need to win the road of scrimmage. That did not occur in 2024, as they confirmed little curiosity in operating the ball (final in makes an attempt) and did a poor job of tackling when groups ran towards them (1,647 yards after contact, third most). A few of that may be attributed to personnel. A few of it was fundamentals and angle.
Glenn’s goal is to enhance the latter two, and it begins this summer time with the creation of an id.
They are going to be run-oriented on offense. Is smart, contemplating their strengths are the offensive line and the operating backs, to not point out the dynamic operating capacity of quarterback Justin Fields.
From all indications, they may do extra reside tackling than in latest camps. There are CBA guidelines that restrict bodily contact (16 padded practices), however as Glenn mentioned, “The one method you get good at that craft is to do it.”
The draw back is an elevated damage danger and potential fatigue. The very last thing a coach desires to do is burn out his crew in coaching camp. On this case, the gamers count on a extra intense camp than final yr.
“It is going to be onerous,” mentioned nickel again Michael Carter II, who believes gamers will embrace the change.
Glenn additionally must work on the mindset. This crew lacked killer intuition in 2024 — a franchise-record six losses after main within the fourth quarter. There additionally was a scarcity of resilience. After they had been down, they normally stayed down — solely two wins after trailing within the fourth quarter. Solely twice did they overcome a double-digit deficit, they usually wound up dropping each these video games.
2. Enhance situationally. Within the NFL, the place 59% of the video games final season had been determined by one rating, a well-executed drive in crunch time can imply the distinction between successful and dropping. It is why coaches all the time preach the significance of situational soccer.
The Jets, who completed 5-12, had been 3-7 in one-score video games, together with 5 wherein they’d the ball within the ultimate two minutes with an opportunity to take the lead. In a single-possession video games, they had been outscored 26-10 within the ultimate two minutes of regulation and additional time. They had been undermined by an absence of situational consciousness, which matches to teaching and preparation. There have been sacks, interceptions, blown coverages and penalties, too many damaging performs to beat.
Glenn emphasised situational soccer within the spring, and there is hope that it’s going to carryover into coaching camp. He likes unscripted intervals, that are quasi-scrimmages.
“He likes to place the ball down and simply allow us to play,” operating again Breece Corridor mentioned.
Glenn has a meticulous method that dates to his taking part in days, in keeping with former Jets coach Al Groh, one in all Glenn’s mentors.
“I do not suppose I’ve ever been round a participant that took stroll throughs extra severely than Aaron Glenn did,” Groh mentioned.
3. Create accountability. An opposing participant had this to say concerning the Jets after dealing with them final season: “Good roster. They’re simply not taking part in collectively and for one another.”
It is on Glenn to alter that.
There’s an edge to him, and he’ll coach them onerous, demanding accountability. He moved on from sturdy personalities comparable to quarterback Aaron Rodgers, large receiver Davante Adams and cornerback D.J. Reed, changing them with gamers that he believes will match higher into his program.
“Simple. Trustworthy,” Williams mentioned of Glenn’s teaching type. “What I am speaking about is, we do not wait till we get to the assembly room. It is sincere and simple on the sphere, so you may get it corrected proper then.”
Glenn is not a sugarcoating form of man. If a participant does not recognize his directness, he in all probability will not love the brand new boss, who’s quite a bit totally different than the outdated bosses.
Beneath Saleh and interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, the ambiance was player-friendly to the acute. For essentially the most half, gamers had been immune from harsh criticism, in keeping with crew sources. Ulbrich went as far as to reward edge rusher Haason Reddick for being unselfish — the identical participant who sat out half the season due to a holdout over his contract and produced little when he arrived (one sack). That actually raised eyebrows.
A tolerant method can work in sure conditions. It did not work for the Jets. Coupled with an alarming variety of penalties — second-most within the NFL from 2021 to 2024 — it created the notion of a self-discipline downside.
4. Win the belief of the locker room. The gamers seem like shopping for what Glenn is promoting, but it surely all the time helps to have validation. Positive, they know what he completed as a participant (15 years within the league) and as an assistant coach, most lately because the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator, however they wish to see it for themselves. It is solely pure when a brand new coach takes over.
Parcells skilled the identical factor in 1997, when he inherited the rag-tag outfit that went 1-15. He had gained two Tremendous Bowls with the New York Giants and an AFC Championship with the New England Patriots, however his culture-changing impression on the Jets wasn’t cemented till a 41-3 highway victory over the Seattle Seahawks within the first sport of the season.
There it was — proof that this irascible, hard-driving coach was going to make all people higher if you happen to believed in his not-for-the-faint-of-heart methods. Glenn hopes to have that form of transformative second.
Within the meantime, he is making an attempt to construct belief by attending to know his gamers on a private degree. Quickly after he was employed, he made it a degree to achieve out to veteran gamers, chatting with them individually. Williams mentioned they spent 90 minutes on the telephone, one in all a number of gamers to acknowledge lengthy chats with the brand new boss.
“We had some robust conversations, we had some humorous conversations,” Gardner mentioned. “We now have all sorts of conversations.”
Glenn mentioned he realized from Parcells {that a} coach must know what makes a participant tick earlier than he can push his buttons. Parcells was capable of join with gamers from totally different backgrounds, whether or not it was a brash, younger receiver from South Central Los Angeles or an older quarterback from suburban Lengthy Island.
What’s attention-grabbing about Glenn is that, in contrast to his mentor, he hasn’t populated the locker room with gamers he beforehand coached. Parcells did that at each teaching cease, bringing in his “guys” to assist convey his message to the crew. He felt it was vital in tradition constructing. Plenty of coaches share the identical philosophy.
Not Glenn. Extensive receiver Josh Reynolds, previously of the Lions, is the one participant on the present roster who overlapped with Glenn on a earlier crew. “I care about good gamers,” mentioned Glenn, dismissing the speculation. “So if he is a great participant, I would like him within the locker room.”
He has dreamed about this second for years, teaching his outdated crew. Actuality awaits.
