Aaron Glenn was one of many hottest teaching candidates throughout this 12 months’s hiring cycle.
He was a viable candidate for any of the vacant job openings, however the former Lions defensive coordinator felt he had unfinished enterprise with the Jets.
“I wanted this job, I interviewed for a number of them, but I wanted this job,” Glenn stated throughout a press convention, introducing him because the Jets coach and Darren Mougey as the brand new common supervisor. After I was going for my second interview, I needed to ensure this might be the primary of second interviews. I didn’t wish to depart the constructing with out shaking Woody’s hand and ensure we had a contract. It was all in regards to the Jets and it has been that means from the start.
“This is where I started and you can’t write a better story than that. This was my start with a number of situations. As a player, as a scout, and now as a head coach. And you can’t write no story better than that.”
Glenn, 52, was chosen by the Jets within the first spherical of the 1994 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M. He performed eight of his 15 seasons within the league with the Jets and was a key member of their turnaround.
After a 1-15 season, the Jets fired Wealthy Kotite in 1997 and employed Invoice Parcells in hopes of turning round a struggling group. In simply two seasons, Parcells led the Jets to the 1998 AFC Championship earlier than shedding to the eventual Tremendous Bowl champion Broncos.
That was additionally motivation for Glenn to return to the crew that drafted him.
“In ’98, we played the Denver Broncos and we are winning 10-0 in the first half,” Glenn recalled. “We came back in the second half and they kicked the ball off and it was windy and the ball stops midair and they recovered it. They scored two touchdowns.
“I be damned if I’m not going to come here and get that back. And that’s one of the reasons why.”
That’s when his spouse of 28 years Devaney prompt that he change into a coach.
“It was like a weight off my shoulders,” Glenn stated. “Because that’s my passion and it is okay to want to be a coach. Back then, I felt like I wanted to be a businessman, but I’m a football guy.”
After his spouse gave her blessings, Glenn known as Parcells and advised him he needed to teach. However Parcells, who stays his mentor, needed him to begin working as a scout on the floor stage, however Glenn didn’t wish to scout.
“‘Well, that’s what you’re going to do because I think you have a chance to be a head coach, and the best coaches are really the best evaluators,’” Glenn advised reporters what Parcells advised him. “So, I took his advice, and probably the best advice I’ve had since coming back in this league.
Glenn returned to the Jets organization in 2012 before becoming the Browns’ assistant defensive backs coach in 2014. He worked his way up the coaching ranks, first as the Saints’ defensive backs coach for five seasons in 2015 and then as the Lions’ defensive coordinator for four seasons beginning in 2021.
Detroit went from bottomfeeders to contenders in the NFC with Glenn and Lions coach Dan Campbell. Glenn believes having that scouting background helped him eventually become Jets coach.
“Understanding how to do it from an in-house perspective and then actually going on the road to be a college scout, to be able to evaluate every position that helped me tremendously to be in this position,” Glenn stated.
Now, Glenn and Mougey can be tasked with serving to the Jets do exactly what the Lions did: flip round a struggling group right into a winner. Gang Inexperienced has not made the playoffs since 2010, the longest postseason drought in North American sports activities.
The Jets additionally haven’t recorded a successful season since 2015.
“Put your seatbelts on and get ready for the ride,” Glenn stated. “There are going to be some challenges. But with challenges, becomes opportunity. Here’s what I do know, we are the freaking New York Jets, we are built for this s–t.”
Together with Glenn, Mougey can be tasked with turning the Jets round. Mougey, 39, started his scouting profession with the Broncos in 2012 and labored there for 13 seasons. He climbed the ranks from a scouting intern to assistant director of faculty scouting, director of participant personnel, and finally assistant common supervisor, a job he was promoted to in 2022.
Mougey was really within the Broncos entrance workplace once they interviewed Glenn for the teaching emptiness in 2022, which finally went to Nathaniel Hackett, who solely lasted one season earlier than he was fired. Denver requested Glenn what could be his message to the crew in his first crew assembly, and Mougey stated he was blown away.
“He pushed back, he sat up, and he delivered a powerful message, like when he finished, we’re all kind of looking around like, wow,” Mougey stated. “As we went on through the search, because he was one of the first guys we interviewed in that search, we kept going back to it like damn, he killed that thing.”
Each Glenn and Mougey will report on to Jets proprietor Woody Johnson. The primary vital determination of the brand new regime can be Aaron Rodgers‘ status and whether he will return for a third season with the Jets.
Johnson told reporters that Glenn and Mougey will decide Rodgers’ future. Rodgers, 41, continues to be deciding whether or not to return for a twenty first season. It’s unclear if Glenn and Mougey need Rodgers to be the Jets quarterback.
Nevertheless, Glenn advised reporters that he had already communicated with Rodgers and that there could be discussions about him and the opposite gamers on the roster.
However Glenn already is aware of the kind of quarterback he’s in search of.
“A winner, a winner,” Glenn stated. Psychological and bodily toughness.”
