NEW YORK JETS DAILY CLIPS

January 2, 2015

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Table of Contents

ASSOCIATED PRESS ................................................................................................................................................ 2

Jets head to Seattle to interview for coach, GM (Dennis Waszak) ........................................................................... 2

NEWSDAY .............................................................................................................................................................. 3

Report: Rex Ryan, 49ers to huddle Sunday (Kimberley Martin) ................................................................................ 3

Mike Tirico: Rex Ryan wouldn't be camera shy (Neil Best) ....................................................................................... 3

Dan Quinn, not Doug Marrone, should be the Jets' choice (Bob Glauber) ............................................................... 4

Woody Johnson to interview Seahawks candidates before Doug Marrone (Kimberley Martin) .............................. 5

THE RECORD .......................................................................................................................................................... 6

Jets taking off on search for new coach (J.P. Pelzman) ............................................................................................. 6

NJ ADVANCE MEDIA .............................................................................................................................................. 7

Baltimore Ravens' Eric DeCosta turns down Jets' request for general manager interview (Darryl Slater) ............... 7

Jets will interview ex-Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone for head coaching vacancy (Darryl Slater) ........................ 8

Has Doug Marrone accomplished enough to show he can win more as Jets' coach than Rex Ryan did? (Darryl Slater) ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9

Jets interview Browns' Bill Kuharich, Seahawks' Trent Kirchner on Thursday for general manager job (Darryl Slater) ...................................................................................................................................................................... 11

Eagles' Howie Roseman didn't talk to Jets about getting himself a job (Dom Cosentino) ...................................... 12

Doug Marrone and Jets: Buffalo media trashes him on his way out of town (Dom Cosentino) ............................. 12

Frank Reich of Chargers to interview for Jets' head coaching job (Dom Cosentino) .............................................. 14

NEW YORK POST .................................................................................................................................................. 14

Doug Marrone sets interview with Jets, two others (Brian Costello)...................................................................... 14

Rex Ryan to interview with 49ers on Sunday (Brian Costello) ................................................................................ 15

Jets’ GM search heating up while Marrone interview set (Brian Costello and Mark Cannizzaro) .......................... 16

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ...................................................................................................................................... 17

NY Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is reminiscent of Rich Kotite days (Mike Lupica) .............................................. 17

Ravens assistant GM Eric DeCosta rejects NY Jets request for interview (Seth Walder) ........................................ 19

NY Jets coaching search takes sleazy turn as consultants apparently pushing Doug Marrone on Woody Johnson (Manish Mehta) ....................................................................................................................................................... 20

NEW YORK TIMES ................................................................................................................................................ 22

Doug Marrone Is Among Jets’ Candidates (Ben Shpigel) ........................................................................................ 22

WALL STREET JOURNAL ....................................................................................................................................... 22

Doug Marrone May Make Jets’ Decision Surprisingly Easy (Stu Woo) .................................................................... 22

ESPN NEW YORK .................................................................................................................................................. 24

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Former Bills coach Doug Marrone will meet with Jets (Rich Cimini) ....................................................................... 24

2015 has got to be better ... right? (Johnette Howard) .......................................................................................... 25

Jets hit the road for Seattle interviews (Rich Cimini) .............................................................................................. 27

METRO NEW YORK .............................................................................................................................................. 28

Sources: Jets may hire head coach without a general manager in place (Kristian Dyer) ........................................ 28

THURSDAY’S SPORTS TRANSACTIONS .................................................................................................................. 29

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jets head to Seattle to interview for coach, GM (Dennis Waszak) Associated Press January 1, 2014

http://pro32.ap.org/article/jets-head-seattle-interview-coach-gm

NEW YORK (AP) — Woody Johnson is headed to Seattle in his search for the New York Jets' new coach and general manager.

Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and assistant head coach-offensive line coach Tom Cable, along with former Buffalo head coach Doug Marrone, are on the Jets' early list of candidates the New York owner will interview to replace the fired Rex Ryan.

Johnson was set to fly to Seattle on Thursday night, along with consultants Ron Wolf and Charley Casserly to meet this weekend with Quinn and Cable. While in Seattle, the trio is also expected to meet with Seahawks director of pro personnel Trent Kirchner to discuss New York's general manager position, which opened when Johnson fired John Idzik along with Ryan on Monday.

Marrone became a prime candidate for the Jets when he abruptly stepped down Wednesday night as Bills coach. He exercised the opt-out clause in his contract, essentially making himself a coaching free agent. Marrone led the Bills to a 9-7 finish in his second season, Buffalo's first winning campaign since 2004. Buffalo still missed the playoffs, though, to extend the NFL's longest active postseason drought to 15 seasons — but beat the Jets twice.

As of early Thursday night, it was uncertain when the Jets would interview with Marrone. It will likely come as soon as Johnson returns from Seattle, perhaps as soon as Sunday. Marrone, a Bronx native, has some ties to Johnson and the Jets: He was their offensive line coach under Herm Edwards from 2002-05.

Quinn also was a Jets assistant from 2007-08 under Eric Mangini. He's also from Morristown, New Jersey, located just minutes from the Jets' training facility in Florham Park.

New York also plans to interview San Diego offensive coordinator Frank Reich, but nothing had been scheduled. There is also interest from the Jets in Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and Baltimore offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak.

The Jets already interviewed two in-house candidates Wednesday: Rod Graves and Anthony Lynn.

Graves, the team's senior director of football administration, met with Johnson, Wolf and Casserly for the GM job. Before being brought to New York by Idzik in 2013, Graves was Arizona's general manager for six seasons, He is currently overseeing New York's football operations on an interim basis until a GM is hired.

Lynn, who interviewed for the coaching position, was the running backs coach and served as assistant head coach under Ryan.

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With those two meetings, the team also satisfied the NFL's "Rooney Rule," which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for open positions.

In addition to Kirchner, the Jets have scheduled an interview with Houston director of college scouting Mike Maccaganan, but it wasn't immediately certain when that would occur.

Rick Mueller, Philadelphia's director of pro personnel, is also on the Jets' early list of GM candidates, but no meeting had been set up.

Minnesota assistant GM George Paton declined an interview request by the Jets, who were also waiting to hear back from Baltimore assistant GM Eric DeCosta.

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NEWSDAY

Report: Rex Ryan, 49ers to huddle Sunday (Kimberley Martin) Newsday January 1, 2014

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/report-rex-ryan-49ers-to-huddle-sunday-1.9766177

Rex Ryan will reportedly interview Sunday for the 49ers' head coaching job.

The Jets fired Ryan on Monday, along with their general manager of two years, John Idzik.

Meanwhile, Jim Harbaugh parted ways with San Francisco and shortly thereafter agreed to become Michigan's new football coach.

Harbaugh had a 44-19-1 record in the regular season and a 5-3 playoff record, including a 2013 Super Bowl appearance during his tenure with the 49ers.

The Jets struggled in 2014, finishing with a 4-12 record -- the worst in Ryan's six years with the franchise. Though they made it to the AFC Championship Game his first two years, the team had non-winning records the past four seasons. The Jets haven't made the playoffs since 2010.

He's reportedly drawn interest from the Atlanta Falcons, who fired coach Mike Smith after seven seasons.

"He had a tremendous impact [on the franchise]," Jets owner Woody Johnson said Monday of Ryan. "He made the team relevant in some respects."

Despite Ryan's departure, Johnson said he still believes in his former coach.

Asked what he would tell another owner about Ryan, Johnson said: "I'd take him."

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Mike Tirico: Rex Ryan wouldn't be camera shy (Neil Best) Newsday January 1, 2014

http://www.newsday.com/sports/media/mike-tirico-rex-ryan-wouldn-t-be-camera-shy-1.9766208

Two of Rex Ryan's would-be teammates at ESPN, Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden, believe he will coach rather than go the TV route. But they agreed he would be a natural.

Tirico said Ryan handled the New York media as well as anyone since Bill Parcells.

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"There's no learning curve of getting comfortable in front of the camera, in front of microphones," he said. "If Rex does go that way, I think it's as smooth a transition as you could see from head coach to media guy."

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Dan Quinn, not Doug Marrone, should be the Jets' choice (Bob Glauber) Newsday January 1, 2014

http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/bob-glauber/dan-quinn-not-doug-marrone-should-be-the-jets-choice-1.9766595

It's as if Bill Parcells suddenly had become available on the open market.

With Doug Marrone taking the unexpected step of opting out of his contract as the Bills' head coach, he has vaulted to the top of the coaching wish list in this year's hiring cycle. Within hours of his New Year's Eve announcement, the Jets, 49ers and Falcons lined up to talk with him. And there's talk the Bears are interested, too.

Let's tap on the brakes here, shall we?

Sure, Marrone did a nice job with the Bills this year, leading Buffalo to a 9-7 record, its first winning season since 2004. And he did it with a journeyman quarterback in Kyle Orton, who took over for struggling young quarterback EJ Manuel early in the season. Along the way, the Bills upset the Packers on Dec. 14.

But make no mistake: The reason Marrone won in Buffalo this season was because he had a great defense coached by Jim Schwartz and because Marrone pulled the plug on Manuel. That's the quarterback whom Marrone was so high on the year before, even though most draft experts felt the Bills were reaching -- badly -- when they took the Florida State quarterback with the 16th overall pick.

Although the coach is to be commended for giving Manuel a quick hook and going with Orton -- a game manager whose main job was basically not to mess up on offense and ruin the good work of a dominant defense -- that's hardly justification for thinking that Marrone can come to the Jets and solve their quarterback issues.

Not only that, but Marrone isn't a play-caller. At Syracuse, where he turned the program around with some much-needed discipline after the failed Greg Robinson era, he had Rob Spence and then Nathaniel Hackett as his offensive coordinators. Hackett has called the plays in Buffalo the last two seasons.

One other red flag: The Buffalo News reported shortly after Marrone's departure on Wednesday that one of the reasons for the coach's unhappiness in Buffalo was his treatment by the local media. "He was said to be upset with what he saw as constant criticism and a general lack of support,'' according to the News. "He was particularly infuriated by the questions raised about whether he should remain as the Bills' coach after the team recorded one of the biggest victories in franchise history against Green Bay.''

If it was bad in Buffalo, what's it going to be like in the metropolitan area?

The feeling here is that the better alternative as Rex Ryan's replacement is the one who will meet Friday with Jets owner Woody Johnson and his newly hired advisers, former NFL general managers Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf. Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who has a Super Bowl championship on his resume and the New York vibe in his blood, makes more sense.

Like Marrone, Quinn is a former Jets assistant, coaching the defensive line under Eric Mangini in 2007-08. He was a Hofstra defensive assistant under Joe Gardi from 1996-2000 and also worked for the 49ers and

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Dolphins. Quinn, 44, grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, a stone's throw from the Jets' training complex in Florham Park.

Quinn is comfortable in his own skin, has a great rapport with his players and is as composed during media interviews as he is calling plays for the Seahawks' renowned "Legion of Boom'' defense. Quinn also seems to have a more global sense of what it will take to be a head coach, diverging from Ryan's penchant for paying attention to his defense and leaving the offense to someone else.

The Jets might have to wait a month for Quinn to finish his season, because he can't be hired until after the Seahawks' season is over -- which might not be until Feb. 1, when the Super Bowl is played in Glendale, Arizona. But if you have a conviction on a guy, what's another few weeks?

Big decision here, folks. The Jets can't afford to get it wrong.

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Woody Johnson to interview Seahawks candidates before Doug Marrone (Kimberley Martin) Newsday January 1, 2014

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/woody-johnson-to-interview-seahawks-candidates-before-doug-marrone-1.9766569

Doug Marrone remains at the top of Woody Johnson's list of available head coaches, but an interview hasn't been scheduled, a source said. That's because the Jets first will conduct their previously scheduled interviews with a trio from the Seahawks' organization -- two for the coaching job and one for the general manager's position.

Johnson, who fired coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik on Monday, was in Seattle Thursday night, according to sources, along with consultants Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf. They interviewed Seahawks director of pro personnel Trent Kirchner for the GM vacancy.

Earlier Thursday, they interviewed Browns front-office executive Bill Kuharich.

On Friday, they'll speak to Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and assistant coach/offensive line coach Tom Cable about the coaching job.

Quinn has received a lot of interest. He reportedly met with the 49ers this week, and the Bears and Falcons also have come calling, according to reports.

Although Quinn is on the Jets' radar, Johnson also is keeping a close eye on Marrone. According to Sports Illustrated's Peter King, Johnson spoke with Marrone by telephone Thursday and the conversation "went well.''

The Jets did not confirm that the conversation took place, but Johnson has long been high on Marrone. A face-to-face meeting between the two won't take place until Johnson, Casserly and Wolf return from Seattle, most likely Sunday or Monday.

The Jets' coaching search took a dramatic turn Wednesday night after Marrone, a former Jets offensive line coach, opted out of his contract with the Bills. Suddenly, the Bronx native shot to the top of Johnson's wish list.

The former Syracuse coach is well respected within NFL circles and led the Bills to their first winning season since 2004 in only his second year with them. Buffalo's 9-7 record included two blowouts of the Jets.

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Marrone's experience as Jets offensive line coach from 2002-05 bolsters his case, and Casserly is a big supporter of his. The Jets, however, aren't the only team interested in Marrone. According to the New York Post, he has interviews lined up with the Bears and Falcons, who fired Marc Trestman and Mike Smith, respectively, on Monday.

Marrone, who had an opt-out clause in his contract with the Bills (and will be paid $4 million by them even if he coaches another team in 2015), informed his players of his decision via a mass text message after the news already had broken, according to NFL Network. On Thursday, Bill Polian told the Bills he will return to his job as an ESPN analyst instead of taking a front-office job within the organization.

As for Ryan, NFL.com reported that he will interview Sunday for the 49ers' coaching vacancy. He reportedly also will interview with the Falcons.

The Jets lost out on a potential GM hire Thursday, although it wasn't much of a surprise. Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta, who many assume is in line to get Ozzie Newsome's GM job someday, declined the Jets' interview request and will stay in Baltimore.

The Jets have scheduled an interview with Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan. According to a source, he's a strong candidate to replace Idzik. The Jets also have scheduled an interview with Eagles director of pro personnel Rick Mueller.

The Jets also plan to interview Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich for Ryan's old job, but they'll have competition. The Buffalo News reported that Reich, a native of Freeport and a former Jets quarterback, is high on the Bills' list.

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THE RECORD

Jets taking off on search for new coach (J.P. Pelzman) The Record January 1, 2014

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/jets-taking-off-on-search-for-new-coach-1.1184792

Woody Johnson and his team of consultants were scheduled to fly to Seattle on Thursday night to interview head-coach candidates over the weekend.

Yet it’s possible Johnson’s eventual choice could be found much closer to home.

Johnson and the Jets are interested in former Buffalo coach Doug Marrone, who exercised an opt-out clause in his contract and abruptly resigned from his post with the Bills on Wednesday.

But before they can schedule an interview with Marrone, Johnson and consultants Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf will be interviewing two top Seahawks assistants in Seattle on Saturday. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, a Morristown native, and assistant head coach Tom Cable will speak with the Jets. Seattle has a bye this week in the playoffs. Cable, who also coaches the offensive line, was Oakland’s head coach from 2008-10.

Marrone’s expertise also is in the offensive line. He coached that unit for the Jets from 2002-05, serving under coach Herm Edwards. So he and Johnson already have a relationship, another factor that makes Marrone an intriguing target for Johnson.

If he is hired, Marrone also would provide a sharp contrast from the laissez-faire regime of former coach Rex Ryan. Marrone has a reputation as a disciplinarian, and got into a heated exchange on the practice

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field last summer with linebacker Jerry Hughes. Ryan, known as a players’ coach, never yelled at his players in public, and rarely admonished them publicly for mistakes, either.

Much like many owners in pro sports, Johnson often has sought an opposite personality from the previous one when hiring a new coach. Edwards, also a players’ coach, replaced the authoritarian Al Groh, and the tight-lipped Eric Mangini took over from the charismatic Edwards. And then, of course, Ryan replaced Mangini.

Marrone is much closer to Mangini in terms of demeanor and his dealings with the media than the quotable and loquacious Edwards and Ryan.

He often gave terse, one-word answers to Buffalo reporters, and, in fact, the team’s media relations director gave the injury update before each daily news conference this season because Marrone refused to answer questions about it.

Marrone certainly is familiar with the AFC East after spending the past two years in the division, so that is a plus. And he led the Bills to a 9-7 record for their first winning season in 10 years.

However, the offensive-minded coach saw his attack drop from 19th in the NFL in total offense in 2013 to 26th in 2014, and the Bills’ 1,482 yards rushing this season is their fewest in a 16-game season.

Also, if Marrone is Johnson’s choice, it once again would mean that the Jets will have to hire a general manager who won’t be allowed to select his coach. In January 2013, Johnson decided to retain Ryan, and hired general manager John Idzik under the proviso that he couldn’t replace Ryan — at least not until after one season.

The arranged marriage didn’t work, and Johnson hinted there was a “disconnect” between Idzik and Ryan.

The Jets also are targeting candidates for Idzik’s old job, and are scheduled to interview Seattle director of pro personnel Trent Kirchner on Saturday.

Would Kirchner, or any candidate, be OK with having Marrone as the coach and no opportunity to interview other candidates? Johnson could be setting up a similar situation to the one that backfired badly on the Jets when Idzik didn’t get Ryan the caliber of cornerbacks he needed to successfully run his defensive schemes.

BRIEFS: A source confirmed reports that the Jets will interview San Diego offensive coordinator Frank Reich as part of their head coach search. However, Reich, who played for the Bills and Jets, reportedly is a leading candidate to replace Marrone in Buffalo. Also, The Associated Press reported that UCLA coach Jim Mora could be a candidate for Jets coach. The AP also said Baltimore assistant GM Eric DeCosta turned down an interview request.

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NJ ADVANCE MEDIA

Baltimore Ravens' Eric DeCosta turns down Jets' request for general manager interview (Darryl Slater) NJ Advance Media January 1, 2014

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/01/baltimore_ravens_eric_decosta_turns_down_jets_request_for_general_manager_interview_per_report.html

Once again, Eric DeCosta has told another team that he will remain with the Ravens.

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DeCosta has declined the Jets' request to interview for their general manager vacancy. The news was first reported by Albert Breer of the NFL Network.

The Jets had to be expecting this answer. But DeCosta is considered one of the NFL's brightest young minds, so they had to at least take a shot at him. No harm in trying.

DeCosta reportedly makes GM-level money and has strong family ties to the Baltimore area. He is the Ravens' GM in waiting, for when Ozzie Newsome retires.

This is par for the course for DeCosta, the Ravens' assistant GM. He has turned down multiple GM interview requests in recent years.

Ditto for George Paton, the Vikings' assistant GM. He also declined the Jets' interview request, as he previously has with other teams.

When the Jets hired John Idzik as their GM in early 2013, DeCosta and Paton turned down their interview requests.

So DeCosta and Paton turning down all GM interview requests this time around is no surprise. Paton has also decided to remain with his current team, according to Breer.

Where does this leave the Jets' search for Idzik's replacement?

They have interviews set up (or have already conducted interviews) with the following candidates on their confirmed target list:

• Seahawks pro personnel director Trent Kirchner (interviewing this weekend)

• Texans college scouting director Mike Maccagnan (will interview)

• Eagles pro personnel director Rick Mueller (will interview)

• Jets senior director of football administration Rod Graves (interviewed Wednesday)

• Browns executive chief of staff Bill Kuharich (will interview)

So a list that once had seven is down to five, and one of those is an in-house candidate, Graves, who seems unlikely to get the job.

The Jets' upcoming interviews with the four other candidates -- Kirchner, Maccagnan, Mueller and Kuharich -- will go a long way toward determining which candidate replaces Idzik.

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Jets will interview ex-Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone for head coaching vacancy (Darryl Slater) NJ Advance Media January 1, 2014

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/01/jets_will_interview_ex-buffalo_bills_coach_doug_marrone_for_head_coaching_vacancy.html

You could see this coming, but now it is official: The Jets will interview former Bills head coach Doug Marrone for their head coaching vacancy.

The interview will happen on Sunday or Monday, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post, who reported that Marrone also will interview with the Falcons and Bears.

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On Wednesday, Marrone opted out of his contract with the Bills. He went 6-10 last year, his first in Buffalo, and was 9-7 this season. But significant questions remain about whether he would fare any better with the Jets than Rex Ryan did.

Marrone is the Jets' seventh confirmed target to replace Ryan. Jets running backs coach Anthony Lynn interviewed Wednesday. Lynn is black, so the Jets satisfied the NFL's Rooney Rule, which requires minority candidates to get interviews for coaching and general manager jobs.

In addition to Marrone, the Jets also will interview Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich, Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and Seattle offensive line/assistant head coach Tom Cable.

Jets owner Woody Johnson and his two consultants, Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf, will head to Seattle this weekend to conduct those latter two interviews. While there, they also will interview Seahawks pro personnel director Trent Kirchner for their GM job.

The Jets have yet to line up interviews with Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak and Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Both of their teams are participating in wildcard weekend, so they won't be able to interview until next week.

The Jets have six confirmed GM candidates, with four interviews set up and an in-house interview already completed with Rod Graves, who is black.

So the Jets have complied with the Rooney Rule on both their coach and GM searches, meaning they are free to hire for both jobs whenever they want.

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Has Doug Marrone accomplished enough to show he can win more as Jets' coach than Rex Ryan did? (Darryl Slater) NJ Advance Media January 1, 2014

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/01/has_doug_marrone_accomplished_enough_to_show_he_can_win_more_as_jets_coach_than_rex_ryan_did.html

So Doug Marrone is apparently now the hottest NFL head coaching candidate out there, which means he is officially on the Jets' radar to replace Rex Ryan.

The Jets are indeed interested in him, and they ought to be. He is one of the the only significant head coaching candidates available who has actual head coaching experience.

But does any of this mean he would do a better job coaching the Jets than Ryan did?

Ryan went 50-52 in six seasons with the Jets, including 4-2 in the playoffs and back-to-back AFC Championship Game trips in his first two seasons. It's not elite-level stuff -- after all, the Jets have missed the playoffs four years running -- but it's nothing to scoff at, either.

It's worth remembering a few things before Marrone is anointed as the man who will turn the Jets' fortunes around.

First, take a look at his so-called competition among NFL head coaching candidates -- guys like Dan Quinn, Adam Gase, Todd Bowles and Frank Reich. They are all up-and-coming coordinator types with no head coaching experience. Gary Kubiak, whom the Jets have requested permission to interview, does have head coaching experience. So does another Jets' target, Tom Cable, though he flamed out with the Raiders.

If Jon Gruden, Jim Harbaugh or Bill Cowher were available, Marrone clearly wouldn't be held in such high regard among current coaching candidates. It's all relative. But this is obvious. Teams seeking coaches

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have to work with what's out there, and Marrone is a somewhat proven commodity among coaches with limited track records. This elevates his status, but doesn't mean he will definitely win in his next job.

Second, what has Marrone accomplished as a head coach? Some very good things. Syracuse was a dumpster fire when he took over, 10-37 in the previous four years. Marrone went 25-25 in his four years, before departing for the Bills, including 8-5 in both his second season and final season on the job.

Yes, Marrone will also get (and deserves) credit for leading the Bills to a 9-7 record this season, despite a rocky quarterback situation with EJ Manuel and Kyle Orton. Yes, Marrone will get (and deserve) credit for having his transplanted team prepared to win in Detroit after being snowed in for days.

The Bills last had a winning record in 2004, when they finished 9-7. But what the Bills did in 2005 or 2006 or 2007 has little to do with what they accomplished this year. Their roster was completely different then. Those teams might share the same colors with this year's Bills, but they are totally separate entities. Keep that in mind as you assess Marrone's 2014 accomplishments in a comparative sense.

Moreover, let's not forget who the Bills played in that snowstorm-altered game in Detroit earlier this season -- the Jets, who went 4-12 and fired their coach and general manager.

And the notion that Marrone deserves loads of credit for winning amid the Bills' ownership change is a bit over the top. An ownership change, while creating some uncertainty for coaches, has minimal impact on how players perform. The higher-up, business-side dealings of an NFL franchise are outside a player's thought process.

Marrone went 6-10 with the Bills last year, before improving to 9-7 this year. He never had steady quarterback play, which makes it a challenge to win in today's NFL, and Marrone certainly overcame that challenge to some degree.

Marrone went 7-5 against the AFC East in his two seasons with the Bills, but just 1-3 against the Patriots. He closed strong this season, beating the Packers and Patriots, with a bad loss to the Raiders in between.

But of Marrone's 13 other wins with the Bills, just two came against teams that finished with winning records: 12-4 Carolina last year and 11-5 Detroit this year. All told, Marrone went 4-10 against teams that finished with winning records, including 3-5 this year.

Again, Marrone did a solid job with what he was given in Buffalo. Did he do enough to make Jets owner Woody Johnson think that Marrone would be a better option than, say, Bowles or Quinn? Marrone simply has a body of work as a head coach, and those two guys don't.

None of this is to suggest that Marrone absolutely can't or won't win with the Jets. Getting a competent quarterback would help, particularly since Marrone has an offensive background and won with Drew Brees in New Orleans from 2006-08, when Marrone was the Saints' offensive coordinator. But even then, the Saints made playoffs in just one of those years, 2006, when they lost in the NFC title game.

Let's not lock Marrone in as a sure-thing winner with the Jets just yet. And if the Jets' quarterback, whoever it is, doesn't play better next season, then it won't really matter if Marrone or Quinn or Bowles or Tom Landry's ghost is patrolling the sideline.

To that end, Johnson and his consultants, Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf, must determine whether Marrone would be a good fit to develop a young quarterback. That was a major weakness for Ryan. The Jets might draft a quarterback next spring. Smith is still young and perhaps not beyond repair. Marrone couldn't make it work with Manuel in Buffalo, but how much of that is on Manuel himself? It's hard to say. The Bills this season ranked 26th in the NFL in yards and 18th in points.

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There are a couple tertiary angles to the Marrone-Jets relationship that make for nice stories but have zero to do with how well Marrone would fare with this franchise. To suggest otherwise would be short-sighted.

Marrone grew up in the Bronx, so this could increase his desire to coach the Jets, as a homecoming move. But this isn't college football. Marrone isn't going to use his hometown ties to recruit players from the New York City area. Where Marrone is from will have no impact whatsoever on his potential success with the Jets.

Marrone was the Jets' offensive line coach from 2002-05. So he knows Johnson and knows his way around the organization a bit. And Johnson knows him, to some degree. All of this could contribute to Marrone wanting and/or landing the job. But the Jets of 2015 aren't the Jets of 2005. Same jersey colors. Totally different players. And a totally different front office, too. Marrone doesn't even know who the Jets' general manager will be.

Uncertainty about the Bills' front office and a potential football czar (what a great term, by the way) contributed significantly to Marrone opting out of his contract in Buffalo, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Considering this, might Marrone definitely want to know the identity of the Jets' GM before hopping on-board?

You can't blame Marrone for wanting out of Buffalo while he was still a highly regarded candidate, coming off a winning season. He benefited from his agent, Jimmy Sexton (who also represents Ryan), landing him a contract that will enable Marrone to accumulate a ton of money next season, as he double-dips into the Bills' coffers, and his new team's.

Will that new team find Marrone worth the investment?

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Jets interview Browns' Bill Kuharich, Seahawks' Trent Kirchner on Thursday for general manager job (Darryl Slater) NJ Advance Media January 1, 2014

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/01/jets_interviewed_browns_bill_kuharich_seahawks_trent_kirchner_on_thursday_for_general_manager_job.html

The Jets on Thursday interviewed Browns executive chief of staff Bill Kuharich and Seahawks pro personnel director Trent Kirchner for their general manager job.

Kuharich interviewed earlier Thursday in New Jersey. Kirchner is interviewing Thursday evening in Seattle.

The interviews were first reported by Brian Costello of the New York Post.

The Jets' contingent of owner Woody Johnson and his two consultants, Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf, traveled to Seattle to interview Kirchner, as well as two Seahawks assistants who are in the mix for the Jets' head coaching vacancy: defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and offensive line/assistant head coach Tom Cable.

Before Thursday, the Jets had conducted just one GM interview, on Wednesday. It was with in-house candidate Rod Graves, who seems unlikely to get the job that opened when the Jets fired Graves' boss, John Idzik.

Besides Kuharich and Kirchner, the Jets' other confirmed out-of-house candidates for the GM job are Eagles pro personnel director Rick Mueller and Texans college scouting director Mike Maccagnan. Both men have agreed to interview with the Jets for the job.

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Two candidates turned down the Jets' interview offer: Vikings assistant general manager George Paton and Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta. Both have turned down numerous GM interview offers in recent years.

The Jets are having to conduct concurrent searches for their GM and head coach. The Jets would prefer to hire a GM first, but they need to make progress on their coaching search, for competitive reasons.

In addition to Quinn and Cable, the Jets have coaching interviews set up with San Diego offensive coordinator Frank Reich and ex-Bills head coach Doug Marrone. They have already interviewed an in-house candidate, running backs coach Anthony Lynn.

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Eagles' Howie Roseman didn't talk to Jets about getting himself a job (Dom Cosentino) NJ Advance Media January 1, 2014

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/01/eagles_howie_roseman_didnt_talk_to_jets_about_getting_himself_a_job.html

Yes, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman had a conversation with the Jets this week. But that conversation had nothing to do with Roseman inquiring about the Jets' open general manager's job, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing a pair of league sources, had reported that Roseman had "informal talks" with Jets brass about possibly replacing John Idzik as GM, but that the Jets' level of interest in Roseman "was unknown."

But Roseman, the people with knowledge of the situation said, had only talked to the Jets about Rick Mueller, the Eagles' director of player personnel who is a confirmed candidate to interview for the Jets' GM gig. The two people spoke to NJ Advance Media on condition of anonymity because neither was authorized to talk publicly. One of them said discussions like the one Roseman had with the Jets are common in the industry at this time of year.

That Roseman did not have any conversations with the Jets about a job for himself was first reported Thursday by Pro Football Talk.

The 39-year-old Roseman was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Marlboro, and began his career as a player personnel intern with the Jets back in the late 1990s. But he has no reason to move up the Jersey Turnpike right now for two reasons:

1. He won his power struggle with Eagles head coach Chip Kelly this week when Tom Gamble—a Kelly ally—was fired on Wednesday. If nothing else, the move seems to solidify Roseman's position in the pecking order within the Eagles' front office.

2. Roseman's background is in salary-cap management, much like Idzik's was. And Jets owner Woody Johnson made it unequivocally clear on Monday that he wants his next GM to be someone who made his bones in scouting and personnel. And every other confirmed candidate for the Jets' GM position thus far fits that mold.

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Doug Marrone and Jets: Buffalo media trashes him on his way out of town (Dom Cosentino) NJ Advance Media January 1, 2014

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http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/01/doug_marrone_and_jets_buffalo_media_trashes_him_on_his_way_out_of_town.html

By opting out of staying with the Bills, Doug Marrone seemingly went from mediocre head coach to being fitted for a bust in Canton. And the Jets instantly went from a team pursuing him to the "favorites" to land him, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. It's almost as if Bill Walsh had just fallen into the Jets' laps.

But Marrone's short time in Buffalo was significantly flawed, according to several reporters there who covered him daily.

Marrone has been getting plenty of other laurels from the national media. Those plaudits seem to spring from his having led the Bills to a winning record—their first in 10 years—while navigating the uncertainty of a changing ownership situation, and also for winning a game after being displaced by a snowstorm, never mind that the Bills beat the crummy Jets that week.

Marrone is certainly a reasonable option. But he went 15-17 in two seasons with the Bills. He failed to make the playoffs, and he drafted a bust of a quarterback in E.J. Manuel despite being an offensive-minded coach. So why all the adulation?

The Jets do still have several other candidates in mind, and they're still scheduled to interview the Seahawks' Dan Quinn and Tom Cable this weekend in Seattle.

Have doubts about Marrone and the Jets? Here, then, are some reports out of Buffalo to reinforce those doubts:

Jay Skurski, the Buffalo News:

Prior to Marrone being hired, team president Russ Brandon used words like "forward thinking, progressive and attacking" in describing what the team was looking for in its new coach.

None of those adjectives fit Marrone's style. His consistent reluctance to show any aggression on fourth-down plays became one of the biggest criticisms of his tenure.

Jay Skurski, the Buffalo News:

As a whole, the offense regressed in two seasons, from 19th overall in 2013 to 26th this past season. Much of that regression can be traced to issues at quarterback, which doesn't fall entirely on Marrone. But it's worth noting he was involved in the decision-making process to select EJ Manuel in the first round of the '13 draft - a bust to this point.

The offensive struggles, however, weren't limited to the quarterback. The team's offensive line regressed badly in 2014.

Jay Skurski, the Buffalo News:

Marrone would generally refuse to provide any specifics on player injuries. He would vacillate between offering one-sentence responses or verbose soliloquies in which he mastered the art of saying a lot without saying anything at all when addressing the media.

That tense relationship with reporters didn't have any on-field impact, but it also turned off a segment of the fan base.

Tim Graham of the Buffalo News:

A source close to Marrone also noted the coach was bothered deeply by media criticism, especially after the Bills defeated the heavily favored Green Bay Packers on Dec. 14 in Ralph Wilson Stadium.

And more from the Twitters:

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Really, though: If Marrone couldn't handle media scrutiny and fan criticism in Buffalo, he ought to be just fine in a backwater market like New York City, right?

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Frank Reich of Chargers to interview for Jets' head coaching job (Dom Cosentino) NJ Advance Media January 1, 2014

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/01/frank_reich_of_chargers_to_interview_for_jets_head_coaching_job.html

After Doug Marrone opted out of the final two years of his contract with the Bills, the name that kept popping up as a possible replacement for him in Buffalo was Frank Reich, the ex-Bills quarterback best known for orchestrating that historic comeback against the Oilers in the early 1990s.

Turns out the Jets are still in the mix to get Reich, too.

A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to NJ Advance Media on Thrusday that the Jets plan to interview Reich, who's now the offensive coordinator with the Chargers. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because he or she was not authorized to talk publicly on the matter. Mark Maske of the Washington Post was first to report the Jets' plans to talk to Reich.

No interview has yet been scheduled, however.

Reich had previously been one of seven confirmed candidates for the Jets' head coaching job. If nothing else, a planned interview signals the Jets are being thorough in the search process, despite reports that Marrone, who will also interview, had emerged as some sort of favorite for the spot.

The Jets also plan to interview at least five candidates for their vacant general manager's position.

As a player, Reich actually spent the infamous 1-15 1996 season with the Jets, starting seven games. But he played nine seasons with the Bills in addition to short stints with the Panthers and Lions. Though Reich was Jim Kelly's backup with the Bills, he was the one who led Buffalo to victory after it trailed the Oilers 35-3 at halftime in a 1992 wild-card game.

Reich just finished his first season as the Chargers' offensive coordinator after serving as their quarterbacks coach in 2013. Football Outsiders ranked the Chargers 10th in the league DVOA in 2014, with their pass offense ranking seventh. Reich was previously a quarterbacks coach or wide receivers coach with the Cardinals and Colts.

The Jets do still plan to interview three Seahawks candidates this weekend in Seattle: Assistant coaches Tom Cable and Dan Quinn for the head coaching job, and pro personnel director Trent Kirchner for general manager.

For the complete list of the Jets' confirmed head coach and general manager candidates, click here.

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NEW YORK POST

Doug Marrone sets interview with Jets, two others (Brian Costello) New York Post January 1, 2014

http://nypost.com/2015/01/01/doug-marrone-sets-interview-with-jets-two-others/

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The Jets sound like they are ready to do the Dougie.

Former Bills coach Doug Marrone has emerged as the favorite to land the Jets’ head-coaching job. Marrone is scheduled to interview with the Jets on Sunday or Monday, according to a league source.

The Jets will first interview Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and assistant head coach/offensive line Tom Cable on Friday and Saturday in Seattle. While there, they will also interview pro personnel director Trent Kirchner for their general manager vacancy.

Marrone has jumped to the top of the Jets’ list after opting out of his contract with the Bills on Wednesday night. Sports Illustrated reported Marrone spoke to Woody Johnson by phone on Thursday.

The Jets will have competition for Marrone’s services. He is scheduled to interview with the Falcons and Bears next week, according to a source. The Bronx native has a strong interest in the Jets job, though. He spent four years as an offensive line coach with the Jets under Herm Edwards and speaks fondly of his time with the Jets.

A source said Charley Casserly, who is serving as a consultant for the Jets, is very high on Marrone.

If the Jets do hire Marrone, they may have to sell him to their fan base because he is not a splashy hire. The 50-year-old went 15-17 in two seasons with the Bills, guiding them to a 9-7 record in 2014, their first winning season in a decade. Prior to coaching the Bills, he coached Syracuse for four seasons, going 25-25.

Marrone is highly respected in league circles and former players rave about him. But he will have to explain his role in drafting EJ Manuel in the first round of the 2013 draft and the quarterback’s failure to develop this season.

Then there is Marrone’s departure from Buffalo, which is coming under scrutiny. Marrone had a clause in his contract that allowed him to opt out if the team changed owners. When Terry and Kim Pegula purchased the team from the Ralph Wilson estate in October, the clause came into play. Marrone exercised the opt out Wednesday night, walking away from the final two years of his deal. He still will be paid $4 million by the Bills this year regardless of whether he lands another job.

There was blowback on social media from Bills players about Marrone leaving, and NFL Network reported Marrone informed the players through a group text after the news already had broken.

If the Jets do hire Marrone, it will be interesting to see how it affects the GM search. He obviously would play a role in picking the new GM then. There is debate around the NFL about how wise it is to hire a coach before a GM. Typically, the GM picks the coach. In some instances, the coach has been hired first, but usually those coaches carry more cachet than Marrone, guys such as Pete Carroll in Seattle and Andy Reid in Kansas City.

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Rex Ryan to interview with 49ers on Sunday (Brian Costello) New York Post January 1, 2014

http://nypost.com/2015/01/01/rex-ryan-to-interview-with-49ers-on-sunday/

Rex Ryan’s chance to show he’s the man to replace Jim Harbaugh will come this weekend.

Ryan will meet with the 49ers on Sunday to interview for the head coaching position, according to a source. Ryan will also meet with the Falcons about their head coach opening, but no date has been set for that interview.

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The Jets fired Ryan on Monday, a day after Harbaugh and the 49ers parted ways after four successful but acrimonious seasons. Harbaugh returned to the college ranks to coach his alma mater, Michigan.

Ryan has been clear in his desire to remain a head coach. He has let it be known he is not interested in being a defensive coordinator and will take a job as a TV analyst if he is not hired as a head coach.

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Jets’ GM search heating up while Marrone interview set (Brian Costello and Mark Cannizzaro) New York Post January 1, 2014

http://nypost.com/2015/01/01/doug-marrone-sets-interview-with-jets-two-others/

The Jets are moving quickly on their search for a new general manager.

According to a league source, the Jets interviewed Browns executive chief of staff Bill Kuharich on Thursday morning in Florham Park and Seahawks pro personnel director Trent Kirchner in Seattle on Thursday night. They interviewed in-house candidate Rod Graves on Wednesday.

The Jets’ desire remains to hire a general manager before a head coach. To that end, they are hoping to interview Mike Maccagnan, the Texans’ director of college scouting, and Eagles pro personnel director Rick Mueller on either Sunday or Monday. If they get those done, that would complete the list of five candidates they asked to speak to who agreed to interview.

While the Jets are hoping to hire the GM first, they also are mindful of the fact they cannot wait on interviewing head-coaching candidates. They will interview two Seahawks assistant coaches Friday in Seattle — defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and assistant head coach/offensive line Tom Cable. The Jets need to interview them now because this is the window the NFL allows coaches from playoff teams with first-round byes to speak. It is possible they will not be available for another interview until after the Super Bowl, if the Seahawks go that far.

The Jets also plan on interviewing former Bills coach Doug Marrone, who is seen by some around the league as the favorite to land the job. Marrone’s interview has not been finalized, but a source said it will either be Sunday or Monday.

Marrone has jumped to the top of the Jets’ list after opting out of his contract with the Bills on Wednesday night. Sports Illustrated reported Marrone spoke to Woody Johnson by phone on Thursday.

The Jets are acting quickly to interview Marrone because they expect competition for his services. He is scheduled to interview with the Falcons and Bears next week, according to a source. The Bronx native has a strong interest in the Jets job, though. He spent four years as an offensive line coach with the Jets under Herm Edwards and speaks fondly of his time with the Jets.

A source said Charley Casserly, who is serving as a consultant for the Jets, is very high on Marrone.

Owner Woody Johnson, Casserly and Ron Wolf, who is also a consultant, are conducting the interviews, along with a few other top-level members of Jets management.

Because of the possibility of having to hire a head coach first, a major part of the GM interviews is finding out which head coaching candidates they would want to work with. Johnson emphasized in his press conference on Monday that he wants the GM and head coach on the same page after seeing the disconnect between John Idzik and Rex Ryan, who were both fired Monday.

Marrone has become a fascinating figure in the Jets’ search. They are clearly very interested in him, but he might be a tough sell to the fan base. The 50-year-old went 15-17 in two seasons with the Bills, guiding

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them to a 9-7 record in 2014, their first winning season in a decade. Prior to the Bills, he coached Syracuse University for four seasons, going 25-25.

Marrone is highly respected in league circles and former players rave about him. But he will have to explain his role in drafting EJ Manuel in the first round of the 2013 draft and Manuel’s failure to develop this season.

Before getting to Marrone, though, the Jets search team will go to Seattle. Quinn, 44, is one of the hottest coaching names on the market. The Falcons, 49ers and Bears are all reportedly interested in Quinn, too.

Quinn is a Morristown, N.J., native that has been the defensive coordinator in Seattle for two seasons. He knows the Jets, having served as their defensive line coach for two years under Eric Mangini.

Cable spent three seasons as the head coach of the Raiders, going 17-27. He is highly respected inside the Seahawks organization. Cable, 50, will have to answer questions about domestic violence allegations and allegedly attacking one of his assistant coaches in Oakland.

The Jets interviewed in-house candidate Anthony Lynn on Wednesday. Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich is scheduled to interview next week, according to a source, though Reich has emerged as a favorite to replace Marrone in Buffalo, according to reports.

They also would like to interview Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, but both are coaching in the playoffs this weekend.

Two GM candidates declined the opportunity to interview — Ravens assistant GM Eric DeCosta and Vikings assistant GM George Paton. This is nothing new for either. Each has turned down numerous requests for interviews in recent years.

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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

NY Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is reminiscent of Rich Kotite days (Mike Lupica) New York Daily News January 1, 2014

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/lupica-rich-kotite-mind-thinking-marrone-article-1.2063420

Once, with another Jets owner in another time, the owner couldn’t believe his team’s good fortune that a coach from another team, one with a record a lot better than Doug Marrone’s was at Syracuse or with the Buffalo Bills, had suddenly become available. That coach was Rich Kotite.

Leon Hess was the owner and he said at the time that he was “80 years old and I want results now.” So he got rid of Pete Carroll and he hired Kotite away from Philadelphia, where he had won 11 games in his first season and 10 games the next and made the playoffs. But Kotite faded at the end, and the Eagles got tired of him, even though his four-year record there was 36-28.

Oh, and Kotite was local, he sure was, a Staten Island guy, and that was supposed to be a big deal at the time the way it is supposed to be some kind of big deal that Marrone is from the Bronx.

“Rich is a fighter, a builder, a ‘deze’ and ‘doze’ guy, a leader, bringing the New York Jets back,” Leon Hess said.

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It all happened so fast 20 years ago, the way things seem to be moving very fast with Marrone now that he has walked away from the Bills. You start to get the idea that it is as if this is the greatest opportunity for a New York team to hire a local guy since Bill Parcells. Or Lombardi.

The Jets' interest in Doug Marrone is baffling and could very well be a regrettable move if they follow through.

But if Doug Marrone, who was 6-10 and 9-7 this season with the Bills and was 25-25 when he coached Syracuse, is the end of the star search for Woody and what we assumed would be a crack committee that included Ron Wolf and Charley Casserly, then Woody would have been better off staying with Rex Ryan, who has had much better results in pro football than Marrone has.

It is worth pointing out again that the decisions that Woody has to make, replacing both John Idzik and Ryan, are the most important he has made since buying the Jets, because this is the lowest point for the franchise since Kotite came to the Jets and went 3-13 and then 1-15 and then Parcells did have to come here from the Patriots and save everybody.

But if Johnson is getting pushed or shoved in the direction of Marrone by Casserly and/or Ron Wolf, if this is all happening this fast when the smart thing is for Johnson to go get himself the best possible guy to be his next general manager, then he doesn’t look like an owner trying to make things right with what is a sorry operation right now.

He looks like a sucker. Or maybe a mark.

There is an old Parcells line that might be coming into play here, the one about some people in pro football not knowing whether the ball is blown up or stuffed.

This doesn’t mean Marrone is a bad football coach. He is just another coach looking for a job, even though he and his agent seem to have this idea that they have done something brilliant by leveraging Marrone away from the Bills with some big coaching jobs available in the league. You even hear that if the Jets have the incredible luck to get Doug Marrone to come coach their football team, he might have a say in who the next general manager is. And if that is true, what kind of cockeyed process are they running over in Florham Park?

Woody has to hire a new general manager first, and then if that general manager does all of his due diligence and he somehow decides that Marrone is the best man for the job — and not somebody just being agent-ed into the job — then by all means, bring Marrone here. But who thinks that will happen? The reason that you are supposed to believe that there is this tremendous momentum for Marrone to be the next Jets coach is because that is what Marrone and his agent want you to think, before Woody Johnson comes to his senses.

He has just seen, Johnson has, over the past two seasons how it usually goes in sports — not always, there are always exceptions, but most of the time — when a general manager brought in to try to turn around a franchise is forced to take on a coach he doesn’t want, or never would have hired. The result with the Jets was, wait for it, the lowest point for the team since the Kotite years.

Only now Woody talks about what “good news” it is that Marrone might be available. Yeah, maybe good news for the Patriots, and Dolphins and maybe even the Buffalo Bills, a team that sure did win nine games this season. Two were against the Jets. One was against a New England Patriots team basically taking a knee at the end of the regular season.

You see this all begin to play out this way, and wonder why in the world Woody or the Jets or guys such as Wolf and Casserly are acting as if there is some kind of meter running on this thing. Maybe it is true

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that Casserly — who gets way too much credit for the old Redskins, because he was the guy who followed Bobby Beathard — looks at Marrone and sees some budding coaching genius. But who else does?

Again: Woody Johnson hasn’t been a terrible owner with the Jets. He hasn’t. He did the right thing this past week, getting rid of Idzik when he got rid of Rex. Idzik needed to go and Rex needs a new team. But he can’t let this process get hijacked by this dumb narrative that somehow they have been presented this tremendous opportunity now that Marrone walks away from the Bills.

But somehow he says that it’s “good news” that Marrone is in play. Leon Hess said the exact same thing about another local guy once.

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Ravens assistant GM Eric DeCosta rejects NY Jets request for interview (Seth Walder) New York Daily News January 1, 2014

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/eric-decosta-denies-jets-request-interview-article-1.2063408

Eric DeCosta turned down the Jets — again.

The Ravens assistant general manager rejected the Jets’ request for an interview for their vacant GM position Thursday and will remain in Baltimore, according to a source. DeCosta declined the Jets’ request two years ago as well.

Luring DeCosta away from Baltimore, where he is considered Ozzie Newsome’s successor, was always going to be a longshot, but that didn’t mean the Jets couldn’t dream. It’s safe to assume that DeCosta would have gotten the Jets GM job had he wanted it. Widely respected around the league, DeCosta would have brought a legitimacy to a Jets front office that needs to rehabilitate its image.

The Jets GM spot opened up on Monday when Woody Johnson fired John Idzik after two unsuccessful years on the job.

The team quickly made headway on the GM search Thursday, interviewing Browns executive chief of staff Bill Kuharich in Florham Park before Johnson and consultants Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf flew to Seattle, where they interviewed Seahawks director of pro personnel Trent Kirchner as well, according to a source.

The Jets also have interviews scheduled with Eagles director of pro personnel Rick Mueller and Texans college scouting director Mike Maccagnan for the GM position, according to a source.

While DeCosta rejected the Jets, much attention has been thrust onto one man who could be working for the team next year: Doug Marrone. Johnson confirmed to the Daily News Wednesday evening that the Jets are interested in the coach who opted out from his contract with the Bills. Marrone will interview with the Jets.

But on Thursday some less flattering details emerged about Marrone’s exit from Buffalo. First, the coach texted his players that he was leaving only after news had broken about his departure, according to NFL Network. And in addition, Marrone ripped the Bills organization to Bill Polian, who was considering returning to the team, according to the Buffalo News.

Though Marrone is probably the favorite to land the Jets’ coaching job at this point, the team is still proceeding with its other interviews for now. Johnson, Casserly and Wolf will interview Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn on Friday and will also interview Seahawks assistant head coach/offensive line coach Tom Cable while in Seattle.

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Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich has accepted an interview request, according to a source.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday that Eagles GM Howie Roseman or his representatives had informal talks with either Johnson or Casserly, but it’s unlikely that the Jets would be interested because Roseman is a cap-focused GM and the team is looking for a general manager with more of a scouting/personnel background.

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NY Jets coaching search takes sleazy turn as consultants apparently pushing Doug Marrone on Woody Johnson (Manish Mehta) New York Daily News January 1, 2014

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/mehta-consultants-pushing-doug-marrone-jets-article-1.2062892

The Jets seemingly went through smart channels to help Woody Johnson chart a new course for the franchise before Doug Marrone entered the equation on New Year’s Eve.

Six hours before the gavel dropped on 2014, news trickled out that Marrone, a coach with an unimpressive NFL resume, unexpectedly opted out of the final two years of his Bills contract. The Jets were quickly identified as a new potential landing spot.

Johnson & Co. deserved praise for hiring NFL lifers Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf during the team’s GM and head coaching searches, but there’s an unmistakably sleazy feel about the whole operation now that raises many fair questions about who’s pulling the strings.

Coincidence or coordination guided events on Wednesday.

Casserly, Wolf, Johnson and team president Neil Glat conducted an interview with running backs coach Anthony Lynn at the team facility in the afternoon in what most believed was a necessary Rooney Rule compliance look-see. A couple hours after the interview wrapped up, ESPN reported the divorce between the Bills and Marrone at 6:08 pm.

Nine minutes after the initial report – and three minutes after the Bills announced the breakup with Marrone on their verified Twitter page at 6:14 pm – ESPN reported that the Jets became the “favorites” to land Marrone.

The Jets obviously hadn’t reached out to Marrone or his agent, Jimmy Sexton, in the first 180 seconds of the official release. Woody Johnson told the Daily News that he hadn’t even become aware that Marrone was a free agent until later.

Sexton, who also represents Rex Ryan and a litany of other coaches, is too seasoned and savvy to let any client make such a seismic decision to quit his job (even though he received a guaranteed $4 million with no offset language) unless he had a strong sense that there was another one lined up.

Marrone isn’t Lombardi, Walsh or Halas. He’s a middling coach with a middling resume. His power play for an extension after a 15-17 record – and no playoff appearances – in his first two seasons was curious to many people across the league. “I don’t understand it,” one front office executive said.

On the surface, it made little sense, but Sexton is no fool. He’s fully aware of the coaching landscape. He knows his options.

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The sequence of events on Wednesday makes it difficult to believe that the Jets didn’t have prior discussions with the Marrone camp. The feeling in league circles is that Casserly has been infatuated with Marrone for years. He’s calling the shots.

Although Johnson will have the ultimate say on the next GM and head coach, there’s a strong sentiment now that Casserly will make it clear to Johnson that Marrone should be the next head coach. The fluid dynamics at play raise the possibility that the Jets could hire Marrone before a GM even though the plan entering this process was to first secure the front office executive.

There was friction between Marrone and the Bills front office, so it’s a virtual certainty that he’d be involved in picking the new GM.

Eagles director of pro personnel Rick Mueller, who worked with Marrone in New Orleans from 2006-08, seems to be an ideal match. Texans scouting director Mike Maccagnan, who Casserly brought into the league more than a decade ago, is also scheduled to interview.

The Jets braintrust is scheduled to fly to Seattle on Thursday night to interview Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, assistant Tom Cable and front office executive Trent Kirchner over the weekend, but many now believe the path has been paved for Marrone.

“They’ll be doing a search again in two years,” one front office executive said. “I don’t think Marrone’s going to win there. He’s never won anywhere he’s been a head coach.”

Johnson has put his trust in Casserly and Wolf, but perhaps it was naïve to think that this would truly be an organic search process. Inevitably, consultants allow personal preferences to carry the day.

Marrone turned a hapless Syracuse program into a mediocre one (25-25 in four years) before taking the Bills gig in 2013. Buffalo went 6-10 in each of the previous two seasons before going 6-10 and 9-7 in Marrone’s two seasons. Bills fans weren’t exactly doing backflips with those results.

A crushing Week 16 loss to the Raiders made it 15 consecutive years without a playoff berth for the franchise.

Marrone was hardly an offensive wizard in Buffalo. The Bills were 19th and 26th in total offense in his two seasons. They finished with a franchise-low rushing yards (in a 16-game season) and were 26th in yards per carry (3.7 yards per carry) in 2014.

Marrone has never been a play caller in the NFL. Sean Payton assumed that role when Marrone was the Saints offensive coordinator from 2006-08. Nate Hackett, son of former Jets offensive coordinator Paul Hackett, was dialing up plays in Buffalo. Marrone spent much of his time coaching the offensive line in practice.

Marrone has shown no ability to cultivate a quarterback, either. First-round pick EJ Manuel has been a bust. The Bills finished with a winning record on the strength of their defense. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is reportedly under contract through 2016.

Although it was time for the Jets to part ways with Ryan, there was little doubt that the coach inspired his players. Through the Jets 4-12 season, Ryan’s players didn’t quit on him. Now, the Jets are set to interview a coach who quit on his players after two seasons.

“He wasn’t the most liked guy by the players,” one league source said of Marrone.

Said a second front office executive: “He doesn’t come across as relatable.”

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Bills players voiced their displeasure about Marrone on Twitter upon hearing the news on Wednesday. Defensive back Aaron Williams tweeted, “Lost all respect!! Completely pissed off, but not gonna let it ruin my New Years.”

The Buffalo News questioned everything from Marrone’s “tense relationship with reporters” to in-game decisions to football acumen in a scathing report on Thursday.

“Prior to Marrone being hired, team president Russ Brandon used words like “forward thinking, progressive and attacking” in describing what the team was looking for in its new coach. None of those adjectives fit Marrone’s style.”

The Buffalo News also noted that "there were other significant examples of Marrone’s approach alienating people" including a “loud argument” at training camp with defensive end Jerry Hughes and a “heated conversation” with GM Doug Whaley at practice.

Johnson is taking a smarter approach than the one two years ago that resulted in train wreck John Idzik, but the past 24 hours have left a sense that maybe something is amiss.

It feels like everyone involved needs to start off the new year by taking a shower.

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NEW YORK TIMES

Doug Marrone Is Among Jets’ Candidates (Ben Shpigel) New York Times January 1, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/sports/football/doug-marrone-is-among-jets-candidates.html?ref=football&_r=0

Make Doug Marrone the Jets’ seventh confirmed coaching candidate. The team plans to speak next week with Marrone, who opted out as coach of the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday, but no interview has been scheduled yet, said a person with knowledge of the team’s thinking.

The Jets have already met with their assistant head coach, Anthony Lynn. They are scheduled to speak this weekend in Seattle with two members of the Seahawks’ staff, the defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and the assistant head coach Tom Cable, and at some point next week with the San Diego offensive coordinator Frank Reich. The Baltimore offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak and the Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles also remain possibilities.

A potential candidate for general manager dropped out of contention Thursday when the Baltimore assistant general manager Eric DeCosta declined the Jets’ interview request.

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WALL STREET JOURNAL

Doug Marrone May Make Jets’ Decision Surprisingly Easy (Stu Woo) Wall Street Journal January 1, 2014

http://www.wsj.com/articles/doug-marrone-may-make-jets-coaching-decision-surprisingly-easy-1420164307?tesla=y&mod=WSJ_NY_Sports_LEFTTopStories&mg=reno64-wsj&url=

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When Jets owner Woody Johnson explained earlier this week why he decided to fire head coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik, he also accepted his share of the responsibility for the Jets’ tailspin from AFC contenders to also-rans in just five years.

In hindsight, Johnson said, it was a mistake to pair Ryan with Idzik in the first place.

After Johnson fired former general manager Mike Tannenbaum on Dec. 31, 2012, he insisted that his new hire, Idzik, retain Ryan as coach, even though new NFL general managers typically get to pick the coaches they work with. But on Monday, two years and 20 losses after reorganizing his front office, Johnson said he wouldn’t commit to hiring a general manager before a head coach this time around.

“This is a very competitive time of the year,” he said. “Coaches and general managers come along when they come along. Sometimes you have to go with one first.”

Now, Johnson appears to be on the verge, again, of having a head coach in place before he hires a general manager. In this case, though, he may have no other choice if the candidate is as attractive and attainable as Doug Marrone.

Marrone was the Buffalo Bills’ head coach until Wednesday evening, when he opted out of his contract—a contract that will still pay him $4 million next year, regardless of where or even if he’s coaching. The Jets plan to interview Marrone officially, though no interview had been scheduled as of Thursday afternoon, according to one person familiar with the arrangement.

Meanwhile, the Jets also plan to interview a long list of candidates for both the vacant general-manager and head-coach positions.

Marrone may not be quite as exciting as Jim Harbaugh, who left the San Francisco 49ers this week to coach the University of Michigan, but he is easily the Jets’ most compelling head-coaching candidate. A 50-year-old Bronx native and former offensive lineman at Syracuse, Marrone took over the Bills after the 2012 season and turned a perennial loser into a respectable, defense-first 9-7 club, keeping the team in playoff contention until late December.

But what makes Marrone especially appealing is that he won with the Bills despite inheriting a quarterback mess almost identical to the one that plagued the Jets. Like Ryan, Marrone began the 2013 season with a rookie quarterback (EJ Manuel) under center and, like Ryan, eventually benched that quarterback in favor of a more seasoned backup (Kyle Orton). As in New York, neither Bills quarterback was able to get the franchise over the hump.

Marrone is also intimately familiar with the AFC East. In two seasons, his Bills went 7-5 against division opponents, including 3-1 against the Jets.

Besides the Bills and Jets, four other NFL teams have coaching vacancies, and are likely too woo Marrone as well. Atlanta and San Francisco are coming off disappointing seasons, but both have adequate quarterbacks and will probably contend for the playoffs in 2015. The Jets, meanwhile, need significant upgrades at quarterback, cornerback, linebacker and on the offensive line.

One advantage the Jets do have is location. Besides growing up in the Bronx and playing at Syracuse, Marrone was an assistant coach at Cortland State, where the Jets hold training camp, and an offensive-line coach for the Jets under Herman Edwards from 2002 to 2005. Marrone also was the head coach at Syracuse from 2009 to 2012, going 25-25 with two wins in the Pinstripe Bowl.

Marrone, whose agent didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon, may be a New York guy,

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Unlike the gregarious Ryan, Marrone does not exude pep. “He’s a great motivator,” Bills running back Anthony Dixon said after Buffalo upset Green Bay in December, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard. “I don’t think people know that about him. He don’t got the best personality, but he just grinds it.”

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ESPN NEW YORK

Former Bills coach Doug Marrone will meet with Jets (Rich Cimini) ESPN New York January 1, 2014

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/48143/former-bills-coach-doug-marrone-will-meet-with-jets

The New York Jets and former Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone will meet in the coming days to discuss the team's head-coaching vacancy, it was confirmed Thursday.

This, of course, comes as no surprise, considering the Jets expressed interest in Marrone as soon as he decided Wednesday to exercise his opt-out from the Bills, making him a free agent. Marrone spoke Thursday by phone with Jets owner Woody Johnson, according to theMMQB.com.

Truth be told, the Jets had been monitoring Marrone's situation with the Bills for days. New consultant Charley Casserly is known to be enamored with Marrone and is pushing his candidacy, according to sources.

Marrone is prepared to interview with other teams, but there's a growing sense among industry insiders that he's the Jets' top candidate -- and that he has mutual interest in the Jets. The Bronx native was the Jets' offensive line coach from 2002 to 2005.

Sources confirmed that Marrone will interview with the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons, as first reported by the New York Post.

Meanwhile, the Jets are continuing their search for Rex Ryan's replacement, as they should.

On Friday, the Jets delegation -- which includes Johnson, Casserly and consultant Ron Wolf -- will be in Seattle to interview Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Like Marrone, he's a former Jets assistant with ties to the New York/New Jersey area. He grew up in Morristown, New Jersey, a few miles from the Jets' facility. Quinn is a hot candidate, drawing interest from the Falcons and San Francisco 49ers.

While in Seattle, the Jets will also meet with Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable, a former Oakland Raiders head coach.

San Diego Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich also has agreed to interview with the Jets. That meeting likely will occur next week, but the Bills have emerged as a strong possibility for Reich, a former Buffalo quarterback.

Two other confirmed candidates for the Jets' job are involved in playoff games this weekend -- Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak. They already have interviewed an in-house candidate, running backs coach Anthony Lynn.

As for the Jets' general manager search, the candidate gaining traction is Mike Maccagnan, the Houston Texans' director of college scouting. He has ties to Casserly and Marrone. There is mutual interest, and an interview will happen in the coming days.

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Daily Clips Cont.

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2015 has got to be better ... right? (Johnette Howard) ESPN New York January 1, 2014

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/12103864/2015-got-better-year-new-york-sports?ex_cid=espnapi_public

NEW YORK -- If you can tear your eyes away from the New Year's Day game featuring those two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks the Jets won't be getting in the draft, or the latest, inexplicable 24/7 coverage of Jim Harbaugh's arrival at Michigan, in which Harbaugh commences to brush his teeth on Day 3 and then leads a motorcade to light a tea light at the altar of Bo Schembechler, we do have some breaking news right here in our little hamlet of New York, you know.

It's a lock that 2015 can't possibly be as bad a sports year as 2014, right?

Somebody please answer yes.

The New York Rangers have the right to feel frosted that their Stanley Cup finals runner-up finish has gone largely ignored as the biggest success story of 2014, other than the arrival of Giants rookie Odell Beckham Jr. The Rangers are playing remarkably well again this season, too, if anyone would quit bellyaching about the Giants or Jets, Yankees or Mets, Knicks or Nets long enough to notice them -- or the even-better Islanders. Or notice that the St. John's men's basketball team is ranked 15th in the country this week.

2014: THE BEST AND THE WORST

There is hope for 2015 around here.

Jets general manager John Idzik -- he of the bizarre 18-minute news conference soliloquy -- was mercifully fired Monday by Jets owner Woody Johnson and is free to go do voiceovers for books on tape or whatever his next calling is. Now, if Johnson can just buck the long-shot odds and persuade former Green Bay Packers executive Ron Wolf to run the Jets rather than simply serve as one of the two consultants helping to pick Johnson's next general manager and head coach, the team might turn around quicker than its 4-12 record permits.

Johnson badly needs a front-office executive of Wolf's caliber. He should throw charm and money at Wolf (though, granted, not quite as extravagantly as Jim Dolan did at Phil Jackson) to see whether Wolf -- who is a totally different cat -- is willing to take a curtain call.

If the Jets build a shrewd front office, more talent will come.

Speaking of Jackson, he doesn't need any more time to decide who can learn the triangle and who can't. The answer is crystal clear: The triangle hardly matters because the Knicks' defense is even worse than their offense. But look at the bright side. Phil is doing a marvelous job of getting the Knicks a 2015 lottery pick, don't you think? And let's be real. Hoping for a top-three pick is a better tack than perennially pretending as if LeBron and Durant and Kobe and Kevin Love -- or maybe all of them at once! -- are actually coming here, only to see they never do.

Given the Knicks' dreadful record, it can't be long now before the MSG Network starts carrying Jahlil Okafor's games at Duke just as an appetizer, or Carmelo Anthony -- ever surgery-averse -- shuts his sore knee down and tells Amar'e Stoudemire to slide over and start sharing those red-wine Jacuzzis with him.

J.R. Smith, who has a tear in his plantar fascia, can bring a nice slab of Gouda, some gluten-free crackers and a Rihanna CD to make it a par-TAY.

But don't you dare call it tanking.

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26 | P a g e

It's karma.

And anyway, why are we even talking about the Knicks when there's two far more interesting sagas going on across the East River?

The tied-for-first-place Islanders are playing well enough in their last season at Nassau Coliseum to make Mikhail Prokhorov ask himself why he didn't think to buy a hockey team instead of the Brooklyn Nets.

But Prokhorov has reason for hope, too. The latest Nets coach he hired -- plain-speaking Lionel Hollins -- is willing to go where no Nets coach has recently gone before. Hollins seems determined to find out whether so-called franchise player Deron Williams and center Brook Lopez have the heart and games to be determined team cornerstones who win titles -- or just guys who are content to get paid a lot.

Hollins' unapologetic decision to slap both players on the second team and keep them there -- "Why would I change? We're winning," he barked the other night -- may be a prelude to a trade of one, or both, benched starters. And it's about time. The Nets should quit treading water and force a reckoning of what Williams and Lopez are and aren't. And Hollins has the guts to do it.

Both New York baseball teams have reason to believe they'll be better in 2015, too. Especially the Mets. Their season depends on a bunch of ifs -- if ace Matt Harvey's surgically repaired arm holds up, if David Wright has a bounce-back season, if they don't regret making Michael Cuddyer their only notable outfield addition, and if their young pitching staff isn't hurt by the tweaking of the outfield fences as much as it helps their underperforming hitters (Curtis Granderson, please pick up the white courtesy phone ...).

Investing hope in the Mets is always perilous. The dashed dreams stretch back so many generations that when babies are born in Flushing now, they don't go, "Waa!" when the doctor slaps them -- they yelp, "How could Beltran take strike three!?'"

The Mets' decision to stick with Terry Collins as manager while Joe Maddon was available and switched leagues to manage the Cubs is the latest brain freeze that just might haunt them.

It won't be nice to dwell on that if the Cubs soar and the Mets stink. But what's that got to do with it? This is New York.

The Yankees have to hope better health will bring them better results in 2015, too, despite having to put up again with more of the same old A-Rod.

General manager Brian Cashman has done everything he can this offseason to diminish expectations for Alex Rodriguez's return from a nearly yearlong suspension.

The bigger issues will be: Were the Yanks correct to believe Masahiro Tanaka's elbow can hold up without surgery? That Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Teixeira can finally give them enough offense all at once? That Dellin Betances can repeat his terrific 2014 season in the bullpen and Andrew Miller, whom they poached from the Orioles, will cover for letting closer David Robertson walk? Were they right to trade versatile Martin Prado to stockpile yet another young arm, and pay to keep Chase Headley despite his past back issues?

As the Zen Master himself is apt to say, time will tell.

In the meantime, right here, right now, let's acknowledge the sabermetricians who griped for years about Derek Jeter's woeful defensive metrics even as he was (ahem ...) passing the likes of Willie Mays and Honus Wagner on the all-time hits list and putting his five Yankees championship rings back in the wall safe.

Victory is yours, seamheads!

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Cashman finally listened to you.

Rather than view Rockies star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki's off-day visit to the box seats at Yankee Stadium last season as a naked cry for help -- "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE GET ME OUT OF COLORADO!" -- Cashman traded for Arizona's slick-fielding Didi Gregorius instead.

Forget how big a mouthful that's going to be for the Bleacher Creatures during Roll Call. If Gregorius wins a Gold Glove, the seamheads might not stop at I-told-you-sos. They might throw themselves a parade.

It wouldn't be the kind of Canyon of Heroes parade that folks in New York really want. But it'd be a start -- at least until Beckham has the Giants back in the Super Bowl and replaces Troy Polamalu in all those Head & Shoulders commercials, or Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist finally gets to kiss the Stanley Cup, or John Tavares and the Islanders beat him to it.

Forget all your troubles. C'mon, get happy.

This really could be the year.

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Jets hit the road for Seattle interviews (Rich Cimini) ESPN New York January 1, 2014

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/48150/jets-hit-the-road-for-seattle-interviews

The New York Jets took their search party on the road Thursday, as owner Woody Johnson & Co. flew to Seattle for three interviews.

On Thursday night, they interviewed general manager candidate Trent Kirchner, the Seahawks' director of pro personnel. On Friday, they will meet with Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and offensive line coach Tom Cable.

Before returning home, they could shoot down the coast to interview San Diego Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich. Once they're back in New Jersey, it'll be on to former Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone.

The Jets are in the early stages of the process, but they're moving quickly. It wouldn't be a surprise if they have a new coach and GM by mid-to-late next week. That will depend on how the early interviews go and whether they want to wait for the candidates competing this weekend in the playoffs -- Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak.

They knocked out another GM interview Thursday, meeting with Cleveland Browns executive chief of staff Bill Kuharich. They still have at least two more GM interviews on tap -- Houston Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan and Philadelphia Eagles director of pro personnel Rick Mueller.

The most noteworthy GM-related development Thursday, although hardly surprising, is that Baltimore Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta declined to interview for the job. He was the most qualified person on the Jets' wish list, according to an informal survey of four personnel executives from other teams.

There are no sure things among the remaining candidates. Some lack experience and some are on the list because they know the right people. Only one of the candidates has a Super Bowl championship on his resume -- Kirchner, who has spent only two years in a front-office position.

The head-coaching list isn't too sexy, either, which makes the criticism of Marrone's candidacy hard to figure. His qualifications might not be off-the-charts, but they're solid: He has college and pro head-

Daily Clips Cont.

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coaching experience. He knows the AFC East. In fact, his divisional record was 7-5, three games better than Rex Ryan's mark over the last two years. He was 3-1 against Ryan with a combined score of 138-67. He took over two dumpster fires (Syracuse and the Bills) and had the programs on the rise when he left.

And, no, he didn't quit on the Bills; he simply exercised an opt-out. LeBron James did the same thing last summer and no one outside Miami criticized him.

Marrone isn't a search-stopper, meaning the Jets should proceed with their other interviews, but he's just as qualified as every other candidate. The sense close to the search is that Marrone and Quinn are the top candidates. If they want Quinn, it could take a month, depending on how long the Seahawks last in the postseason.

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METRO NEW YORK

Sources: Jets may hire head coach without a general manager in place (Kristian Dyer) Metro New York January 1, 2014

http://www.metro.us/new-york/sources-jets-may-hire-head-coach-without-a-general-manager-in-place/zsJoaa---mAP2AkTffP4Q/

They may be without a general manager but the Jets are carrying on with the search to not only replace John Idzik but also head coach Rex Ryan. And the search for both positions starts this week, even without a general manager in place.

On Wednesday, the Jets began interviewing candidates for the head coaching position, including running backs coach Anthony Lynn. It may seem out of the ordinary that a head coach could possibly be hired without a general manager in place, but the process is nonetheless beginning in earnest as the team begins doing its due diligence on potential candidates for the position.

Metro has learned that with the lack of a general manager to spearhead the effort, four individuals will be on-site to conduct interviews for the head coach position: Jets owner Woody Johnson, team president Neil Glat as well as consultants Charlie Casserly and Ron Wolf.

Casserly and Wolf, both of whom serve on the NFL Career Advisory Panel and are themselves longtime NFL executives, will be on-site at the team's facility for these interviews.

The ideal plan for this process is to hire a general manager first and then a head coach. But a team source tells Metro that if the Jets felt like they needed to move on a head coaching candidate who they felt was the perfect fit in order to ensure that he could be hired, they would be open to the “need to move on a head before finalizing [the] general manager.”

This obviously would go against their ideal flowchart for this process but would be “a battlefield decision based on circumstances,” another source tells Metro.

The organization was criticized two years ago for bringing Idzik on board as general manager with a head coach already in place. By inheriting Ryan, this ensured that Idzik was unable to bring in “his man” into the relationship to run the team. On Monday, when he spoke to the media after firing Idzik and Ryan, Johnson acknowledged that the plan put in motion two years ago may not have been ideal and may have led to the team's lack of success in building a winner the past two years.

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Daily Clips Cont.

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THURSDAY’S SPORTS TRANSACTIONS

Associated Press January 1, 2014

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jan/01/thursdays-sports-transactions/

BASEBALL

Frontier League

FLORENCE FREEDOM — Signed 1B Rob Kelly and RHP Chuck Weaver to contract extensions. Signed RHP Ethan Gibbons.

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS MINERS — Exercised the 2015 contract options on OF Aaron Gates, RHP Anthony Montefusco, LHP Hunter Ackerman, RHP James Bierlein, OF Jay Austin, INF Marquis Riley, LHP Matt Bywater, OF Matt Howard, RHP Miguel Ramirez, LHP James Woods, and OF Tyler Booth.

FOOTBALL

National Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Signed OT Cameron Bradfield to a futures contact.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League

MINNESOTA WILD — Assigned F Tyler Graovac to Iowa (AHL).

American Hockey League

HARTFORD WOLF PACK — Signed G Yann Danis to a professional tryout agreement.

ECHL

READING ROYALS — Announced F Brandon Alderson and D Maxim Lamarche were reassigned to Lehigh Valley (AHL).

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