Team CEO is also tired of losing
Johnson wants change and thinks Douglas is the man for the job
Christopher Johnson wants things to change in a big way with the New York Jets.
The team’s chairman and CEO is looking for more victories. A winning culture. Sustained success.
“Look, I am sick of losing,” Johnson said Monday. “I am so tired of all of this. As are the players. As are the fans.”
Johnson fired coach Adam Gase on Sunday night, hours after the Jets completed a 2-14 season that included a franchiseworst 0-13 start. They haven’t been to the postseason since the 2010 season, a 10-year drought that currently ranks as the longest in the NFL.
“I’m not going to say a bad thing about Adam. He’s a good man,” Johnson said. “It clearly didn’t work out. But we’re going to look forward to a different kind of coach with this next hire.”
The road to respectability begins now for the Jets, who are on their third coaching search in six years.
Johnson said it will be “a collaborative effort” involving him, team president Hymie Elhai and general manager Joe Douglas — but Douglas will be taking the lead in finding the next hire. That puts the spotlight firmly on Douglas, who was brought in as GM in June 2019 and will be making this type of franchisechanging decision for the first time in his career.
“He’s been around a number of very, very good NFL teams,” Johnson said, referring to Douglas’ previous stops in the front offices of Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia. “He has seen the best of us. He’s taken it in. And he has strong opinions about how to do this right, how to bring in the right culture. I think we’ve seen with his early moves in the direction of that, and I think we should have every confidence in him as the man on point in the search.”
Johnson said virtual interviews will begin immediately, and candidates don’t need to be specifically offensive- or defensive-minded.
“This is a coach for the entire team,” Johnson said. “And that’s very important to us looking forward.”
Some coaches the Jets are expected to request permission to interview are Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Baltimore defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, Tennessee offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, Indianapolis offensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.
“Joe is the GM we’ve been searching for for years,” Johnson said. “I have a lot of faith in him. And if we can get this coaching hire right, and I think we will, I think we can be a team that no one is going to want to see on their schedule, even next year.”