With the meeting between former Jets head coach Eric "Mangenius" Mangini and his suddenly rejuvenated Cleveland Browns on the horizon lets take a look back at the highlights and of course the low-lights of his tenure as head coach.
"Mangenius:"
After a disappointing 2005 season under Herm Edwards, marred by a slew of injuries including losing the first two quarterbacks on the depth chart within minutes of each other in the first half of a home game against the Jaguars. The Jets finished 4-12 that season and had their head coach lured away by the Kansas City Chiefs following the retirement of coaching legend, Dick Vermeil. The Jets were suddenly without a head coach once again, so naturally where do they look? To the Belichick coaching tree of course, in the form of a hot-shot young defensive coordinator named Eric Mangini in hopes of replicating Belichick's success in New England. Belichick was staunchly against Mangnini taking the Jets job and however; Mangini did not heed his warning and went to interview for the job. Upon his return to New England he found that the warm-hearted Belichick had invalidated his access code to the practice facility, an unceremonious departure. In January 2006, Eric Mangini was named "HC of NYJ," making him the youngest head coach in the NFL at the time. The beginning of the Mangini era and the Mike Tannenbaum era coincided as he was hired as the general manager, replacing Terry Bradway. In their first draft, Mangini and Tannenbaum compiled a number of draft picks and used them to re-vitalize the team especially the offensive line. The 2006 draft yielded book-end tackle D'brickishaw Ferguson and perennial Pro-Bowl center, Nick Mangold as well as special teams ace, Eric Smith, ultimate flex player, Brad Smith, the current nickelback, Drew Coleman, explosive running back/return man, Leon Washington, and quarterback, Kellen Clemens. Quite a haul for their first draft, considering that most of the players mentioned are still playing significant roles on the team. Going into the season with an inexperienced offensive line, a new defensive scheme, a quarterback coming off his second shoulder surgery, and a rag-tag running back by committee system, Mangini's Jets were not expected to contend. However; with a weak schedule and a re-invigorated Chad Pennington at the helm, the Jets finished the season 10-6, including a dramatic win against Belichick's Patriots on the road, in a driving rain storm. After clinching the Wild Card, Mangini and Belichick were on a collision course once again in the Wild Card round, that one went to Belichick. Mangini's unexpected success earned him the nickname "Mangenius" and a cameo appearance on "The Soprano's" in their final season.
Spygate and Kendall-gate:
Coming off a successful season Mangini and Tannenbaum went to work once again in the off-season in an attempt to address the team's weak spots, notably at runningback and in the secondary. Tannenbaum addressed the runningback issue by trading for the Bears' Thomas Jones fresh off a Super Bowl run. The 2007 draft was another successful year for Mangini and Tannenbaum spending their first two draft picks on future All-Pro's: Cornerback, Darelle Revis and Middle Linebacker, David Harris. For all of the great moves Tannenbaum made during the offseason, he made one that proved to be fatal for the 2007 Jets. Left guard, Pete Kendall demanded a modest raise and Tannenbaum did not feel as though he was worth it and traded him to the Redskins for a mid-level draft pick, a decision that would come back to bite him. The Jets opened the season at home against the Patriots a game in which the Jets were man-handled and also the game where Chad Pennington was cheered when he fell to the turf attempting to walk off an ankle injury. The Jets lost 38-14 but it only became interesting the following day when it was revealed that NFL security had caught a Patriots assistant video-taping the Jets defensive signals, the infamous incident known as "Spygate." Spygate did wonders for Mangini's reputation as he became known as a snitch among NFL coaching circles. The season was all downhill from there for the Jets as the offensive line became a liability in pass protection and run blocking. Pennington was benched halfway through the season in favor of Kellen Clemens, a highly touted second round pick out of the University of Oregon. Clemens was essentially set up to fail with an offensive line that couldn't keep him upright as the Jets finished the season at 4-12.
Jet Favre Comes Town:
Following the 2007 season the Packers gave Brett Favre an ultimatum: "tell us whether you're coming back or retire," which was a bad idea because we found out making decisions was not Favre's strong suit. Favre chose to retire in a teary press conference and the Aaron Rodgers era began in Green Bay. July of 2008 comes around and Favre decides he wants to play again but finds there is no more room for him in Green Bay and then demands a trade. There were three potential suitors for Favre: the Vikings, Buccaneers, and ofcourse the Jets. Mangini was reticent at first but after some convincing by Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson he came around. Favre then agreed to be traded to the Jets for a conditional pick. The arrival of Favre spelled the end of Chad Pennington, who was cut and traded to the Dolphins. The Jets made a litany of moves that were overshadowed by the Favre trade including signing All-Pro guard Alan Faneca, Pro Bowl fullback Tony Richardson, immense nose tackle Kris Jenkins, and pass-rush specialist Calvin Pace. Favre's first and last season started out with a bang with a win in Miami against Pennington and the Dolphins, he followed it up with a six touchdown performance against the Cardinals. The Jets ran their record to a league-best 8-3 and had the media clamoring about a potential Jets-Giants Superbowl. The team went into an utter free-fall losing four of the last five games as Favre was ineffective turning the ball over several times. The Jets finished the season with a disappointing 9-7 record falling short of the playoffs, while watching the under-appreciated Chad Pennington celebrate a division title on the Jets own home field. There was such an uproar about the Jets collapse that heads needed to roll and that man just happened to be Eric Mangini and "Mangenius" became "Man-jobless."
Analysis:
Although Mangini left the Jets having led the team to two winning seasons in three years he only led the team to the playoffs once and did not make it beyond the Wild Card round. The Mangini hiring was an obvious attempt by the Jets to replicate the Patriots success by hiring a Belichick disciple who also happened to be a "look-alike." Alot of Mangini's short-comings can be attributed to a lack of coaching experience, the players did not respond well to his disciplinarian style. Football wise, the first two years of his tenure he was attempting to play a 3-4 system with 4-3 personnel. In his final year he actually got the personnel to play the 3-4 however; the defense faded down the stretch as the anchor of the defense Kris Jenkins body could not withstand the workload of a full season. He also showed a blatant inability to make half-time adjustments and was very stubborn when it came to deviating from his game plan. People can criticize Mangini all they want but he did have an eye for talent drafting the players that are now the foundation of the team including the core players: Revis, Harris, Mangold, and Ferguson. For his first coaching stint Mangini did not do a terrible job however; he was not fit to coach in the pressure packed tri-state area media market. He failed to live up to the success of his mentor but where the two were most alike was the way they dealt with the media; monotoned, devoid of personality a stark contrast to his successor, Rex Ryan. He will be looking to get his payback attempting to beat his former team with a team full of Jets retreads, Sunday will prove whether he deserved to be "Mangenius" or "Manjobless."
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