File this one away. I guess these guys miss Randy Lange. Tuesday, July 31, 2007 By IAN O'CONNOR RECORD COLUMNIST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- If you did not know any better, you would believe Eric Mangini was paid millions to suck the life out of every room he ever entered. Mangini emerges from the House of Belichick, a brood of NFL automatons designed to take the entertainment out of your entertainment dollar six days a week. On the seventh day, you get the payoff: a football team that wins more games than it loses. It doesn't matter that Mangini appears incapable of delivering a Knute Rockne speech at halftime. It only matters that his Jets play with a win-one-for-the-Gipper zeal. But this is where Mangini had better be careful. Charisma-free guys like him need to keep up their winning percentages to survive, and the moment the losses come raining down faster than the forecast suggested they would, Mangini could land on the jagged edges of a career crisis. He could become Tom Coughlin in a New York/New Jersey minute. It might've seemed like a minor miracle on the surface, but what Mangini accomplished in his first season was merely the easy part. Converting Herman Edwards' 4-12 into a 10-6 was no more difficult than Bill Parcells converting Rich Kotite's 1-15 into a 9-7. The hard part is upgrading a winning team into a Super Bowl team. Parcells couldn't get there with the Jets, losing his one legitimate shot in the Mile High winds before his master plan was sliced in half the following September, severed as cleanly as Vinny Testaverde's Achilles'. A football program can turn on you faster than a rabid pet. The wrong injury to the wrong guy at the wrong time can make your team vulnerable on every given Sunday. So until further notice, Mangini is a one-hit wonder. Just another coach who figured out how to lose a playoff game to Bill Belichick. They call him a genius, anyway. It's a word thrown around sports as easily as a wet towel is thrown around a locker room. Genius. I've been covering pro sports for 20 years and still have only met one. Bill Walsh. He died Monday, and his wit and wisdom will be missed. So will his style. Walsh was a presence, a personality, a man defined by his intellectual curiosity and public grace. He represented an era when coaches were far more than scheme-spewing drones. That era has been replaced by this one, fronted by Belichick. Control-freak coaches who put their franchises in lockdown and refuse to offer the public even the quickest sneak peek inside. Assistants are muzzled. Questions are dodged. Say-nothing answers are provided in the most mind-numbing tone. Mangini learned from the best in New England, in more ways than one. In fact, the Jets' coach was so good as a rookie in boring news conference audiences to tears and in winning football games to boot, Belichick turned Jet-green with envy. He wouldn't refer to his prodigal protege by name, and he wouldn't give him a real handshake at midfield. Beyond that, Belichick kept making the '06 Jets out to be the '72 Dolphins. He kept talking up their talent, his way of talking down Mangini's coaching. Truth was, Mangini had no running game last year, no Thomas Jones to turn to and his quarterback still had the feel of a man held together by Band-Aids and glue. Chad Pennington made it to the finish line, bless his heart, but he never scrambled away from the notion that one good hit would leave him looking ? as the song says ? like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone. Mangini did a hell of a job getting 10-6 out of that, even counting his absurd onside kick call that cost his team the Bears' game. Was his work worthy of the "Mangenius" label stitched to him like a corporate logo? It's a cute nickname, and an easy headline in a tab. But when approached by the makers of "The Sopranos" to do a cameo in the show's penultimate episode, complete with a Mangenius reference, the coach would've been wise to take a pass. You know, he might've told the HBO people that he needed to win at least one first-round game before doing a five-hour taping, or his players might get the wrong idea. Not that a football coach would ever let a little success go to his headset. Whatever. Mangini did his usual thing at camp Monday, walking into a news conference as eagerly as he would step into a lobotomy, and then throwing a whistle around his neck for the start of practice. Mangini marched from this practice station to that one. He had the standard supply of extra-large speakers facing the field like a battery of cannons, blasting music loudly enough to drown out Pete Kendall's latest contract demands. He was a control freak in control, but certainly no genius. A genius is a coach who wins a few Super Bowl titles. A Mangenius? He's a coach who hasn't won any personality contests or playoff games. The Ian O'Connor Show is every Sunday, 9-10 a.m., on 1050 ESPN Radio
I hate it when writers do these things. Just shut up and collect your paycheck before the internet wipes out your industry.
what a jerk!! ...and a hater,,hey Ian, Eric didn't give himself the nickname ..your kind did that..cheap shot punk
this is like the 3rd time this week i've heard Mangini compared to Coughlin. what is the basis of this ridiculous claim? cheers
I see the Manginis are out in force today. Let one article come out not kissing Mangini's ass and guys wanna burn down houses. Supporting the coach is one thing. Blind faith is quite another. It's ok not to be Mangini's biggest fan. He's been here only ONE season ok. He's not Parcells, He's not Kotite, He's not Weeb. He's a second year coach and along with that comes the inevitable question.. Can he do it again?? This same love fest was foisted on us by the Edwards clique as well and we all know how that turned out. One thing Jets Football should teach all of us is that its not a sprint, its a marathon. Giving this FO/CS respect and props is great. Giving them carte blanche is another thing altogether. Lets see how things stand the test of time before we annoint Mangini as the next Bill Walsh..
There isn't a press conference that goes by without Mangini saying something that makes me smile. This article is ridiculous.
i agree, but where do these Coughlin comparisons come from? lack of personality? the fact that he's in tight control? so what? that means he's Tom Coughlin? i just don't get it. cheers
I’m not jumping off the Mangini train but I can’t say I totally disagree with the article. Its basically this – the style runs thing quick without championships. You start looking at the Parcells spin offs – and that’s where the Coglin tie in is…did nothing and will probably coach his last season this year. Belliwhore was three games away from being fired to never (head) coach again…and he trips over what will probably turn out to be the best QB in the game; rest is history. Read the an article on Bellidickhead three weeks before brady…it makes more sense. Point is – this style is only easy to swallow with a championship – no championship, no long term security.
I think the Coughlin tie in is that Coughlin did great his first year as a coach and has steadily declined since then. So people are worried Mangini will follow the same pattern, although I'm pretty sure he won't.
i guess, but can the haterade wait until Mangini's style proves ineffective in a shitty season? cheers
I really like him but he really hasn't proven that much yet. We will see in another couple of years if he can get this team beyond Herm.
i don't think people really assume him a genius; it's just something catchy that worked because he exceeded expectations his first year. to rip on the guy, as if he's a self-proclaimed genius, for Offseason filler garbage -- well that's just something i don't dig. cheers
I liken it to wishful thinking. If the team falls apart they feel free to character assassinate Mangini. In the meantime they sit in their copy rooms sharpening their pencils and droooling. :breakdance:
I call those kind of articles a 50/50. 50% praise 50% criticism. You grab some of the good things mixed in with the bad things , a little outside negativity add a drop of anti Jets and Presto you have a provocative article to get people talking!
Pretty sure nobody would refer to him as a genius if it didn't conveniently tie in with his surname. Still can't get over the absurdity of the article. Somebody needs their anti-depressants topped up.
To quote a Kingdom of Heaven... BLASPHAMY!!! How dare someone take a pop shot at the golden boy!!! He's Man Genius, so says the Sporanos.... :beer: :breakdance: Ellis
Pretty stupid article, designed to cause a stir.... and boost listenership. Like Max Kellerman last week, saying if YOU ate a slice of bacon today, YOU are as bad, even worse than M Vick. Yeah, right. With HC's, it's always the bottom line. Parcells was as abrasive as a HC could be. This guy seems to think last year's turn around was some sort of cakewalk. It wasn't. Does Mangini have much to prove yet? Sure. But he wasn't an established coach like Parcells was either.... VERY lame comparison. This Dillweed: My ratings are not good, what shoukld I do? Show producer: Get some people all pssed off with some lame critisisms.... hey, Mangini isn't getting much negative press lately, do an article on how he's a one year wonder. That sort of horse shit works for Mike and the mentally challenged puppy. This Dillweed: Great idea... say, how many rating points do I need to avoid getting fired? Show Producer: "Ah, you're safe... but we need higher rating." as he hides to file full of new applicants for the spot. These writers and reporters write what they think will increase their audience. There is zero integrity any more. Much like many pro ball players, they are in it for the money and prestige, not for the love of what they do. The bizarre thing is, I think if they did write and report as honest conduits, the ratings would take care of itself. I think that is obvious, when message board posters seem to be able to do a better job of reporting things than they do..... and that's without the sort of access these guys have to teams and players.
It doesn't matter who you are or what "type" of coach you are, as long as you win. That's the bottom line. If Belichick goes the next 3 years without a winning season, he'll be run out of town regardless of what he's accomplished to this point. If Coughlin goes deep into the playoffs the next few years, he'll be compared to Vince Lombardi. It's just the way it is. We love 'em when they win and throw 'em away with the dishwater when they lose.
This guy's an IDIOT.. Mangini's got plenty of charisma and he seems like a fun guy. Can you see Belishitzz doing an apperence on Sesame Street? I sure for shit can't. Or what about all of those fat jokes Mangini used to make about himself?? Mangini takes training camp seriously and I respect him and trust whatever the man does because I'm convinced that he knows what he's doing. This guy's just pissed off that Mangini is hard to read in press conferences. With regards to the "mangenious" name, who the hell is this guy to say that coach doesn't deserve that name? Oh, he didn't win a super bowl his first year. You know what? Actually let's fire coach now. Bring back hackett or something I can't deal with this.
