A Franchise With No Direction Known
December 30
New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden
"The news media horde was led into the Jets' sprawling, but largely empty, locker room around noon Monday. Players began to trickle in: Jay Feely, Laveranues Coles, Kellen Clemens.
For the first time all season, players and sportswriters were on the same page: everyone was stunned by the early-morning announcement that Eric Mangini had been fired as coach of the Jets.
This truly was a stunner. I guess we expected that Mangini would keep escaping.
In three seasons, Mangini had mastered the art of deflection and obfuscation. He had adopted a Belichickian style, gruff and secretive, but with an added twist of denial, forever ignoring and refusing to concede the obvious. Mangini and General Manager Mike Tannenbaum were close friends and partners in constructing a season that was so strong through the first eight games.
As recently as the end of the Jets' loss Sunday to Miami, Mangini was typically matter of fact - and a tad smug - when asked whether he expected to be back in 2009. "Yeah, I do," he said. "That's my anticipation."
No one anticipated that Mangini would be fired a few hours later.
Darrelle Revis, a second-year defensive back, was still stunned Monday afternoon. He learned from cornerback Ty Law that Mangini had been fired.
"He told me to turn on 'SportsCenter' and it's breaking news," Revis said. "It's a shock. This is something; I didn't expect it to happen."
Woody Johnson, the owner of the Jets, said team officials had been thinking about this for weeks. "This is not a decision that we reached yesterday, 10 minutes ago," he said. "This is a decision that was basically running through the season."
That may be, but according to someone who spoke with Tannenbaum on Sunday morning, Tannenbaum said Mangini would return next season.
What happened between the end of Sunday's game and 3 a.m., when reporters received an e-mail advisory of a news conference later Monday?"
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