Bill Tells Jets Look Elsewhere; Favre To Blame?

Bill Tells Jets Look Elsewhere; Favre To Blame? December 31
New York Post
" There will be no Cowher Power for the Jets.

Bill Cowher informed the team last night he is not interested in their head-coaching job, and it could be because he doesn't want to coach Brett Favre.

The former Steeler coach was the clear-cut favorite to replace Eric Mangini among Jets fans, and the team's ownership. Now, Woody Johnson must move on to Plan B.

Talks between the Jets and Cowher never advanced past the preliminary stage. The Jets hoped to interview him for the job sometime later this week, but late last night the team released a statement that Cowher had rebuffed their overtures.

"After reaching out to Coach Cowher's representatives, we were informed tonight that he is not a candidate for the position," Jet spokesman Bruce Speight said in an e-mail.

While the Jets hoped to woo Cowher with a boatload of money, the marriage appeared to be unlikely from the outset. Sources close to Cowher said he did not want to have Favre as his quarterback, and that he also wanted to bring in people he was familiar with to handle personnel.

A source familiar with Cowher's thinking said before last night's decision came down that the former Steeler boss would have to receive assurances from the Jets that the 39-year-old Favre no longer was in the picture before agreeing to take control.

"There's no way he's taking Brett Favre as his quarterback," said one person close to Cowher.

Favre was not the only hurdle in the Jets' way. A team source said discussions never got to the point of the team's front-office structure, but indications are that Cowher would have wanted more control over personnel decisions than Mangini had, or at least someone he was familiar with in charge of the personnel.

Johnson decided to keep general manager Mike Tannenbaum when he fired Mangini on Monday. The owner also emphasized he does not want one person doing both the coach and GM jobs.

An ESPN report early yesterday said Cowher was not interested in the Jet job because he wanted full personnel control, but a team source said he never told the team that.

There was talk of Tannenbaum scaling back his duties in order to appease Cowher, but discussions never got that far.

Cowher has not commented publicly on his plans for 2009, but the Jets are the second team he turned down before even getting an offer. He also told the Browns that he was not interested in their head-coaching position. "
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