The NFL is seemingly caught at a crossroads. Many old school teams and owners have locked into the old school method of hiring coaches. They want to hire Leaders of Men. Someone who is going to run the team,
hire the right people, and get his players to buy in. Aaron Glenn is one such hire.
Woody Johnson and the Jets had a clear idea of what they wanted when they went on their search for a new head coach in January. They wanted a head coach who was going to operate as a CEO for the team. Run the team as a whole and not spend time mired in the game planning or the scheme, or the play calling. But someone who was going to get his team to believe in everything he said and in his coaching staff. A Leader of Men.
They targeted Mike Vrabel at the start of the process, perhaps one of the best of this archetype in the sport. However, Vrabel turned them down in order to return to New England and become the head coach of the Patriots, leaving the Jets to turn to other alternatives. It didn’t take long before Aaron Glenn became the front runner, and he eventually was hired for the same reasons.
He was a perceived winner. Someone who got buy in wherever he was. And someone that players loved to play for because he held them accountable. Except getting buy in and holding players accountable only goes so far.
That’s the trap here. Sure, every team wants a head coach that is loved by their players, has a no-nonsense attitude, and knows what it takes to win games. The issue is that it takes a schematic advantage to win games. Vrabel knows that, which is why he hired Josh McDaniels as his OC, one of the best in the sport. He’s not alone. All successful CEO-type head coaches have made consistent great coordinator hires to supplement themselves.
Dan Campbell had Ben Johnson. Mike Tomlin had Bruce Arians and Todd Haley, now Arthur Smith. John Harbaugh has Todd Monken now, but he had Chuck Pagan, Hue Jackson, Jim Caldwell, and Gary Kubiak, as well as the likes of Mike McDonald, Rex Ryan, Vic Fangio, and Mike Pettine. I could go on, but the overlying point is that for a CEO-type coach to be successful, he still needs someone to bring a schematic advantage to the team. If they don’t then no matter how much buy-in they get it’s not going to lead to wins on the field.
Aaron Glenn is feeling that this year. Steve Wilks was just fired for leading the Jets to one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Tanner Engstrand has often failed to put together coherent offensive gameplans. As a result, the Jets open in holes week after week after week.
This is why most new owners and more analytically minded teams have decided to focus on hiring for that schematic advantage. Ben Johnson for example has completely turned the Bears around in one year. From the 28th ranked scoring offense in 2024 to the 9th ranked scoring offense in 2025 with little major offensive turnover. Same for Liam Coen who Jets fans got to see on Sunday. The Jagaurs went from 26th in scoring in 2024 to 8th in 2025. Both teams have a chance to go from worst to first in their division.
It’s why the top coordinators are so sought after every season. But, hiring one of them isn’t a guaranteed route to success. Perhaps they don’t get the buy-in from players others can. Perhaps the scheme wasn’t actually that good, and the players made it look better than it is. Or so on and so forth.
But with CEO-types like Glenn, you’re taking an outsized risk. Glenn’s defenses were never good in Detroit. They often won in spite of his side of the ball not because. Which means that Glenn was going to have to make not one, but two good hires to be competitive. He failed on both fronts. A risk the franchise didn’t have to take.
Now, Glenn is in the uncomfortable position of potentially having to replace both of his coordinators just one year into his job. That’s usually a death sentence for a head coach. But Glenn’s job is not in danger this season; at least we don’t believe it is.
Glenn has already failed to make the correct hires. So why should we believe he can make the right hire the next time? Why should fans believe that he has the infrastructure ready to get the most out of his players when he already proved he doesn’t?
The team is getting worse by the week and maybe firing Steve Wilks will fix things a bit. But it’s getting harder and harder to see the vision here. Where is the Jets schematic advantage going to come from? Because without it, the moves they make this offseason to improve their roster may be pointless. And if you don’t think Glenn and his staff is going to provide one, why is he going to be allowed to coach another year?
