FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Seth Ryan made no Super Bowl guarantees or any other headline-worthy declarations.
The son of Rex Ryan is off to a much quieter start to his New York Jets coaching career than his often brash, bold and boisterous father, who was the face — and voice — of the franchise as the head coach from 2009 to 2014.
“We're gonna do the best that we can,” a smiling Seth Ryan said Wednesday. “That's what you're getting from me.”
It's not
exactly like father, like son. Or even like grandfather, like grandson in the case of Ryan, whose late grandad Buddy was the defensive line coach on the Jets' Super Bowl-winning squad in 1969.
Seth Ryan, now 32 and the third generation of a coaching family to be on the sideline for the Jets, called an audible a few years ago. While Buddy, Rex and even uncle Rob made their names in the NFL as defensive whizzes, Seth decided on another coaching path.
“In my family, we have kind of a saying with all the coaches,” he said. "So my grandfather told my dad, ‘I need you to be a little bit better than me.’ My dad told me, ‘I need you to be better than me.’
“So I chose offense to make sure that was gonna happen.”
Ryan was hired by coach Aaron Glenn in February to be the Jets' pass game coordinator, working closely with offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave.
Glenn was familiar with Ryan from their four years together in Detroit, where Glenn was the defensive coordinator and Ryan the assistant wide receivers coach. After Glenn overhauled his Jets coaching staff during the offseason, he reached out to Ryan, who was the Lions' assistant tight ends coach last season.
“The possibility of getting on his staff was something I’ve been wanting to do and was so thankful I got the call,” Ryan said. “I love AG. I love what he’s doing and what he is building here and something that aligns with my core values.”
And he couldn't wait to let his father know where he was heading.
“I won’t repeat exactly what he said,” Ryan said with a big laugh. “But there was a lot of excitement and he was like, 'Man, I can’t wait for you to be there and hopefully help turn this around and help be a part of that.”
Ryan is now roaming the same halls his father once strolled. And he's back on the fields on which he once ran as a kid while the Rex Ryan-led Jets were making consecutive trips to the AFC championship game.
“I’m not blind to the fact how much this really means to myself and my family," Seth Ryan said. "This is an organization I’ve been trying to get to for my career and I grew up here, went to high school in Summit, my wife is from Jersey. You know, this means a lot to our family.”
The Jets haven't been to the playoffs in 15 seasons, dating to the last of those two AFC championship game runs in January 2011. Rex Ryan interviewed last year for the job that eventually was given to Glenn, hoping to come back to the franchise and return it to the postseason. Instead, he'll get the chance to watch his son try to help do so.
“It would be really unbelievable because I was here (for) those AFC championship seasons,” Seth Ryan said. “And I got to be on the field for that and I saw what the fans were like and how amazing it really was, the stadium atmosphere and just the energy around the team. So that’s something I hope to build and replicate here.”
Ryan was a walk-on and backup wide receiver for four seasons at Clemson and was on Dabo Swinney's College Football Playoff national championship-winning squad in January 2017. He was the holder on field goals and extra points and played special teams.
While playing in the NFL was never a realistic possibility, coaching seemed a given because of his bloodlines and hunger to learn the game.
His first opportunity came in 2017 as a coaching intern for the Chargers under then-coach Anthony Lynn, who was previously an assistant on Rex’s staff with the Jets. Ryan became an offensive quality control coach in 2019 and worked a bit with current Jets quarterback Geno Smith, who was a backup at the time.
After Lynn was fired after the 2020 season, he went to Detroit to be the Lions' offensive coordinator — and took Seth with him.
“I mean, it’s all I’ve known,” Ryan said. “I grew up in it with my dad, he grew up with it with my grandfather. It’s all I’ve ever known. So this is just, you know, this is normal for us.
"And so I’m glad that I can still be representing the Ryan family in the NFL.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
