Is Aaron Glenn the Jets' new Adam Gase?

It was another disappointing season for the New York Jets, the first one under Aaron Glenn as head coach. The team finished with a 3-14 record and while there were moments where the team showed a pulse and played hard, there were too many other times where it was the same old song and dance of poor play and lack of interest.

Glenn was supposed to begin building a new culture in Florham Park and fix the issues left behind by Robert Saleh. But, after a brutal season, fans were once again left frustrated that another season fell apart before it truly began. Glenn is fighting a battle he may have already lost.  You don't have to look far on social media without Aaron Glenn and incompetent in the same sentence. Jets Nation hasn’t been this miserable and frustrated with their head coach since the Adam Gase years. So, it begs the question:

Is Aaron Glenn The New Adam Gase?

To give some background on Gase, he became the head coach of the Jets before the 2019 season.  Most people hated the hire and the ones that did like it are now pretending that they hated it from the beginning.  At the time, the hiring of Gase made no sense for a number of reasons. Gase finished his final season with the Miami Dolphins 4-12 and there were multiple reports that his former players despised him. There were also better candidates available, including Mike McCarthy, who was rumored to want to coach the Jets and work with Sam Darnold as his quarterback.

After starting his first season in New York 1-7, Gase won six of his last eight games to finish 7-9.  Darnold's numbers were actually better in his first season under Gase than in his rookie season under Todd Bowles. While most would see winning six of the team's last eight games as a positive sign heading into the next year, everyone refused to give Gase the benefit of the doubt due to their hatred of the head coach.  The strong finish to the 2019 season was dismissed citing a very weak second half schedule. Much to the dismay of the Jets fan base, Gase would return for another year.

His second season was a complete disaster with 13 straight losses and the Jets on their way to a winless season.  However, the fans embraced the losing. They were pulling for Gase to lose all of the team's games because they would be rewarded with two gifts. The number one overall pick in the 2020 draft to select Trevor Lawrence and Gase's termination after the season.  But, Braden Mann prevented a Rams special teams touchdown and the Jets earned their first win of that season in Week 14 and followed that up with a win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 15.  In the span of two meaningless wins, the Trevor Lawrence dream was dead. The Jets finished with the second overall pick, selected Zach Wilson and the rest is history. If you thought the hatred for Gase was bad before, it had become a five alarm fire after those two wins.

Glenn is in an eerily similar situation. After this season finally ended, there were plenty of reports circulating that the Jets were going to make changes to the coaching staff.  Fans were practically demanding changes be made, notably singling out quarterbacks coach Charles London for the horrible job he did with Justin Fields. Fans grew impatient when the Jets made no announcements until a few weeks after the season ended when they quietly announced that seven coaches, including London, were fired. Glenn gave the fans what they asked for and yet, he was criticized for it simply because it took a little longer than expected to reach the outcome most wanted and expected.

After starting the season 0-7, everyone threw in the white towel and preferred the Jets play for the top pick in the draft. There were plenty who wanted the Jets to see what they had in quarterback Brady Cook, a UDFA from Missouri that showed some potential in the preseason, but was nowhere near anything resembling an NFL quarterback. The team managed to hit two birds with one stone by starting Cook the rest of the season and embrace the tank for a top draft pick. As expected, Cook was awful and the Jets were non-competitive over their final five games of the season. The Jets managed to land the second overall pick in April's draft.

But, it wasn’t good enough for Jets Nation.  Glenn gave them what they asked for and Fans still found a way to rip him and the team for not getting the top pick to guarantee Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza as the next franchise savior.  They blamed Glenn for beating the Atlanta Falcons in a meaningless game on a 56-yard field goal as the reason they won't have Mendoza. The anger and frustration with that game was similar to when Gase beat the Rams in 2020 that cost them Trevor Lawrence. It didn't matter the Jets won that game. It was still a loss and they hated Glenn for it.

Glenn is back for a second season whether Jets fans like it or not.  Unless the players staged a mutiny and left their uniforms on GM Darren Mougey’s desk in defiance like Notre Dame did in the movie Rudy, he’s not going anywhere.  He will get a second chance to build the team in his vision and improve on last season.

But, 2026 is a massive year for Glenn.  Every trade, every free agent signing and even the team’s schedule will be criticized because of the head coach.  No matter what decision Glenn makes to try and improve the team, it'll immediately be declared the wrong one. Every in-game decision will be scrutinized. He cannot afford an 0-2 start, let alone another 0-7 start. Nothing short of a playoff spot will win over the fans and even then, he probably wouldn't get the respect he may deserve for making it happen. 

Glenn will call plays for the defense in 2026. He will overhaul his offensive coaching staff with veterans to try and fix what's broken. At least he’s not going down without a fight, which is more than we can say about Gase's second and final year in New York.  But, everyone is against him, just like they were with Gase. Everyone wants him to fail, just like Gase. Everyone hates him, just like they hated Gase. Hopefully, unlike Gase, he proves the haters wrong.

This article originally appeared on Jets Wire: Is Aaron Glenn the Jets' new Adam Gase?