Woody Johnson, New York Jets Handled Head Coach, GM Search the Right Way

Woody Johnson is far from a perfect owner.

He charges fans thousands of dollars for the right to pay thousands of dollars for, with few exceptions, less than spectacular football. His stadium is less colorful than the Hudson River on a rainy day, and his brand has yet to shake the "Same Old Jets" label that has followed them for decades. 

However, since the clock struck 00:00 in Week 17, Johnson handled his franchise as well as an owner could have, from firing general manager John Idzik and head coach Rex Ryan to the recent hirings of Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles as replacements. 

Having once referred to a false start as a "foot fault," Johnson is not a football man. Since he bought the New York Jets for $635 million in 2000, his franchise has been incredibly average, both reaching the heights of a conference championship game and picking near the top of the draft. 

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Johnson fired Idzik and Ryan because they had the franchise running in the wrong direction, but his own indecision and inability to grasp the business of football was at the core of the Jets' issues.

After firing general manager Mike Tannenbaum in 2012, Johnson forced all GM candidates to keep Ryan as coach, limiting their market.

In other words, Johnson tried to have his cake and eat it too. 

As a result, the Jets wound up with an under-qualified GM who wore the roster down to the point where Johnson had no choice but to clean house—the first correct decision he made in years. 

Just based on the consultants he brought in to aid his search, Johnson made no mistake about his intentions in making his next round of hires. With Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf, former architects of the Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers, he set out to find the men to run his franchise—without any strings attached this time around. 

The game may have passed these two men, but they have seen enough of the NFL to know what types of people have the right characteristics to thrive in the unique positions of head coach and general manager. 

There were two particular aspects of Johnson's search that stuck out as signs of growth of an owner: the type of candidates he was bringing in and the depth of the search itself. 

After enduring seasons of losing under salary-cap gurus in Tannenbaum and Idzik, Johnson was hell-bent on finding GM candidates with pure football backgrounds. 

Candidate	Team	Previous Position
Rod Graves	Arizona Cardinals	Senior Director Football Administration
Bill Kuharich	Cleveland Browns	Executive Chief of Staff
Trent Kirchner	Seattle Seahawks	Pro Personnel Director
Rick Mueller	Philadelphia Eagles	Pro Personnel Director
Mike Maccagnan	Houston Texans	College Scouting Director
Chris Grier	Miami Dolphins	Director of College Scouting
Jon Robinson	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Director of Player Personnel

Less than a day after officially naming Mike Maccagnan general manager, Johnson cornered the hottest head coach candidate on the market, Todd Bowles, and wrapped up a deal before he could get on a flight to Atlanta. 

Without compromising his values (finding a football man to run his team) or being too hasty in his search, Johnson got exactly what he wanted in a general manager without losing out on a top coaching candidate. 

No one knows for sure what level of success the Maccagnan-Bowles pairing will have over the coming years, but Johnson has checked every box to put his franchise in a position to win over the long term.

Gone are the days in which he cut corners to field a winning team without making the necessary sacrifices to do so. 

Johnson parted ways with a coach he had a known affinity for in the name of rebuilding properly—a sure sign that he is, in fact, developing as an owner. 

The Jets can only improve from this point on, but perhaps the most promising sign for the future is the fact that their owner is developing on the job just like anyone else on payroll.