Glenn and Mougey optimistic in their intro. 'We're the freakin' New York Jets. We're built for this'
Aaron Glenn was settling into retirement from playing football and looking to make his mark in the business world and “be the best dad I can be.”
One day, a few years removed from playing his last snap, he was watching a game at home.
“I forgot who was playing, but I am cursing the TV out,” a smiling Glenn recalled Monday during a news conference introducing him as the New York Jets' head coach and Darren Mougey as the team's general manager.
“My wife tells me: ‘Baby, go coach. Go coach,’” Glenn added. “It was like a weight off my shoulders because that's my passion and it's OK to be a coach. Back then, I felt like I wanted to be a businessman.
"But I'm a football guy.”
And now he's the head coach of the team that drafted him in the first round in 1994.
“I wear glasses now,” he said with a big smile.
The 52-year-old Glenn played cornerback for New York during the first eight seasons of a 15-year NFL career. After getting wife Devaney's blessing, he called Bill Parcells, his former coach with the Jets and still a mentor, and told him he wanted to get into coaching.
“He said: ‘No, you’re not going to coach. You’re going to scout,’” Glenn said. “I said, ‘I don’t want to scout.’ He said, ‘Well, that’s what you’re going to do because I think you have a chance to be a head coach and the best head coaches are really the best evaluators.’
"So I took his advice, probably the best advice I’ve had since coming back in this league.”
Glenn joined the Jets as a scout in 2012, then worked his way up the coaching ranks as an assistant with Cleveland, New Orleans and then Detroit, where he was the defensive coordinator the last four seasons and helped the once-lowly Lions become a winner.
And it's exactly what he expects to do now that he's back home with the Jets.
In front of a packed auditorium that included several former Jets players, including onetime teammates Wayne Chrebet and Glenn Foley, Glenn set the tone with reflection, gratitude, clear passion and a leveled measure of emotion.
“To any player that's here now, put your seatbelts on and get ready for the ride,” he said. “Listen, there are going to be some challenges, but with challenges gets opportunity. But here’s what I do know: We’re the freakin' New York Jets. We’re built for this (stuff).”
Neither he nor Mougey downplayed the enormity of the task at hand, which is turning around a franchise that has the NFL's longest active playoff drought at 14 consecutive seasons.
But they also made it clear they're up for the expectations.
“To the Jets fans,” Mougey said, “you have my word that AG and I are going to pour our hearts and souls into this job and do everything we can to get a Super Bowl back to this team.”
Owner Woody Johnson insisted the Jets got it right with their newest leaders, both of whom were hired after lengthy and exhaustive searches — at least 15 candidates for each.
“When they came back for their second interviews, it was pretty apparent to us who the leaders were,” Johnson said.
Glenn and Mougey will report directly to Johnson, who told reporters after the news conference that the most pressing decision — the future of quarterback Aaron Rodgers — will be determined by the new coach and GM, not him.
The 41-year-old quarterback hasn't decided whether he wants to play a 21st season, and it's not clear if the Jets will want him under center moving forward. Glenn said he already has texted Rodgers and there will be discussions with him — as well as other players on the roster — in the near future.
“I can’t tell you how long that process will be, but the thing is, we’re going to make sure we get the right answer,” Glenn said. “And we’re not going to rush to this answer. We’re going to get the right answer.”
Glenn also told reporters later that “this thing is not about Aaron Rodgers,” saying it's a big-picture approach with the focus on the entire team.
“It’s about the players and we have a good foundation of players here right now that we’re going to continue to add to,” Mougey said. “And we’re going to give those players everything they need to be successful and reach their potential.”
Mougey recalled being part of the head coaching search in Denver, where he was the assistant GM for three years, in 2023 and being impressed by Glenn's interview. The Broncos, who ended up hiring Sean Payton, asked the candidates what their first team meeting would be like. Mougey said Glenn, rather than just reciting words, asked if they wanted to see it.
“So he pushed back, he sat up and he delivered a powerful message, like, when he finished, we’re all kind of looking around like, wow!” Mougey recalled. “And as we went on through the search, because he was one of the first guys we interviewed in that search, we kept going back to it like, damn, he killed that thing.”
And now the two will be working to deliver victories to a franchise and fan base sorely in need of them.
“Bro, we're in this together,” Glenn said, looking over to Mougey. “We're going to do some magical things here, bro.”
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