Jets fans rejoice.
You have your husband.
Robert Saleh is everything you wanted for your newest head coach.
Even when you were skeptical and sure the Jets were wrong when they let him leave New Jersey without a contract Wednesday after his two-day visit, the Jets gave you your husband.
You’ve been calling Adam Gase names since he was hired two years ago. You wondered why Christopher Johnson, the CEO of Jets, did everything except drive Gase himself to Florham Park five minutes after he was fired for being too mediocre in Miami.
During his introductory press conference, you poked fun at Gase’s wandering eyes on social media. You hated how he coached quarterback Sam Darnold, who never grew into the franchise quarterback he was called up for when Gase was hired to do just that, the so-called “ quarterback whisperer ” he was sold as when he arrived.
Before Gase, Todd Bowles would never have turned you on either. Whether it was his on-field coaching or his neutral personality that emerged during those press conferences he treated like dentist appointments, he never seemed like the right man for the job here.
Bowles never presented himself as a leader of men, and the team’s poor results reflected his locker room allowing some inmates to run the shelter (see Muhammad Wilkerson as Exhibit A).
Saleh seems different from the last two Jets head coaches. He’s a 41-year-old bundle of energy and intensity, a coach whose sideline screams that his players will run through brick walls ahead of him.
Saleh, a Vin Diesel doppelgänger, has a perfectly blue NFL history, after working his way from the bottom of the league’s coaching round, of a low-level quality control coach who earned a few shekels more than minimum wage to position Coach as a decorated defensive coordinator for the 49ers for the past four seasons.
And now to the Jets head coach, 16 years after his NFL coaching journey. Earned for paying his dues and qualified for his performance.
Saleh is everything Jets fans want, the perfect coach to spark a disillusioned fan base that’s been waiting a decade since seeing his last playoff team.
Saleh is everything the Jets locker room needs, a head coach who energizes him after a miserable 2-14 season.
Saleh may also be all that Darnold wants, as his hiring probably makes a better reason for Darnold to stay with the team than if one of the offensive coordinator candidates had been hired.
Monday, after Doug Pederson was fired by the Eagles, I firmly endorsed Pederson as the surest for the Jets’ next hiring, as he is only three seasons away from winning a Super Bowl for Philadelphia and is an accomplished head coach.
That column elicited a largely negative reaction from Jets fans via email and Twitter, because they didn’t want a ‘renewed’ head coach with luggage. It was clear they wanted a new face, new blood, hopefully the next successful young head coach.
I maintain my belief that Pederson will be another winning head coach, despite his problems with Carson Wentz’s regression and his ill-advised refueling job in that fiasco of a season finale against Washington.
But the Jets fans spoke. They want their own young head coach who will become a star for the first time with their team. They want what Sean McVay brought to the Rams, what Matt LaFleur brought to the Packers, what Mike Vrabel brought to the Titans, what Sean McDermott brought to the Bills, what Kevin Stefaski brought to the Browns.
Jets ownership and management delivered that man Thursday night.
Hopefully they did well.