Keidel: Rex Sure Is Great For Football, But He Isn't A Great Coach

New Yorkers are brooding over possible head coaches for their beloved Gang Green. Fan Guy has all the answers, while the more cynical fans just want Woody Johnson to "do the right thing," despite all the evidence that he's allergic to football competence.

But what about the guy the Jets just jettisoned? Do we stop caring about Rex Ryan just because he doesn't draw a paycheck from MetLife anymore?

Ryan's journey to find a job, watching him pinball from town to town, NFL team to TV network, is case in the core competence of pro football.

We all know how charming Rex is. The loquacious coach so charmed the Jets' owner, he managed to swing the guillotine toward Mike Tannenbaum and not one drop of the corporate blood stained his headset.

And despite his wretched record this season, and the fact that the Jets got worse virtually every year since his consecutive appearances in the AFC title game, he's the hottest coach currently holding a pink slip.

Many see Ryan as a perfect fit for the Falcons. They've got Matt Ryan (no relation), which would supposedly negate his disdain for offense. Rex could just hire a Norv Turner type and just run the defense, which was a huge chasm in Atlanta. And Ryan's reputation as a player's coach clearly precedes him. Roddy White told ESPN this week that he'd love to play for Rex. No doubt many Falcons feel the same.

Owner Arthur Blank is a New York guy, a Stuyvesant grad, and lord of the Home Depot dynasty. Rex can pitch the NYC kismet and sell the notion that the reason Rex Ryan didn't win in MetLife is he didn't have Matt Ryan. Give him a franchise QB and the Lombardi Trophy is merely a formality. No doubt "Matty Ice" must look like Dan Marino compared to Geno Smith, Mark Sanchez, and Tim Tebow. But Rex's acute aversion to all things offense has to change if he's going to heighten his career arc.

Maybe a year or two in television could give Ryan some perspective, and the heaping of humility that could serve him in his next gig. Ryan has made it clear he won't be a defensive coordinator again, which reflects his epic hubris.

And that's a perfect microcosm of the Ryan paradox. He guaranteed countless Super Bowls despite never having won one. He spun sunny narratives after the most grotesque losses. Yet he can also be maddeningly charming when he wants to, self-effacing to the bone. He's a bleeder before any microphone. Ryan makes fun of his weight, wardrobe, and woeful prognostications.

But at his core, Ryan is a stubborn salesman who still thinks he's a play or two, player or two, from a championship. And the fact that Ryan can land a job interview anywhere on the NFL map says something about the league and how hard it is to procure talent and talent evaluators.

Is a coach fresh off a 4-12 season and fresh on the unemployment line really the best candidate to fill one of the myriad coaching vacancies? The Jets couldn't wait to interview Doug Marrone, yet he hasn't won anything in pro football. Marrone bolted the Bills despite a relatively robust 9-7 season. Why flee in the middle of building a program? Doesn't that speak to his character?

There's some assistant toiling on some sideline who will make a great NFL coach. Maybe it's Todd Bowles or Adam Gase. No matter who it is, we know the NFL has no better sense than we do. Dozens of future Pro Bowl players slip past the first round every year because scouts and GMs are largely incompetent.

Rex Ryan, for all his affability, has shown a lack of ability. If you buy Bill Parcells' mantra that you are what your record says you are, then teams should tell Rex Ryan to take a powder. Ryan hasn't had a winning record in four years. But someone will bag the coach because teams would rather dwell in the safety of someone who has job experience, no matter how bad that experience was.

Rex Ryan is great for football. He's just not a great coach. He's a character who needs to work on his character.

Read more columns by Jason and follow him on Twitter at @JasonKeidel

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