Rex Remains A Rock Star, Reportedly Set To Meet With Falcons Again, Bills
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Don't worry, it looks like Rex Ryan will have a job soon enough.
A little more than a week removed from being fired from his head coaching position with the Jets, Ryan has drawn considerable interest for employment around the NFL and beyond.
The man who guided the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship game appearances before a four-year run of futility ended with his ouster by owner Woody Johnson has quickly become one of the more sought-after head coaching candidates on the market.
Ryan, who went 50-52, including the playoffs, during his six-year run with the Jets, has already been in for lengthy interviews for the head coach openings with the San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons, the New York Post reported. According to the NFL Network, the Falcons plan to bring Ryan back for a second interview.
In the interim, Ryan is scheduled to talk to the Buffalo Bills about their head coaching vacancy on Thursday, the Post reported.
After years of devising tough defenses with the Baltimore Ravens, Ryan was hired by Johnson following the 2008 season after a late collapse cost the Jets a playoff berth. He then went 9-7 and 11-5 in his first two seasons as head coach, losing to the Indianapolis Colts in the 2009 conference championship game and to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the same round the following season.
But despite being on the verge of getting the Jets to their first league championship game since Super Bowl III, Ryan's teams regressed over the next four seasons. A constant struggle to find a franchise quarterback contributed to the Jets finishing 8-8, 6-10 and 8-8 before crashing out at 4-12 this past season.
Despite the string of non-playoff seasons, a lot of people put the blame for the Jets' problems on what was perceived to be an incompetent front office. Mike Tannenbaum was relieved of his general manager duties following the 2012 season and his replacement, John Idzik, was basically run out of town by fans and media after just two seasons.
The Jets have since been on a mission to find a new head coach and GM, putting together a dream team of NFL executives to help Johnson make his decisions. So far, Johnson and former GMs Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf have interviewed numerous candidates for each job.
Ryan has intimated if he doesn't get a head coaching job this offseason he will strongly consider going into television, as evidenced by the fact that he has spoken to ESPN and could meet with other networks.
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