Why the Jets (yes, the Jets) are the right team at the right time for Frank Reich

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Truly, that’s why he’s here. It’s the only logical reason explaining why Reich eschewed retirement after a long and successful NFL career — 13 years as a player and 17 more as position coach, coordinator and head coach. He was retired last year when Andrew Luck called and asked him to coach Stanford for a season. Thirty years ago, Reich came to the Jets with a clear vision of what he needed to do. ”My philosophy is that the quarterback has to bring out the best in his teammates,” Reich said back then. “You always hear that great players like Michael Jordan elevate other players. I’m not putting myself in a class with Michael Jordan, but I want to elevate.” Now he’s 64, weathered and gray, singing a similarly upbeat tune. “I’m super excited,” Reich said on Wednesday, “to be a Jet.” You have to believe he means that. Think about the job Reich is inheriting — and how it looked when Aaron Glenn offered it to him. The Jets were coming off a 3-14 season with no starting-caliber quarterback on the roster and no guaranteed path to landing one. Glenn had just fired half of his staff. And the offensive coordinator position for this organization hasn’t been a paragon of stability. Since Brian Schottenheimer was fired in 2012, the Jets have cycled through nine offensive coordinators, with none lasting more than two seasons. This is a Jets team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010, hasn’t had a winning season since 2015 and hasn’t had an offense finish in the top half of the league in scoring in 10 years. However, for Reich, reinvigorated by his interim year at Stanford, that’s why he’s here. “Maybe I’m a little backwards,” Reich said. “But that’s actually what attracts me. How to figure it out, take what looks on the surface like a difficult situation and figure out how to get it done, knowing that it can get done. That’s what I love about this business. It’s the best of the best. You’re with the best coaches and the best players in the world.” Pointing to the Jets’ personnel on offense when he arrived — the offensive line, wide receiver Garrett Wilson, running back Breece Hall and the team’s tight ends — Reich said he felt “there was a lot to like looking at this team and this opportunity.” Still, there’s the question of what Reich has left in the tank. He has admitted he was ready to retire until Luck came calling last year. The last time Reich called plays in the NFL was as the Carolina Panthers head coach in 2023, a sticky situation with an interfering owner that culminated in an in-season firing during his first year. The Colts offense wasn’t effective at the end of his head-coaching tenure in Indianapolis either, another job that ended with an in-season dismissal. Both of those experiences took a lot out of Reich, especially the Panthers one. If he was downtrodden after that, the experience at Stanford — they went 4-8 but were out-manned personnel-wise — re-lit his flame. He once again felt the desire to coach, to lead, to scheme and to develop. “It reminded me of my love for the game, for the sport, of the purity of just coaching and being out on the field with the guys,” Reich said. When his season with the Cardinal was over — it was only ever planned as a one-and-done — Reich spoke with his wife about his itch to keep coaching. He knew he’d only do it for the right person, and in the right situation. He got a couple of phone calls from people in the football world — Reich told The Athletic’s Dan Pompei that he discussed a potential role with Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who was on Reich’s staff in Indianapolis — but “nothing moved the needle for me.” The two were teammates on that Kotite-led Jets team in 1996, and stayed in touch over the years as their playing careers ended and they turned to coaching. Reich’s admiration for Glenn pulled him in. Plus, the chance to be part of the staff that, if all goes well, leads the Jets’ turnaround was too rich for him to pass up. Since Reich was officially hired at the start of February it’s been full steam ahead, and his energy has been felt all over the building. He’s worked with Glenn and a Jets offensive staff with coaches old (like 58-year-old QB coach Bill Musgrave) and young (like 32-year-old passing game coordinator Seth Ryan) to build out their scheme and offensive philosophy, building on the playbook he used with the Panthers but not restricted by it. That collaboration starts at the top, with his new boss. “I don’t want to overstate the amount of fun I’ve been having the last couple of months with AG — because he’s been very involved, asking a lot of questions, giving me what his vision for the whole team is,” Reich said. “We go back and forth on things in the most dynamic of ways from personnel, picking his brain … and doing that with AG and then getting with the coaches and using my experience. The offense, in some ways, is the same but every time I go to a new place I want to pick things up that are going to make it better.” Reich said he arrived with a “clear vision” of what the offense will look like and they’ve been able to fully dive in now that the roster has taken shape with a few key additions: quarterback Geno Smith and a pair of first-round draft picks in tight end Kenyon Sadiq and wide receiver Omar Cooper. The conversations between Reich and his staff have run the gamut: evaluating the roster, how to go about mixing personnel groups, the “ideal vision” for first and second down, the third-down approach, how those responsibilities will be divided, how the Jets will attack the red zone and the two-minute philosophies. “All of those things we talk through as a staff to develop, what is our system,” Reich said. Reich was a significant part of the process as Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey worked to figure out what quarterbacks they wanted to add this offseason. It’s safe to say that Smith and fourth-round rookie Cade Klubnik would not be here if they didn’t get Reich’s stamp of approval. The prospect of coaching Smith excites Reich. He remembers having a high grade on the QB 13 years ago, when Smith was coming out of West Virginia and Reich was quarterbacks coach for the San Diego Chargers; the Jets drafted Smith in the second round. Reich feels a kinship with Smith — an older player with a chip on his shoulder, wearing the scars of an up-and-down career. Reich is happy he gets to work with him now rather than when Smith was younger, still figuring things out. “I think he fits perfect,” Reich said. “I feel his resilience, his toughness. I always think the No. 1 attribute in any quarterback that you need, especially if you want to turn something around, is you need someone who is tough. Tough mentally, tough physically, and I feel that from Geno on every front. I think his experience, the ups and downs he’s been through, he’s had great success and had to deal with some tough seasons. And if you play in this league long enough everyone is going to face that. If you’re the right kind of leader you come out of it better and that’s the version of Geno Smith we’re getting — the best version of who he is. I think his best football is ahead of him.” In March, Smith had this to say about Reich: “I’ve heard so many great things about him. Obviously, I know about him as a player and all the things he’s done. He was a tremendous quarterback and so that’s always a great thing, a guy who’s played the game and sees it the way that you see it.” Reich was on the road during the pre-draft process with a contingent that included Mougey, Glenn, defensive coordinator Brian Duker, Musgrave and others — and they all leaned on him for sage wisdom. “I would say this: in my short time here with Frank, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him,” Duker said. “I didn’t know him well, but I immediately felt a really good connection with him and just enjoyed the conversations he and I have had. I appreciate his zest for football — and his passion.” His passion is what brought him back. The Jets are hoping it brings them back too. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms