Rex Ryan Is Close to a Deal to Coach the Bills, the Jets’ A.F.C. East Rival

As former head coaches go, you never have to say "whatever happened to him"? Just look along the sidelines of any NFL game and you will see an array of former head coaches as DC's, OC's, special teams "consultant" or water boy. It's a closed loop of revolving doors providing a semblance of job security in a chaotic workplace. It also ensures that most head coaches are white. When you pick from the only tree available, you get what you get.

That being said, head coaches are often as good as the management behind them and the players they are given. Firing Ryan won't improve the Jets; firing the quarterbacks might. Why is Pete Carroll successful in Seattle? He has total control over personnel and football operations. If he fails, firing him would make sense. Firing Ryan only makes sense to provide cover for bad management decisions. Personally, I find Ryan hilarious and entertaining. But I don't really give a damn if he wins or not. In a brutal industry that is inexplicably tax exempt and relies on reactionary local tax schemes to finance stadiums, a little comic relief provided by the likes of Ryan is good PR for the game.

I really cannot understand the Bills' owners' logic here:

1. Are they so enamored with Rex that they say "Wow, he is a CAN'T MISS. We've got to have him?" Ryan's record in 6 seasons versus the Bills is 7 and 5 - that's mediocre at best. Does it mean that Ryan is such a great coach, and his Jets beat the Bills so often, that they've got to have him? at reportedly $27.5 million for 5 years?

2. And then, if you were the Bills' owners, you've got to be thinking "I need someone who can dethrone Belichick. The Pats have won the division forever." And Ryan's record in that direction? 3 and 9.That's merely a .250 winning percentage in 6 years.

3. My recommendation? The Bills should hire Eric Mangini instead. He was 2 and 4 in three years with the Jets against New England. That's a whopping .333 winning percentage. Guess how much he would be worth?

You could look at Ryan's career another, more positive way. When he had the players, he won. When he didn't, he lost. He needs a savvy GM. And, of course, a decent QB. Who in the NFL is winning without these two things?

Not Chip Kelly, that's for sure.

Ryan is a great defensive coach. It seems like the Bills who have a good defense really need someone to build an offense. Looks like the Pegula's have fallen for Ryan's charm.

Bad coach? Remember, that's what they said about Pete Carroll. Look at him now.

To all the Rex Ryan naysayers here (including the esteemed Walt Bennett) just to remind that in each of his first two seasons as the Jets' coach Ryan took a rather pedestrian team for which there were none the expectations and which had a not exactly ready for prime time QB to the AFC championship game. Yes, he lost both (at least one of which because after the half the clock struck midnight for QB Cinderella) however the Jets were not expected to be there, or even in the playoffs for that matter yet there they were and his playoff record, with a medicre team and with all games being played on the road, is 4-2.

OK, Rex. Try this. Go out in the next big snowstorm in Buffalo and yell, "I'm going to run this franchise into the ground and blow snot on all the fans." Maybe that little bit of reverse psychology will lead to a Super Bowl appearance for the Bills.

Why would anyone want Rex Ryan? He is a proven loser. The only reason he is anything is because he has his father's last name.

Bills fans can look forward to bad games that follow their "best weeks of practice ever." They can look forward to using time outs early and after challenges. Don't worry about 2nd Half adjustments on either side of the ball -

The NFL established a committee to assist owners in the hiring process. Ostensibly, to help the owners keep from making the same hiring mistakes over and over. Unfortunately, the billionaire owners are unwilling to listen to anyone (except themselves) and the committee's recommendations just go unheeded. Hence, we see the same losing coaches recycled year after year and team after team.

Who needs unemployment insurance when you're an NFL coach. We should all have this kind of safety net after we're fired.

If he couldn't win with the Jets, what makes him think he can win with the Bills? Isn't this something like "bad karma squared"?

I don't see the logic of this.

He must be working for free! And I still don't think he's worth it.
You want a good coach, go find someone in the top 20 of college football!
Big 10, etc!
If you want to win Superbowls. Good coach, good O line, D line, secondary and then you get the good QB.
You don't even need expensive players, O line players 275 up. Linebackers big strong fast and young. Defense ends 6.5 please! That is not hard to find actually, you just need good tryouts and a little creativity!
Good coaches spot good players and build solid game plans.
Rex ????

I was hoping he'd stay with the Jets but this isn't too bad. Signed, Pats Fan

Good luck Rex
Hope you learned something, or two, from your dismal JETS days!
I hope first words off your nonstop running mouth as Bills coach isn't " I am not kissing Belichick's rings, or, I am going to beat him to SB"

Go SABRES!

Rats. As a fan of an AFC East team I was really looking forward to not hearing so much bluster from this blowhard. Although I do think I would have dug him as a talking head on NFL Today or some such show.

How can we miss him when he won't go away

As a fan of the Bills since their days in the AFL, I am dismayed. The Bills mismanaged last year's draft and have no #1 pick this year. Now they have hired a retread coach I'll prepared for the challenges. The Bills should have reached into the College ranks. Disappointing.

The article leads off with "Rex Ryan, the POPULAR COACH who was fired by the Jets". Popular with whom? Perhaps the media was entertained by this clown but I know few NY fans who enjoyed his egotistical reign. Buffalo is about to hire a coach who just went 4-12? I know nothing about the new Buffalo owners but suspect they must be just another pair of billionaires who bought a new toy to play with, much as Woody Johnson did.

Amazing how quickly these high-ego, low accomplishment coaches find new jobs! Trash one team, move onto the next, stir, and repeat...

I was raised in Western NY and grew up a Bills fan Having lived in the NY Metro area for 30 years I've gotten a close up view of the Jets trials and tribulations. A disclaimer here - the Jets are not a favorite of mine - but looking at it as objectively as I can, I see Rex Ryan as a man who inherited a good team that was built by Herm Edwards and Eric Mangini and therefore had success for his first two years. Then he drove the team into the ground. Year by year, player by player. All the while parading his obnoxious over-inflated ego in the press. It was a disgusting spectacle to watch. This last season was actually comical - a spectacle I admit I enjoyed watching - how could I ever suspect the circus ring master would find his way to my team....?

I had high hopes when Terry Pegula bought the team but he's lost all credibility with the hiring of Ryan. Another 5 years in the wilderness....

He needed a year off to reflect on his insufferable habits, and to learn that the goal is not to be loved by your players and to be entertaining to the media, but to WIN...

Rex Ryan will always be a loser and he'll do nothing with the Bills.

Rex Ryan is the perfect example of the Peter Principal in the NFL (along with Norv Turner, Romeo Crennel, and others). Rex makes a terrific defensive coordinator but a lousy head coach, a not-unusual-situation in the NFL where successful coordinators are recycled as unsuccessful coaches as a matter of some kind of weird collective wisdom. Nevertheless, the finest football minds in Buffalo are ready to roll the dice, and here's what happens: Buffalo has a couple of moderately good years, maybe even a playoff appearance or two (call it the placebo effect), but then the plot turns, grows dark, and becomes, "NY Jets, Part Deux." Good luck Buffalo.

Rex wasn't the problem with the Jets. The Jets weren't that bad of a team they were missing a few key players. They went toe to toe with the best teams in the NFL, ie patriots and Green Bay.

He will do well in buffalo. Wish him well.

Ryan hasn't won anything anywhere. He was given the keys to the Jets kingdom and took the franchise to the bottom of the league. He will do the same in Buffalo.
This may inevitably end the franchise in the city of Buffalo (which is really Toronto).