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Just when we were praising them for avoiding this . . .
. . . two recent Jets Twitter posts had Adam Gase in them, and these elicited quite a few negative responses.
We had mentioned that perhaps it was a smart approach to make Joe Douglas the focal point for the marketing and social media the next few months, and let things calm down with Coach Gase, who, for whatever reason, clearly isn’t popular with a lot of fans.
But just when it looked like they were going to chill with Gase for a while on social media, you had the tweet the other day linking to a Ryan Griffin feature, with a quote below it from the tight end saying, “When we’re (Griffin and Chris Herndon) are both out there, I think it opens up the playbook that much more for Coach Gase.”
That led to quite a few negative tweets, and using a link with the coach’s name mentioned, really wasn’t necessary here. This was all about Griffin. I would not have put his name in the link. Give it a few months. Let things settle down.
And now, over the weekend, they posted a video with the question – “What’s the move in free agency?” And under the photo there was a video that started with a shot of Gase and Joe Douglas talking. It was actually the frozen shot that you see like a still photo until you click on the video.
This led to a lot of vitriol.
Nine of the first 15 responses on Twitter were basically fans saying, “Fire Gase.”
An example – Boots McGuiness tweeted, “Only one move required – fire Adam Gase.”
18 Straws tweeted, “Fire Adam Gase and make him a free agent.”
You get the idea.
Look, like I have said before, I have no skin in the game here. I cover whomever the coach is, and by policy, I do not fire people in print.
But I do think you have to deal with reality now, and take a low-key approach with the coach for a few months on social media and with marketing. You can’t put your head on the sand, pretend everything is okay, and operate like it’s business as usual.
Fair or unfair, the Jets have a PR problem here. It’s out there. It can’t be ignored.
And while they work on a plan to help fix it, they should keep Gase out of the spotlight as much as possible.
Honestly, why did you need to start the video with Gase talking to Douglas. The video is about what they might do in free agency, and that is Joe’s wheelhouse. He controls the roster. Adam coaches the team. Gase doesn’t have the best history as a personnel man. He was too knee-jerk at times with control of the roster in Miami. Too emotional.
So Gase might actually end up being a better coach in New York than Miami because he doesn’t control the roster. He just coaches the team. Douglas is a better personnel man than Gase, and this might help Gase, giving him a better roster, and allowing him to just focus on X’s and O’s.
But while Joe improves the roster this off-season, perhaps make a conscience effort to make him the guy you feature on social media and on your website, and stop putting Gase stuff up front and center, and giving the Anti-Gase lobby constant fodder.
Let things simmer down for a few months.
February 10, 2020
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