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If you have a choice, this is something to consider as a coaching candidate . . .
Baylor’s Matt Rhule is a candidate for the New York Giants job.
I heard a couple of talk show hosts today, on SiriusXM’s ESPNU Radio, talking about how Rhule should talk to Joe Girardi about working in the New York market.
This place has always been tough, but it’s gotten worse, and I will explain in a second.
If Rhule goes to the Giants, that might stick in the craw of some Jets fans. If you recall, he interviewed for the Jets’ job last year, but got turned off by reportedly being told that upper management would have a say in who was on his staff.
“I’m never going to be in an arranged marriage,” Rhule told 1660-AM in Waco after taking himself out of the running for the Jets’ job. “I’m never going to subcontract jobs to the offense and defense. I always want to hire people who believe in what I believe in, that are going to do things our way.”
Who was this telling who to hire as assistants? Was it Mr. Coffee? Is so, why would a GM, who is an equal to the coach in the Jets’ current power structure, be empowered to tell the coach who he can hire on his staff? The Jets’ corporate structure makes the GM, coach and president all equal, with the GM picking the players, the coach coaching the players and the president running the business side. All three report to the owner. None of them have power over the other. So based on this structure, why was Rhule being told who to put on his staff? Odd.
But getting back to why this market is brutal to work in for a coach.
We all know that the New York market has always been tough to work in, and it’s not for everybody. But it’s gotten worse because of the click-bait culture we live in now.
Success is measured by how many clicks your story gets on the internet, not trying to win Pulitzer Prizes. So newspapers editors, especially at the Daily News and Newark Star-Ledger, are pushing their writers to come up with things daily that will “move the needle” on the internet and get a ton of clicks for the newspaper’s website.
Did you see that Dave Gettleman press conference? True, it wasn’t his finest hour, but part of that was click-bait writers hammering him with gotcha questions.
Many in the Jets’ Nation have a myopic view of how the Daily New Jets beat writer goes after Gang Green and Adam Gase, but the Giants-Daily News relationship isn’t much better. Scribe Pat Leonard is a major thorn in the side to the Giants. He made Pat Shurmur’s life miserable. And I’m not judging Leonard here, just dealing with what’s going on over there. Leonard is probably just trying to survive in the newspaper business.
While nobody wants to get fired, surely there are days now when Shurmur has his head on the pillow at night and thinks to himself, “Thank goodness I don’t have to deal with this crap anymore.”
So Rhule better think long and hard before he leaves the Waco media market for New York, and if he takes the Giants job, he better have a great plan on how to deal with all the click-baiters in the press room, lead by NYDN and the Newark Star-Ledger.
This market has always been tough, but it’s gotten even tougher the last few years.
And people would say, “Why would let the media impact a decision on taking a job?”
Well just go ask Shurmur, Todd Bowles or even Gase. This stuff can really eat at you. There are plenty of places that aren’t this bad and are much tamer.
January 6, 2020
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