SNY.tv: Online Home of All Things Sports

So the No. 1 candidate is out. Who's in?

No one has followed the Jets closer than me, and I was surprised to learn it's been a dozen years since the Jets last fired a coach -- Rich Kotite. Of course, since then, four coaches have quit on them. Even in a good stretch in this team's sorry history -- only three losing seasons since 1996 -- the Jets can't attract or keep top coaches.

Forget about the Brett Favre problem and the related tight salary cap situation. Would you want to come in as a hot commodity and take orders on personnel from a trained lawyer, Mike Tannenbaum, who became a salary cap specialist and who I doubt would even call himself a personnel guy (that's why former GM Terry Bradway is still in the decision-making loop). But it's a universal law that when you have power you will not relinquish it by choice whether that power has been earned or even can be effectively expressed.

As a result, my list of preferred (presumably available) candidates, in order, is perfect world, meaning no Tannenbaum or at least Tannenbaum-lite (keep him in charge of the secretary pool as "team president" and let him keep working the calculator while staying away from scouting reports).

1. Mike Shanahan: He's a genius offensive orchestrator who traditionally has had his way with Bill Belichick. Yes, he bears responsibility for his 2008 defense given that he had full say in personnel, but between 2003 and 2006, his defenses gave up between 258 and 305 points, which is good. Of course, those years, the team didn't have a quarterback. But he found the quarterback (one the Jets passed on for journeyman-type tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, by the way). So the argument against Shanahan can't be that he can't field a respectable defense. Then what's his shortcoming? There is none, which is why he's a lock Hall of Famer as coach. Shanahan is young enough (57 next opening day) to coach at least five more years -- a lifetime in the NFL.

2. Mike Leach: He hasn't signed a contract yet and he's the most creative coach in football, maybe in football history. His outside-the-box ways would be very fun to watch. Learn more about Leach on 60 Minutes on Sunday or by watching Friday's Cotton Bowl. NFL coaches make a point of following Leach but have foolishly discounted his chance to replicate his success in taking a mid-level program and turning it into a college powerhouse "because NFL defenders are too fast and good." As Leach notes, he'd get better players on offense, too. The sad reality is that Leach will be ignored because NFL Neanderthals continue to cling to the demonstrably false notion that you win with defense and the running game. You really win by winning in the passing game (which you can do with defense, of course, just pass defense). Leach likes a spread passing offense where running is a change-of-pace. The NFL has abandoned that type of system as gimmicky even though every coach that's ever gone run-and-shoot has reached the playoffs with it. It's probably now or never for Leach now in the NFL, which is why he's held off on signing the extension offered by his Red Raiders. Odds of the Jets hiring Leach are about 1,000-to-1 against because, unlike Leach, the Jets are not smart and do not think creatively.

3. Rex Ryan: He's been the Ravens defensive coordinator for three years and a big part of the success of that unit since 1999. Ryan's father, Buddy, invented the 46 defense as Jets defensive coordinator back in the team's 1968 heyday and it would be nice to see this explosive, playmaking, attack-first-ask-questions-later system back in New York where it began. You need a coordinator who coaches a system that can translate because he's leaving his talent behind. I'm slightly more confident than Ryan's success is system based than I am of the other top coordinator choice, below.

4. Steve Spagnuolo: I must note again that looking at key stats since the 2000 season make it clear that you win more and more easily with a great offense than a great defense. This shouldn't shock old-timey fans because even Vince Lombardi said that there's no way to defend a perfectly executed play. Spagnuolo is an aggressive, playmaking coordinator, too, having imported to New York Jim Johnson's inventive and varied Eagles blitzing scheme. But the Giants talent on the front four is so great and has been so deep that they've been best when eschewing blitzing and relying on their lineman to harass quarterbacks. Is Spagnuolo having a large hand in shaping this talents? Possibly, but I believe it's more likely that GM Jerry Reese is just a great player picker because the Giants have top talent everywhere.

5. Marty Schottenheimer: He's too old. And he'd keep his son, Brian, who couldn't figure out how to get the team's best weapon, Leon Washington, on the field all year. But Schottenheimer is an acceptable fallback because this team is still built to -- don't laugh -- win now. And Schottenheimer wins everywhere he goes. I wouldn't worry about his playoff record because you definitely can't win anything if you don't make the playoffs, which Marty does everywhere and almost every year. Note Brian is about 1,037 on my list of candidates, which means he's probably the favorite.

6. Bill Callahan: He's only four years younger than Shanahan, which surprises me (not that age is a factor for either of him). He had a great year coaching the Raiders after Jon Gruden left, relying on a hyper-aggressive and inventive passing game that really used old Run and Shoot principles. Note: though that he was 0-10 against teams ranked higher than 20th when coaching Nebraska before his mildly successful stint as Jets assistant head coach.

7. Brian Billick: A supposed offensive guru who was never able to fashion a professional attack as coach of the Ravens. He also never developed a quarterback, which was supposedly his strength. In his first year out of Baltimore, the team has done just that with Joe Flacco. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it's more likely that Billick is an overrated coach despite the Super Bowl his defense won for him in 2000.