Play Like You Mean It: Passion, Laughs, and Leadership in the World's Most Beautiful Game (30 page)

That’s one example of keeping it light but also getting your point across. Not everything can be a lecture or a punishment. Now, that one is hugging the line on being negative and I make sure I do more things that are positive, but you have to have fun.

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There are all sorts of stories about things that coaches have done to motivate their players. Bill Parcells was an expert at those kinds of messages. He had done the one with the mousetraps a bunch of times. You put the traps on your players’ stools in front of their lockers on weeks when you’re playing a team with a bad record. That’s called a trap game, one of those times when your team can start looking ahead and get beat. On the other side, Jimmy Johnson one time went into a meeting before a game against Cleveland when the Browns were bad and told his coaches, “We should be able to beat the Browns without having to even prepare.” You get all different approaches. Parcells once put a gas can in front of a player’s locker. Parcells left a note on there telling the player he was performing like he was running out of gas. Parcells used to get Lawrence Taylor, who’s probably the greatest linebacker of all time, amped up with
all sorts of challenges about how Taylor couldn’t outplay the other team’s offensive linemen.

You’re always looking for little things like that that will motivate in an unconventional way. In Baltimore, I did a lot of stuff on the field. Once a week, I’d line up against the defensive linemen like Tony Siragusa, Sam Adams, and Rob Burnett and let them go against me. Yeah, it bruised the hell out of me, but they really looked forward to it. I’m not saying I could handle those guys, but it gave them a way to take their frustrations out and gave us a way to bond a little. I wasn’t afraid of them. That said, I don’t advise a lot of coaches to do that. It’s not the easiest thing.

The better way is to find something in a meeting that really gets guys going. The best way, in my viewpoint, is highlighting a specific guy on a specific play. There are going to be one or two times in a game where I’m really going to try to highlight somebody, give that guy a chance to be a star. Not every guy can be Ray Lewis or Bart Scott or Tony Siragusa all the time. It doesn’t work. But if you give that guy a chance, maybe design a blitz for him or a coverage where you’re trying to force the ball to the guy he’s covering, something like that, that gets that guy pumped up. That’s what all those guys are looking for, because really that’s what they’ve been all their lives. These guys were stars when they were kids, when they were in high school, most likely when they were in college, and now you want to make them feel like that again.

Even if it’s only for a play or two.

O
ne of my biggest goals for this franchise is for every coach to want to coach here and for every player to want to play here. We had already changed the culture of the Jets on the inside. We were a whole new team and we knew exactly how great we were. Our next step was to find a way to make sure outsiders knew it, too. In order for that to happen, we had to sell ourselves, and it turned out that
Hard Knocks
was our platform.

Mr. Johnson was actually approached by NFL Films last year with the proposal to do
Hard Knocks
during the 2009 season. He ended up saying no, because it was my first year as head coach and clearly we were going through changes. I think he knew that I needed a year to get settled, and truthfully, I’m sure he needed a year to get settled with me. When NFL Films came back in 2010, it was really Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, who was pushing hard for us to do it. Mr. Greenburg is a great guy. He’s very smart and is highly respected by everyone in the league, so when Mr. Johnson knew he was behind it, he agreed. Over the years we had been deemed “the
same old Jets” and Mr. Johnson was sick of it. Like any NFL team owner, he has a lot of pride in his franchise, and to him “the same old Jets” was a derogatory term that he wanted to get away from. There was a new head coach, a new practice facility, a new stadium, and most important, a whole new culture to the Jets.
Hard Knocks
was the way to show all that and to let everyone see firsthand that the New York Jets were not the same old team.

I would be lying if I said that I was sold on doing the show right off the bat. I had experienced the
Hard Knocks
cameras before when they followed the Baltimore Ravens through training camp back in 2001. Needless to say, when I was first approached with the idea of doing it this year, my initial reaction was to pass. It wasn’t until I realized how important it was to Mr. Johnson that I was 100 percent on board. Mr. Johnson knew the kind of potential
Hard Knocks
had for us. He knew it would be a great vehicle to show the American public exactly what this franchise stands for. He was sure of the good it would bring to the Jets, and, honestly, the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. When I looked at it that way, there was no reason not to do it.

Before we signed on the dotted line, though, we needed to make sure that we were all on the same page about a couple things. We had to agree on the goals. In other words, what were we hoping to gain from doing the show? It was simple: When
Hard Knocks
was said and done, every coach and player should want to be a part of this franchise. It was agreed upon by Mr. Johnson, Mike Tannenbaum, and me that the only way that was going to happen was if we stayed true to who we are. I wasn’t going to change the way I coached, and they never expected any different from me. The way we looked at it,
Hard Knocks
was a reality television show and reality was exactly what we were going to give them.

In itself,
Hard Knocks
was a commercial for the Jets. It was a five-hour commercial that followed our team through two weeks of training camp. It cut two weeks of footage down to a one-hour episode that aired Wednesday nights for five weeks. And what can I say? We
were a hit. We gave
Hard Knocks
the highest ratings in history and provided sports broadcasters with enough color commentary to last them the entire regular season. People loved the show; they may not have loved us, but they sure as hell loved watching us.

Training camp is one of the most critical times during the whole season. Those are the weeks that you’re building the team—not only from a roster standpoint, but the foundation and ideals of the team, too. As a coach, it’s the time when you are developing a relationship with your players. You’re learning them and they’re learning you. It’s a constant roller coaster from beginning to end. You have players who have dreamed their entire lives of playing in the NFL. They’re out there fighting harder than hell for a spot on that roster, giving you everything they’ve got—and then you have to be the one to tell them that their best just isn’t good enough. You have to cut guys you love and guys who are damn good athletes, because in the end it’s about getting down to the 53-man roster. It’s emotional for the players and it’s tough for the coaches; there’s no question about it.
Hard Knocks
followed us through the entire process and showed everything from players getting cut to the coaching staff’s private meetings. A lot of people were shocked by how much the cameras revealed during episodes. Apparently, they showed the depth chart in one episode and it immediately sparked some talk. A lot of people felt like that was crossing the line (those were our fans). Others looked at us like we were stupid for just leaving our depth chart lying around (those probably weren’t our fans). It makes me laugh when I think about what a big deal they made out of stuff like that. There were teams that truly thought they were going to get some sort of an advantage out of watching
Hard Knocks
. Obviously, they were wrong.

First of all, let me tell you that there is a board in every office with one of those charts. The names are not set in stone and the order has no significance. Secondly, I will tell you that there was a trust level between the
Hard Knocks
producers and our staff. There had to be because of situations like that. Sure, I guess they potentially could have revealed our entire season’s game plan, but nothing
that important was even decided by then and they knew that. If it had been, I can promise you the producers never would have aired it. The names on those charts were not set in stone, clearly, given how the 53-man roster turned out.

“Distracted” was just one of the many opinions about our team that spun from us doing the show. But I will tell you this right now: During those five weeks of filming, there was never a moment that this project became a distraction to me or to the players.
Hard Knocks
did such a good job of really being invisible. The producers had cameras all over the place. They also put these microphones the size of a pen cap all around the facility. I didn’t realize there was one on my desk for a while. The producers wanted to get a realistic perspective of us, and that was made very clear to the players. Before they started shooting footage they said, “If you act like an idiot or if you ham it up for the camera in any way, we will stop filming.” They were serious about that. The minute the players or staff stopped acting like themselves, the cameras stopped. Knowing this, it’s funny to listen to people say that
Hard Knocks
was a distraction for us. It wasn’t a distraction for us while the cameras were in our faces during games, so I have never understood why they think it would have been a distraction for us during the start of the season.

When we agreed to allow the public to see the ins and outs of this franchise, we knew exactly what was going to come our way. No one ever gets to see the way coaches interact with their players; whether it’s in practice, a pregame meeting, or training camp, most of those interactions are behind closed doors. Well, not with us; we opened the doors to them. In fact, we opened the doors and rolled out the carpet. I mean, why wouldn’t we? We have nothing to hide. No two coaches are going to lead their team the exact same way, so it’s expected that everyone is going to have a different opinion of what’s the right and wrong way to lead a team. With
Hard Knocks
filming every aspect of my leadership strategies, it was a given that my method was going to be criticized. Honestly, I didn’t care.

When Mr. Johnson hired me as the head coach of the Jets, he
hired me knowing damn well the type of person I am, and he has never once asked me to be someone different. Mr. Johnson does this job for one reason: the fans. He has always wanted a way to reach the fans, but before hiring me he couldn’t reach them exactly the way he wanted to. When I came on board, it became easier to speak to the fans. I feel the same way as Mr. Johnson; both of us work every day for the fans and we know that the media is how we get to them. The media is our voice, and with me being as open as I am, Mr. Johnson knows that the fans are going to get a lot; they’re going to get the good, the bad, and the ugly.

When
Hard Knocks
aired, I knew that it would get some press. One of the things that people were the most critical about was my language. Right after that first episode aired, all hell broke loose. Aside from Roger Goodell and Woody Johnson, who have never said one word to me about it, I really don’t think anyone is in a position to tell me the way I should or should not be doing something. Yet for some reason other coaches and players, such as Tony Dungy, Tom Brady, and Terry Bradshaw, felt that they had a right to judge me based off something they saw on TV. People were so quick to judge me because I dropped an f-bomb here and there, yet they fail to take into account the context I said it in. In a team meeting, at a team function, that’s how I talk—but do I talk like that in interviews? I never curse when I’m speaking to the press, but when I am talking to my team I can’t help but get carried away. I feel passionate and intense about what I am trying to say and it honestly slips out without me even knowing it. I am not intentionally trying to offend anyone. That’s who I am, though, and that’s who I’ve always been. Whether it is the right way to coach is not for anyone to decide but me. A lot of people don’t stop to think about the fact that I allowed cameras to come in and film me in situations that are usually private. Apparently, people thought that because the cameras were there I was going to censor myself. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, but that’s not how I operate. I don’t think it would be fair to have given you this false picture of myself, not on
Hard Knocks
and not now.

I was asked a lot during the filming if I regretted anything I said on camera, and my answer was always “Absolutely not.” I think everyone knows me well enough by now to know the answer to that. I sat down on Wednesday nights just like every other fan and flipped to HBO. I had no clue what was going to make it on the air and what was going to be left on the cutting-room floor. That’s a risk Mr. Johnson, the league, and I all took when we signed on to do it. I honestly didn’t care what people’s opinions were about me or my coaching style. I think I am a good coach and I think my players would agree. With the exception of my mom, I really couldn’t care less who is disappointed by my choice of language.

There were a couple things that were just expected by doing
Hard Knocks
. I mean, the feedback was given, the compliments were welcomed, and the criticisms (for the most part) were brushed off. Of everything that arose from
Hard Knocks
, the issue that grabbed the most media attention happened to be one that I just couldn’t seem to brush off. Of course, I’m talking about the comments made by Tony Dungy. I’m not going to lie—it really upset me. I was incredibly disappointed that he judged me the way he did. I just kept thinking to myself: I had never met Tony. He has built his reputation on being this honorable, Christian man, yet he was judging me without even knowing me? I didn’t understand it. I don’t judge him even though I know he’s not perfect—although he might be a lot closer to perfect than I will ever be. I was shocked by it. I really was, and I think the part that upset me the most was that he wasn’t just attacking me; he was attacking my father. To say comments like “He grew up with that” and “He gets it from his father”—well, you know what? You’re darn right I do, and I’m awful proud of that. I will follow my dad any day.