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List of New York Jets head coaches

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There have been 22 head coaches in the history of the New York Jets football franchise. The team began as the New York Titans in the American Football League in 1960, but was renamed the New York Jets three years later.[1] The Jets remained in the American Football League until the merger with the National Football League prior to the 1970 season. The current head coach of the Jets is Aaron Glenn, who was hired on January 22, 2025.[2]

Sammy Baugh became the first head coach of the New York Titans in 1960, serving for two seasons before team owner Harry Wismer replaced him with Clyde "Bulldog" Turner.[3] In terms of tenure, Weeb Ewbank has coached more games (158) and more complete seasons (11) than any other head coach in franchise history. He led the Jets to the AFL championship in 1968 and the AFL–NFL championship in Super Bowl III. Walt Michaels led the team to the AFC championship game in 1982; he was also honored as the Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year and UPI AFC Coach of the Year in 1978. Coaches Baugh, Turner and Ewbank are all members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame; Baugh and Turner were inducted as players, while Ewbank was inducted as a coach/administrator.

Three times in Jets history, the team has had an "interim" head coach. In 1975, Charley Winner was fired as head coach after leading the Jets to a 2–7 record.[4] The team offensive coordinator Ken Shipp was named the interim coach for the remainder of the season, during which he won only one of five games. Shipp was succeeded by Lou Holtz for the 1976 season.[5] Holtz resigned as Jets head coach with one game left in the 1976 season; Mike Holovak was named interim coach for the season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.[5] In 2024, Robert Saleh was fired five games into the season, upon which defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich took over as interim head coach.[6]

Bill Belichick was twice named head coach of the Jets but never coached a single game or practice in that capacity. In 1997, he was named head coach for six days before the deal to allow Bill Parcells to leave the New England Patriots for the Jets was brokered, and Belichick became defensive coordinator;[7] then, when Parcells stepped down after the 1999 season Belichick was named to replace him, but resigned the next day.[8]

Herman Edwards is the only Jets head coach to lead the team to the playoffs more than twice; Rex Ryan is the only one with more than two postseason wins. Todd Bowles and Robert Saleh are the only ones to coach the Jets for more than two seasons without making the playoffs.

Two Jets head coaches have played for the Jets; Walt Michaels, who as a defensive assistant coach had to suit up and play in the 1963 season opener due to injuries, and Aaron Glenn, a 1994 first-round draft pick who played cornerback for the team from 1994 to 2001.

Key

# Number of coaches[N 1]
GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
T Ties
Win% Winning percentage
† Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
‡ Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
* Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Jets

Coaches

More information #, Image ...
# Image Name Term[N 2] Regular season Playoffs Accomplishments Ref.
Yrs First Last GC W L T W% GC W L W%
New York Titans
1 Sammy Baugh‡ 2 1960 1961 28 14 14 0 .500 — [9]
2 Bulldog Turner*‡ 1 1962 14 5 9 0 .357 — [10]
New York Jets
3 Weeb Ewbank† 11 1963 1973 154 71 77 6 .481 3 2 1 .667 1 Super Bowl Championship (III)
1 AFL Championship (1968)
2 AFL playoff berths		 [11]
4 Charley Winner 2 1974 1975 23 9 14 0 .391 — [12]
5 Ken Shipp* 1 1975*[b] 5 1 4 0 .200 — [13]
6 Lou Holtz* 1 1976*[c] 13 3 10 0 .231 — [14]
7 Mike Holovak 1 1976[d] 1 0 1 0 .000 — [15]
8 Walt Michaels* 6 1977 1982 87 39 47 1 .454 4 2 2 .500 2 Playoff berths
Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (1978)
UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1978)		 [16]
9 Joe Walton* 7 1983 1989 111 53 57 1 .482 3 1 2 .333 2 Playoff berths [17]
10 Bruce Coslet 4 1990 1993 64 26 38 0 .406 1 0 1 .000 1 Playoff berth [18]
11 Pete Carroll 1 1994 16 6 10 0 .375 — [19]
12 Rich Kotite 2 1995 1996 32 4 28 0 .125 — [20]
13 Bill Parcells† 3 1997 1999 48 29 19 0 .604 2 1 1 .500 1 AFC East Championship (1998)
1 Playoff berth		 [21]
14 Al Groh* 1 2000 16 9 7 0 .563 — [22]
15 Herm Edwards 5 2001 2005 80 39 41 0 .488 5 2 3 .400 1 AFC East Championship (2002)
3 Playoff berths		 [23]
16 Eric Mangini 3 2006 2008 48 23 25 0 .479 1 0 1 .000 1 Playoff berth [24]
17 Rex Ryan 6 2009 2014 96 46 50 0 .479 6 4 2 .667 2 Playoff berths [25]
18 Todd Bowles 4 2015 2018 64 24 40 0 .375 — [26]
19 Adam Gase 2 2019 2020 32 9 23 0 .281 — [27]
20 Robert Saleh 4 2021 2024[e] 56 20 36 0 .357 — [28]
21 Jeff Ulbrich* 1 2024[f] 12 3 9 0 .250 — [29]
22 Aaron Glenn* 1 2025 present 17 3 14 0 .176 — [30]
Totals 67 1960 2025 1,017 436 573 8 .433 25 12 13 .480
Close

Footnotes

  1. [1]
    A running total of the number of Jets head coaches. Thus, any head coach who has two or more terms is only counted once.
  2. [2]
    Each year is linked to an article about that particular NFL season.
  • a The Win–loss percentage is calculated using the formula: 
  • b Ken Shipp was the interim head coach for five games in the 1975 season.[31]
  • c Holtz resigned as Jets head coach 13 games into the season; he was replaced by Mike Holovak for the last game of the season.[5]
  • d Holovak coached the last game of the 1976 season, after Lou Holtz had resigned as Jets head coach.[5]
  • e Saleh was fired 5 games into the 2024 season, replaced by interim coach Jeff Ulbrich.[6]
  • f Ulbrich coached the final 12 games of the 2024 season after Robert Saleh was fired.[6]

References

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