FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — On the eve of training camp, Aaron Glenn took an early-evening walk around the perimeter of the New York Jets‘ grounds, past the empty practice fields and the temporary bleachers. This was part of his daily routine in his first season, getting some fresh air and clearing his mind — a brief respite from the coaching grind.
It was blissfully peaceful on that day, July 22. The sun was shining, the grass was freshly cut and Glenn — a solitary figure in black sweats — was on the cusp of fulfilling a dream as he strolled his new domain.
He would wake up at 3:30 a.m., unable to sleep because of the anticipation of his first practice as head coach of the Jets. “Just be A.G.,” his wife said in a reassuring text that arrived in the middle of the night.
A week later, he was on the verge of tears when those temporary bleachers, filled with hopeful fans, chanted, “J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!”
“Man, it hit me, and it hit me pretty hard,” a wistful Glenn said.
It was the perfect homecoming story, a former star returning to the team that drafted him and vowing to turn losing into winning. On that first day, he talked about how he understood the “pain” of being a Jets fan, and how his mission was to “make sure that pain goes away.”
Six months later, the hurt is greater than ever.
Under Glenn, who inherited a streak of nine straight losing seasons, the Jets endured one of the worst campaigns in their 66-year history — 3-14. It included a record number of blowout losses, mind-boggling futility marks, the trading of homegrown stars Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, the firing of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and seven assistant coaches, dustups with the media, the shocking death of franchise icon Nick Mangold and the near-tragic shooting on a Manhattan street of current player Kris Boyd.
Despite the adversity, Glenn never wavered, according to players and coaches. Heeding his wife’s text, A.G. remained A.G. Now, on the one-year anniversary of his introductory news conference, the question is:
Will that be good enough?
RECENT HISTORY IS against Glenn, one of 23 coaches since 2000 to win three or fewer games in his first season. Of that group, only four rebounded to make the playoffs during that tenure — Dan Campbell and Jim Schwartz (both Detroit Lions), Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals) and Leslie Frazier (Minnesota Vikings). Nine of the 23 didn’t get a second year, and 13 didn’t make it to Year 3.
Based on these numbers, Glenn is three times more likely to get fired before the 2027 season than make the playoffs during his time in New York.
The organization’s hope is that he can replicate what happened in his previous job as the defensive coordinator of the Lions, who, under Campbell, went from 3-13-1 in 2021 to a playoff team in 2023. Glenn wears that experience like a badge of honor, often referencing it when questioned about why he remains so confident amid such gloom.
“I’ve been there, and I’ve done that,” he said at the end of the season.
The Jets have a long way to go. Not only did they tie for the worst record this season, but their point differential (-203) was the league’s worst since the 2021 Jacksonville Jaguars. New York opened the season with seven straight losses and ended it with another five in a row. In between were narrow wins over three losing teams that started backup quarterbacks.
“It’s not the coaching,” one starter said at the conclusion of the season. “We need more pieces, a lot more pieces.”
The roster was deficient in many areas, especially quarterback, but the team wasn’t a well-schooled operation, either. Before the season, Glenn talked about how the final four minutes of each half belong to the head coach — a statement about the importance of game management. Those words left bite marks.
In those situations, the Jets were outscored 119-59.
One glaring mistake occurred against the Denver Broncos in Week 6, when Glenn let the final 30 seconds of the first half run down without trying a 53-yard field goal or a Hail Mary. That gaffe loomed large because the Jets lost 13-11.
Glenn, full of bravado before the season, conceded that the learning curve as a first-year coach was “a huge deal.” He acknowledged that he needs to improve his game management, saying, “There’s some things I know I have to clean up.”
Picking the right players and coaches, he said, also will be part of his self-evaluation. Glenn’s decision to sign quarterback Justin Fields, and his refusal to bench him as the season slipped away during the 0-7 start, proved disastrous. By the time Glenn sat him down in Week 12, the season was long gone. Glenn raised the white flag, starting quarterback Brady Cook — an undrafted rookie — for the final four games.
Glenn admitted that it was a mistake to hire Wilks, who was fired with three games left in the season. Glenn had no background with Wilks, but chose him, in large part, because of his previous head coaching experience. Glenn figured that would be an asset to him. He also liked that Wilks was familiar with a San Francisco 49ers-style defense (he was the 49ers’ coordinator in 2023), which the Jets ran under the previous coaching staff.
Wilks installed a defense with little resemblance schematically to what the Jets had been playing. There was frustration among players on all three levels of the defense, sources said.
Despite the struggles — the first team in NFL history to go a season without an interception — Glenn stayed out of Wilks’ way. That surprised some players, who felt Glenn’s defensive expertise might have helped a sinking ship.
Glenn had decided before the season to let his coordinators run their respective units. He didn’t want to meddle, and he stuck to that plan — a choice he might reexamine in the offseason. He’s in the process of searching for Wilks’ replacement, and he’s also said to be mulling the possibility of demoting offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand.
One time, though, Glenn couldn’t help himself. His first in-season address to the defense was a doozy — fiery and expletive-laden, players said. Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips declined to share details, but he called it the definitive Glenn moment from the season.
“It was a good demonstration of how passionate and demanding A.G. is, and how bad he wants to turn this organization around,” Phillips said.
A former general manager with four decades in personnel said he rates coaches and executives based on their big decisions, and he believes Glenn’s first-year decisions were poor. He pointed specifically to the quarterback change (Fields-for-Aaron Rodgers) and the Wilks hire, saying it was dubious that a defensive-minded coach such as Glenn couldn’t nail a staff decision in his area of expertise.
“He did nothing with the culture,” the former GM said. “He talked about swagger and toughness, but I didn’t see any of that. They played like a bunch of guys punching time clocks; they didn’t want to be there.”
PLAYERS PRAISED GLENN for being a good communicator, and the way he articulated his short- and long-term vision on a weekly basis. They said he was consistent and didn’t panic when the season went off the rails.
Therein lies the Glenn incongruity. He hit the right notes from Monday to Saturday but struggled to find a melody on Sunday. His ability to keep the locker room from fracturing might have been his top achievement. Even in the darkest times, players parroted his company line. Perhaps it was out of fear of reprisal. Glenn ran a tighter ship and demanded more accountability than the previous staff, players said. He preached the “one voice” philosophy he learned from his mentor, Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells.
“He’s able to explain to us what’s going on in his head, and he’s able to explain that simply to us,” defensive back Isaiah Oliver said. “I think a lot of guys understand that. On top of that, it didn’t change. What he was saying in OTAs was the same thing he said to us (the last few weeks).”
A believer in force multipliers, Glenn shared with players a formula that defines his philosophy for success:
It resonated with young players, some of whom jotted it into their notebooks.
“That’s something I’m going to carry with me a long time,” cornerback Qwan’tez Stiggers said.
Center Josh Myers, who played at Ohio State and the Green Bay Packers, said of Glenn: “I’ve been around a lot of good leaders, and he’s a great leader.”
Jets owner Woody Johnson, who said he shares a hug with Glenn every time they see each other, praised his coach for his ability to command a room. He said Glenn is “the real deal.”
“There’s no B.S; there’s no second agendas,” Johnson said. “What you’re hearing is the truth. A lot of times, these players don’t get the truth. They get a lot of gobble gook.”
Of course, Johnson made those comments in October, before their historically bad finish — the first team in NFL history to lose five straight by 23 or more points. He hasn’t talked to the media since then, though he was angry that the season ended in such hapless fashion, according to a person familiar with his thinking. People close to the owner say he’s not a good loser, not even when the games are “meaningless” and the team is in rebuild mode.
In 25 years of ownership, Johnson never fired a coach after only one season. He has a lot invested in Glenn — financially and personally. Johnson broke the bank for Glenn, giving him a five-year contract for a reported $12 million per year. Unlike the previous two coaching hires, which occurred when he was overseas serving as a U.S. ambassador, Johnson was heavily involved in the Glenn decision.
Glenn is “Woody’s guy,” another person familiar with the owner’s thinking said.
Johnson’s patience could be tested in 2026 if the team starts poorly. Even Glenn’s former Jets teammates, some of whom remain close with him, said 2025 was hard to watch.
“The season was a disaster, to say the least, but I believe in A.G. and a lot of the players I’ve spoken to love A.G. and the passion, the energy that he brings,” former safety Victor Green said. “He didn’t have a lot to work with. That’s no fault of his — that’s what he inherited — but it’s his train now.
“It’s going to be up to him to fix [it]. He’s got another year. If this season is the same, I don’t think that Woody will give him another opportunity.”
THE 2025 SEASON was always going to be a transition year for the Jets. Internally, they saw it as a competitive rebuild. Veteran kicker Nick Folk got that sense when he signed in July. Recalling his initial conversation with Glenn, Folk said the message was, “If the wins come early, great. The goal is to build a foundation. You can’t build a house without a foundation.”
Despite modest expectations, the Jets underperformed. They blew it all up by Thanksgiving.
Late October/November was one of the most tumultuous periods in team history. In a span of three weeks:
Mangold, a Ring of Honor member with many friends in the organization (including Glenn), died from kidney disease at 41; homegrown stars Gardner and Williams were traded in stunning moves at the deadline (the day of Mangold’s funeral); Fields was benched, never to play again; and Boyd was shot in the abdomen and required multiple cardiovascular surgeries to have the bullet removed from his lung.
The coaching handbook doesn’t tell you how to navigate this kind of adversity. In each case, Glenn stood before the team, trying to provide perspective. He spoke poignantly to the team about Mangold’s legacy, players said. Glenn’s locker room was jarred by the two trades, with some players saying they hated the moves because they created a cold, no-one-is-safe feeling.
And yet, the Jets remained competitive for another month, splitting the first four games after the two blockbuster trades.
“I don’t know if my best quality is reading humans, but sometimes, you can have a feel when someone is having a bad day,” Phillips said. “You can kind of tell when someone’s off, and I’ve never seen [Glenn] off. With all the stuff that went on — and I know he’s human and he’s got emotions — but I never saw him off.”
The product on the field was way off, though. Though there was marginal improvement in rushing offense and penalty reduction, the only aspect the Jets did consistently well was special teams. They appeared ill-prepared in some games, evidenced by their first-quarter scoring margin — which was minus-56, third worst in the league.
After the last game, Glenn took ownership — saying he let down the organization and the players. The feisty coach appeared humbled, displaying a rarely seen side to his personality.
It didn’t last long. Within seconds, humility was replaced by defiance.
“Once the offseason starts, we’re going to work our asses off, and we will remember everything,” Glenn said. “That’s all I’m going to say: We will remember everything.”
