Post by Lithfan on Dec 9, 2015 6:42:20 GMT -5
December 9, 1976
The 1976 Jets were a bad team. They had a 3-10 record under rookie head coach Lou Holtz. Two days earlier, Holtz had met with Jets President, Phil Iselin and GM Al Ward and advised them that he planned to honor the remaining 4 years on his contract. The very next day, Holtz had a change of heart and advised the Jets that he would resign his position with hte hope of returning to the college game.
Holtz described his decision this way, “I feel my talents are best suited to college football. After talking to Mr. Iselin and Al Ward Wednesday, I felt a commitment to the New York Jets and said I would stay. But when I went home, I was not happy. I knew my future was not in pro football. When I came in this morning...I did a few things that I normally do and then told Al about my decision.”
A year earlier, after a long, exhaustive coaching search, Ward had hired Holtz, who had been head coach at North Carolina State, to lead the team after firing Charley Winner. “I don’t feel we’ve sacrificed a year,” Ward said. “How we develop depends on the man we bring in. We have 14 new men and we got a big changeover in older personnel so you can’t really say this was a wasted year. Lets just say the coaching hunt is on again but it won’t be as long as last time.”
One of the stranger features of Holtz' tenure was the Jets fight song he wrote as an attempt to bring a college-like atmosphere to the team. He had the players sing it after each win -- which meant that they did not have to sing it very often. Check out Alex Karras singing the Jet fight song as part of the Monday Night Football open for a Jet v Patriot game in Oct '76 in the following video at around the 4:20 mark:
The Lou Holtz saga ended a 3 year Jet coaching carousel. After Holtz resigned, Director of Player Personnel, Mike Holovak coached the final game of the 76 season, a 42-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. In the three years since Weeb Ewbank had resigned as Jets head coach following the 73 season, the Jets had 4 different head coaches, including interim coaches.
Charley Winner (9-14) in 1974 & 74
Ken Shipp (Interim, 1-4) in 1975
Lou Holtz (3-10) in 1976
Mike Holovak (Interim, 0-1) in 1976
The two leading candidates to replace Holtz were considered to be Jets DC Walt Michaels and San Diego OC, Bill Walsh. Ultimately the Jets hired Michaels, who led the team back to relevance during a turbulent 6 year run as head coach. Meanwhile Bill Walsh joined Lou Holtz in returning to the college game, Walsh to Stanford and Holtz to Arkansas.
Source Rome News Tribune
The 1976 Jets were a bad team. They had a 3-10 record under rookie head coach Lou Holtz. Two days earlier, Holtz had met with Jets President, Phil Iselin and GM Al Ward and advised them that he planned to honor the remaining 4 years on his contract. The very next day, Holtz had a change of heart and advised the Jets that he would resign his position with hte hope of returning to the college game.
Holtz described his decision this way, “I feel my talents are best suited to college football. After talking to Mr. Iselin and Al Ward Wednesday, I felt a commitment to the New York Jets and said I would stay. But when I went home, I was not happy. I knew my future was not in pro football. When I came in this morning...I did a few things that I normally do and then told Al about my decision.”
A year earlier, after a long, exhaustive coaching search, Ward had hired Holtz, who had been head coach at North Carolina State, to lead the team after firing Charley Winner. “I don’t feel we’ve sacrificed a year,” Ward said. “How we develop depends on the man we bring in. We have 14 new men and we got a big changeover in older personnel so you can’t really say this was a wasted year. Lets just say the coaching hunt is on again but it won’t be as long as last time.”
One of the stranger features of Holtz' tenure was the Jets fight song he wrote as an attempt to bring a college-like atmosphere to the team. He had the players sing it after each win -- which meant that they did not have to sing it very often. Check out Alex Karras singing the Jet fight song as part of the Monday Night Football open for a Jet v Patriot game in Oct '76 in the following video at around the 4:20 mark:
The Lou Holtz saga ended a 3 year Jet coaching carousel. After Holtz resigned, Director of Player Personnel, Mike Holovak coached the final game of the 76 season, a 42-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. In the three years since Weeb Ewbank had resigned as Jets head coach following the 73 season, the Jets had 4 different head coaches, including interim coaches.
Charley Winner (9-14) in 1974 & 74
Ken Shipp (Interim, 1-4) in 1975
Lou Holtz (3-10) in 1976
Mike Holovak (Interim, 0-1) in 1976
The two leading candidates to replace Holtz were considered to be Jets DC Walt Michaels and San Diego OC, Bill Walsh. Ultimately the Jets hired Michaels, who led the team back to relevance during a turbulent 6 year run as head coach. Meanwhile Bill Walsh joined Lou Holtz in returning to the college game, Walsh to Stanford and Holtz to Arkansas.
Source Rome News Tribune
