[onlooker]

He cant do any worse then Herm Edwards did, could he?

The New York Jets wrapped up their search for a new coach Monday when Patriots defensive coordinator Eric Mangini accepted the club's offer to replace Herm Edwards.

Mangini, who becomes the youngest head coach in the NFL at 34 (he turns 35 on Thursday), and the Jets were finalizing the deal late Monday, ESPN.com's Michael Smith reports. An official announcement is expected Tuesday.

The Jets moved quickly Monday after former Vikings coach Mike Tice, the final candidate to meet with the team, was brought in for an interview. The Associated Press reported that Jets assistant coaches had been told to report to work Wednesday, indicating a decision on a hire would be made by then.

Mangini, a protégé of Patriots coach Bill Belichick -- Mangini has spent 10 of his 11 years as an NFL assistant working with him -- emerged as the leading candidate last week. Regarded as one of the brightest defensive minds in the game, Mangini was never more than an NFL position coach until this season, when he was promoted to coordinator to replace Romeo Crennel, who departed to become coach of the Cleveland Browns.

But Jets general manager Terry Bradway said that past head coaching experience was not a requirement for the Jets, that the team would prefer someone who has been in a "managing-type position, whether it be a coordinator or a guy with head coaching experience."

Mangini also has close ties to Jets assistant GM Mike Tannenbaum. Mangini was an assistant with the Jets from 1997-99, working with Belichick in the secondary, and he and Tannenbaum also worked together in Cleveland in the mid-1990s.

With Mangini getting the job, it is believed that defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson, offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger and special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff will probably be out. All three interviewed for the head coaching job, as did former Saints coach Jim Haslett, former Rams interim coach Joe Vitt and Giants defensive coordinator Tim Lewis.

The Jets' job officially came open Jan. 9, when Edwards was officially introduced as the Kansas City Chiefs' new coach. The Chiefs were rumored to be interested in Edwards in the two months prior to the end of the regular season, and he bolted with two years remaining on his contract.

The Chiefs will give the Jets a fourth-round draft pick as compensation, while Edwards got a four-year, $12 million deal from Kansas City.

Edwards' 2004 Jets team came within a field goal of reaching the AFC championship game. But starting with a loss in Kansas City in the season opener, the injury-wracked 2005 Jets fell to 4-12, and many fans became disgruntled.

On Dec. 31, when 69-year-old Dick Vermeil tearfully told the Chiefs he was stepping down, Edwards was still saying he wanted to remain in New York.

Days later, Chiefs president Carl Peterson was dropping hints that he intended to be reunited with his friend and protege of more than 30 years, and the relationship between Edwards and the Jets quickly turned sour.

[onlooker]

with pennington being back, he can't help but to do better than they did this year.

If he dont get hurt again. How long will they stick with Pennington's injury prone azz? I think if he gets hurt again, its time to look for a new QB, and dump him. It keeps holding them back, waiting for him to stay healthy.

[slacker00]

Did Pennington's arm look good at all this year before he got hurt? Seems like people were saying that his offseason surgery didn't help his injury from 2004 and maybe his arm is toast. I don't follow the Jets so I can't remember what the deal is. But there was a lot of questions about Pennington's huge cap number, and that he'd never be an effective NFL QB anyway with his rag arm. This would be my biggest question with the Jets.

[imgv94]

Wow Peter king from S.I is a friggin genius he called this one
2 weeks ago.. Jets are going nowhere. Herman Edwards fled the
scene of the crime to leave it to this guy. Maybe they can get Vince??