Everything was quiet outside Jets headquarters yesterday, belying what was happening inside.
There was no green carpet laid out or any “Welcome” sign, but the Jets wooing of Steve Spagnuolo began in earnest with the Giants assistant traveling to Florham Park, N.J., to interview for the team’s head coaching vacancy.
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The Jets would not release any details of the meeting, but the 49-year-old met with team general manager Mike Tannenbaum and now waits to hear if the team wants him.
Team owner Woody Johnson is out of the country and was not at the meeting. A team source said Johnson has been checking in with Tannenbaum frequently every day and will be back tomorrow to take part in all future interviews.
If Spagnuolo returns for a second interview, Johnson will be there.
Spagnuolo is the first outside candidate to interview for the job opening created when the team fired Eric Mangini last Monday.
Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan is up next, and the team interviewed in-house candidates Brian Schottenheimer and Bill Callahan on Friday.
The Jets also have contacted Boston College head coach Jeff Jagodzinski and plan on interviewing him this week, a league source said. Jagodzinski, 45, has been at BC for two seasons after nine years as an NFL assistant with the Falcons and Packers, where he was Brett Favre’s offensive coordinator in 2006.
Jagodzinski denied he is up for the job, according to the Boston Globe.
The top target is Spagnuolo. He is the hot assistant in the league right now after two seasons as boss of the Giants defense.
After interviewing and having lunch with Tannenbaum yesterday, he met Broncos owner Pat Bowlen in New York for dinner. Spagnuolo also has interviewed with the Lions and Browns.
No team can offer Spagnuolo a contract until after the Giants’ season ends.
The Giants had a bye this weekend, and will play their first playoff game next Sunday. When their season ends, whether at the Super Bowl in Tampa or before, there figures to be a line for his services.
The Jets have several things going for them if they pursue Spagnuolo.
First, he would not have to relocate. Spagnuolo is from Massachusetts, coached for years in Philadelphia and now New York. The Jets train in Florham Park, meaning he could stay in New Jersey, where he and his family live now.
The Jets also compare favorably with the situations in Detroit and Cleveland because they don’t need to rebuild. He’d inherit a 9-7 team that brought in a bunch of free agents last year and barely missed the playoffs.
The flip side of that and a possible negative for Spagnuolo is he’ll face high expectations. Anything short of a playoff berth will be viewed as failure here, but in Detroit if he wins four games they’d probably have a parade for him.
The other hurdles for the Jets to clear are the unsettled quarterback situation and whether rumors that Spagnuolo wants friend Tom Heckert, with whom he worked in Philadelphia, to come with him to manage personnel.
The Jets would not go for that, wanting to keep Tannenbaum as GM.