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Talk about an island jetaway.
As the Jets organization remained silent for the third consecutive day, Rex Ryan and his wife were spotted vacationing in the Bahamas, according to sources.
Ryan left the country and the Jets’ mess behind, even though he has yet to meet with the media for his league-mandated postseason postmortems, a flagrant violation of NFL policy.
The Jets announced yesterday Ryan and team owner Woody Johnson would break their shared vows of silence and meet with the press on Tuesday, nine days after the Jets’ nightmare 6-10 season ended at Buffalo and four days beyond the league’s mandate to address the media.
Ryan was spotted wearing a Jets/Titans throwback jacket — so much for trying to fly under the radar — after he and wife Michelle landed in the Bahamas on a flight out of Newark.
The normally bombastic Ryan has not been heard from since his press conference following Sunday’s 28-9 loss to the Bills. The next day, general manager Mike Tannenbaum, the man who hired Ryan, was fired and Ryan’s scheduled news conference was abruptly postponed.
A source said Johnson was out of town over the weekend (he did not attend Sunday’s game) and returned to fire Tannenbaum on Monday, but then left to return to where he had been, so he did not have time to address the media. Ryan then left for his vacation yesterday, forcing the team to pick Tuesday as the first available time both men would be together.
The organization debated having Ryan conduct a press conference without Johnson on Monday but did not feel it was fair to the coach to have to answer questions about Tannenbaum. All of this led to the delay.
The Professional Football Writers of America lodged a complaint with the league yesterday about the delay, and the Jets likely are to face a fine for the infraction.
The NFL’s media policy states teams must “hold a news conference during the week following the end of its season with its head coach, and/or owner, and/or club president and/or general manager. The purpose is to respond to fan interest in the conclusion of the team’s season.”
Asked about the rule violation, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said, “We will look into it.”
Meanwhile, with or without their head coach, the Jets will begin interviewing GM candidates tomorrow, making it extremely unlikely they would have one in place before Tuesday’s press conference. It could take weeks before a GM is hired.
The known candidates are: Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross, 49ers director of player personnel Tom Gamble, Falcons director of player personnel Dave Caldwell and current Jets assistant GM Scott Cohen.
The entire Jets coaching staff is off until Monday. That leaves offensive coordinator Tony Sparano twisting in the wind. ESPN reported Sunday he would be fired, and last night sources told ESPNNewYork.com Ryan wants to bring in a new coordinator, and former Chargers coach Norv Turner is said to be on his short list.
Ryan told his staff Monday they would not know anything until a new GM is hired.
Johnson has entrusted his GM search to head hunter Jed Hughes of the search firm Korn/Ferry International. Hughes is one of the top sports head hunters in the country.
Hughes was a coach for nearly 20 years, working at Michigan under Bo Schembechler, as defensive coordinator at UCLA under Terry Donahue and as linebackers coach for the Steelers in the mid-’80s under Chuck Noll. Hughes later joined a behavioral assessment company and developed psychological testing and assessments for the 49ers and Packers.
He has become the go-to guy for colleges and NFL teams looking for a head hunter. Among his more well-known hires are Michigan coach Brady Hoke, Seahawks GM John Schneider, Packers CEO Mark Murphy and Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. The Jets used him a year ago to hire team president Neil Glat. Nebraska recently hired him to find a replacement for outgoing athletic director Tom Osborne.
Hughes joined Korn/Ferry in January after 12 years with Spencer Stuart.
In a Los Angeles Daily News article in 2007 Hughes said his firm charges $200,000 per search and usually limits himself to one NFL and one college search per year. According to the Omaha World Herald, Hughes is being paid $100,000 to find Osborne’s replacement.
brian.costello@nypost.com