A former New York Jets coach has come clean about some of his shortcomings during the Jets’ 2024 campaign.
No one would blame New York’s recent interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich for the Jets’ failures this past season — interim coaches by definition are nearly always tasked with taking on a losing and broken situation.
That hasn’t stopped Ulbrich from taking some accountability for his role in the Jets’ bad year, though.
Now that Ulbrich has moved on to the Atlanta Falcons as their defensive coordinator, the former Jets DC has no problem freely speaking about his experiences in New York, particularly those that transpired over the past few months.
Per a new report from ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Ulbrich discussed some of his regrets as Jets interim HC during his introductory presser with the Falcons on Monday.
“Former #Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, introduced today as the #Falcons DC, admitted it was a mistake to retain his DC responsibilities while trying to coach the entire team,” Cimini said.
“Ulbrich: “There is an element of a failure for myself in that way because I didn’t delegate it, I didn’t. I just took it all on myself. In my mind’s eye, I was trying to create continuity and I didn’t want to fracture the staff… I thought the best thing for me to do at that point in time was just try to keep everybody in the same role that they had just so we could keep things rolling — and it wasn’t the right thing to do. As I look back, I should have delegated, I should have given the defensive coordinator responsibilities to someone else and because it’s just, in my opinion, it is too hard, especially when it’s thrown on you in the middle of the season.”
Ulbrich was thrust into the interim head coach job after Robert Saleh was fired five games into last season. Ulbrich finished with a 3-9 record as Jets interim HC. Upon being promoted to head coach, Ulbrich had been with the organization in the role of defensive coordinator since January 2021.
Saleh is also officially turning over a new leaf, as he’ll serve as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator in 2025.