Is Rex Ryan the Jets Second Best Coach Ever?

May 4, 2012; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan addresses media after first day of minicamp at the Jets Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

On this Sunday afternoon, I wanted to take a look at Jets history, and specifically the history of Jets coaches.

Weeb Ewbank is the greatest Jets coach ever, that is undisputable. Any time a team, in any sport, has one championship to its credit, the coach that led them to it is the best coach in their history.

My question this afternoon, is who is second best? Is it Rex Ryan? You can certainly make the argument. He came in as a rookie head coach, and led the team to two AFC championship games as we know. He’s given a team that has never had any swagger, always looked as a weak team, a jolt of confidence.

But there is another guy that has to be thrown into the mix. A guy that also took the Jets to a title game, as well as giving the team one of the greatest turnarounds in league history. Remember this guy?

Bill Parcells has to be in the discussion for second best Jets coach ever.

Let’s do some comparison, shall we?

We can easily compare the records, since Bill only coached the Jets for three seasons. Interestingly, their regular season records are remarkably similar:

Bill Parcells: 29-19 Rex Ryan: 28-20

The big difference is in the playoff records:

Rex Ryan: 4-2 Bill Parcells: 1-1

THE CASE FOR BILL PARCELLS The strongest case for Bill Parcells is what he brought the team from. He turned around a Jets team that hadn’t even been respectable in many years. The previous two seasons before Bill came to town, the Jets won a total of four games, for any young readers that may not remember. The Jets were 1-15 the season before Bill Parcells came in, and the Jets were a joke. He turned the Jets from a joke of a football team, to a good football team.

Rex Ryan, took a team that did have a 9-7 record the previous season, and did take them to the AFC championship game. But, he actually led them to the identical record of 9-7. This was a team that had some pieces in place prior to coach Ryan’s arrival. This is not to take away from the job Rex has done, but just simply to say that he didn’t have to rebuild the way Bill Parcells did.

My bottom line opinion? Tough to break the tie between these two in my mind. To me, they are 2A and 2B, either way. They are so close I really can’t break them up one way or the other.

What do you guys think? Who ranks higher in Jets history, Parcells or Ryan? Would love to hear your thoughts below