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Rex Ryan on his NFL coaching future: It’s got to be a real situation, I’m ‘tired of getting f--ked’
MANISH MEHTA
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
He was bold, brash, confident and fearless. But in the end, he was shafted in the very place that he had once embraced.
A little more than a month after the Bills fired Rex Ryan two years into a blockbuster five-year contract, the iconoclastic coach reflected on his brief run in Buffalo, his impending television debut and his never-ending chase to win the Super Bowl.
It was vintage Rex: Candid, funny and unapologetic, even if it meant taking some of the blame for what went terribly wrong in Buffalo.
"I set the expectations too high," Ryan told the Daily News in a wide-ranging interview on Monday night, his first since getting fired before the Bills season finale against the Jets. "Like, boy, that's a shock. In a way, I felt, why not us? I stepped in where the head coach had quit, the defensive coordinator quit and the quarterback quit on them.
So, I thought that it was important at the time to say, 'You know what? Shoot, I believe in you. And I'm proud to be the coach here.' Every bit of that was true. I put that truck (with the Bills logo) around town. I was all-in. Even though those other three had quit, I wasn't a quitter. I was ready. And I wanted to be there. And I wanted to win. And I thought I could win."
"... Let me tell you, I stripped that damn truck the day I got fired," Ryan added with a laugh. "F--k you guys."
Ryan, who will move from the Buffalo area to his home in Tennessee after the Super Bowl, replaced the oversized Bills logo on his truck with Clemson colors since his son, Seth, plays for them.
"Dude, national champions," Ryan said. "I'm supporting a winner."
Ryan, who went 15-16 with the Bills, was unceremoniously dumped five days before the Bills faced his former team at MetLife Stadium because he didn't want to bench quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The organization didn't want to be exposed to paying Taylor more than $30 million in guarantees if he suffered a catastrophic injury in the final game. Ryan didn't want to bench his best signal caller for an inferior backup. So, he was gone after a 7-8 season.
Rex Ryan was the Bills’ scapegoat for their long playoff drought
Ryan admitted that the "people in town have been good to me" and "I enjoyed my time here," but he couldn't care less about the franchise's 17-year playoff drought anymore. After galvanizing the fan base and former Bills greats after Doug Marrone quit on all of them, Ryan will only be rooting for one of his former employers — and it's not the Bills.
"I don't wish them bad will," Ryan said. "I don't. But I don't wish them luck, either. I'll be honest: I don't wish them good luck. I don't wish them bad luck. I just don't wish them luck. I wish the Jets luck."
Getting whacked after 8-8 and 7-8 seasons is ludicrous, but it's obvious that the Bills aren't exactly the gold standard of NFL franchises. Rumblings of back-door meetings between owners Terry and Kim Pegula and players before offensive coordinator Greg Roman was fired after two games were the first indications that Ryan & Co. were in for a bumpy ride this season.
Ryan, who will make his first foray into the TV world by being a panelist on ESPN's NFL Sunday Countdown on Super Bowl Sunday, still has about $16.5 million left on the final three years of his Bills contract. The firing stung him, even if it didn't make him eternally angry.
"I'm really not that bitter and maybe that $15 million is one of the reasons," Ryan said. "I'm not bitter, man. … Yeah, I'm hurt. I was hurt by it. There's no question. But bitter ain't how I feel. I'm like, 'Shoot, if they never wanted me here, then fine. I ain't here. I'm not your coach anymore. Fine and dandy.'
But I got an opportunity in front of me that a lot of guys don't get. I'm going to see where it takes me. Maybe this a different career and I really enjoy it. I'm hoping that's the way it is. Maybe I get into and I don't like it. Maybe they don't like me. Maybe I go back to doing something I love, which is coaching. I'll never say never. I'm a young guy still. … I'm healthy. But bitter? Nah. Not bitter, man. I'm really not."
You can tell that Ryan's fire to win a Super Bowl as a head coach still burns even as he prepares to spend at least one year in television. (He's unsure what media role will suit him best yet at this point). You can hear in his voice that he still wants to hoist the Lombardi Trophy one day.
"That's what drove me over anything," said Ryan, who is 65-68, including four playoff wins, in eight seasons as a head coach. "I wanted to put myself in a situation where I thought I could be successful and where I'd have support. Because I think that's all I need. That's going to be debated and questioned. They'll say I'm a .500 coach. … There's a reason why things happened.
I know I put forth an effort to try to build a championship team and to be a champion. And it hasn't worked out. Hopefully if I get back into it one day, I'll be able to do it. Sometimes you can't accomplish all your goals in life. I like competing against the very best. There's no doubt about it. Unfortunately, I was never good enough to win it all… you know, so far."
He never got a fair chance to do much of anything with the Bills despite the hope surrounding his arrival. Ryan didn't have a first or fourth-round pick in his first draft. His second draft included a first-rounder (Shaq Lawson) who missed the first six games this season recovering from surgery and a second-rounder (Reggie Ragland) who missed all of 2016 with a torn ACL.
"I wasn't real lucky coming in there with the situation I did," Ryan said. "Hey, that's the way it goes. No excuses. We went in there and did the best we could. I wish things would have been different. I wish Sammy Watkins wouldn't have had a broken foot and been healthy the whole year. I wish our draft picks would have played. There's a lot of things that I wished for, but at the end of the day, I'm responsible for the product on the field."
Although Ryan admitted that there's a sense of unfulfillment from the past two seasons, he pointed out that "It wasn't up to me to leave. That's not the case. They told me, 'Get out.' So I did."
"It felt weird the last Sunday of the season when I wasn't on the sideline for the first time in 30 years," Ryan said. "That really felt weird. That's going to take a little getting used to. Because you miss the work building up to it. There's nothing like gameday. So, that was weird. The Bills were playing the Jets and I was on a plane. And when I landed, I wanted to find out what the score was."
There was a clear lack of communication, trust and respect within the organization that ultimately did in Ryan. The disconnect between the front office and coaching staff was troubling. General manager Doug Whaley's claim that he didn't know why Ryan was fired revealed plenty about the leadership within the organization.
"I wasn't going to take just any job," Ryan said of joining the Bills after six years with the Jets. "I wanted to make sure it was the right thing and that I was going to get the backing of the owners and general manager after what I went through (in the final two years with former train-wreck Jets general manager John Idzik). I wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. That's what I was looking for. I wasn't going to take just any job. Obviously, it never worked out."
The Pegulas offered no concrete reason for giving Ryan his walking papers (he would have been fired after the season regardless) other than to give the corporate nonsense of "moving in a different direction."
"It doesn't matter what I think," Ryan said. "When the owners make that decision that it's time to get rid of you, then they get rid of you. I've been around this business long enough to know that's how it works. That's the reality of the business. I've been real fortunate. I got two opportunities when a lot of great coaches don't get any. How many were realistic opportunities? I'm not sure, but at least I had a chances to step up to the plate. So, that's something I'll always be grateful for."
"Do I still wake up at night thinking about, 'Dang, if we could have made this thing work or if we could have done that … in all the years even back to my Jet days? Yeah," Ryan continued. "Could it have been different if Brett Favre would have stayed at quarterback?
I think about all those kinds of things. But at the end of the day, I got to look forward. … I've had some great moments coaching and I've had some bad ones. Unfortunately, in this business, those bad memories stay with you more than some of the good memories."
Ryan won't be returning as a defensive coordinator ("Right now that doesn't interest me at all."), but will he ever get another chance to be in charge?
"The one thing about (being on TV) is that you don't lose," Ryan said. "You'll remember every damn loss. But the wins? You don't necessarily remember. So, it takes a lot out of you. I'm tired of getting f---ked. Unless it's a real situation, there's no sense of getting into it again."
The politics of his profession have taken its toll, but coaching is in his blood. It's forever part of him.
If Rex Ryan has another chance — a real chance — he'll be back.
Rex Ryan on his NFL coaching future: It’s got to be a real situation, I’m ‘tired of getting f--ked’
MANISH MEHTA
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
He was bold, brash, confident and fearless. But in the end, he was shafted in the very place that he had once embraced.
A little more than a month after the Bills fired Rex Ryan two years into a blockbuster five-year contract, the iconoclastic coach reflected on his brief run in Buffalo, his impending television debut and his never-ending chase to win the Super Bowl.
It was vintage Rex: Candid, funny and unapologetic, even if it meant taking some of the blame for what went terribly wrong in Buffalo.
"I set the expectations too high," Ryan told the Daily News in a wide-ranging interview on Monday night, his first since getting fired before the Bills season finale against the Jets. "Like, boy, that's a shock. In a way, I felt, why not us? I stepped in where the head coach had quit, the defensive coordinator quit and the quarterback quit on them.
So, I thought that it was important at the time to say, 'You know what? Shoot, I believe in you. And I'm proud to be the coach here.' Every bit of that was true. I put that truck (with the Bills logo) around town. I was all-in. Even though those other three had quit, I wasn't a quitter. I was ready. And I wanted to be there. And I wanted to win. And I thought I could win."
"... Let me tell you, I stripped that damn truck the day I got fired," Ryan added with a laugh. "F--k you guys."
Ryan, who will move from the Buffalo area to his home in Tennessee after the Super Bowl, replaced the oversized Bills logo on his truck with Clemson colors since his son, Seth, plays for them.
"Dude, national champions," Ryan said. "I'm supporting a winner."
Ryan, who went 15-16 with the Bills, was unceremoniously dumped five days before the Bills faced his former team at MetLife Stadium because he didn't want to bench quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The organization didn't want to be exposed to paying Taylor more than $30 million in guarantees if he suffered a catastrophic injury in the final game. Ryan didn't want to bench his best signal caller for an inferior backup. So, he was gone after a 7-8 season.
Rex Ryan was the Bills’ scapegoat for their long playoff drought
Ryan admitted that the "people in town have been good to me" and "I enjoyed my time here," but he couldn't care less about the franchise's 17-year playoff drought anymore. After galvanizing the fan base and former Bills greats after Doug Marrone quit on all of them, Ryan will only be rooting for one of his former employers — and it's not the Bills.
"I don't wish them bad will," Ryan said. "I don't. But I don't wish them luck, either. I'll be honest: I don't wish them good luck. I don't wish them bad luck. I just don't wish them luck. I wish the Jets luck."
Getting whacked after 8-8 and 7-8 seasons is ludicrous, but it's obvious that the Bills aren't exactly the gold standard of NFL franchises. Rumblings of back-door meetings between owners Terry and Kim Pegula and players before offensive coordinator Greg Roman was fired after two games were the first indications that Ryan & Co. were in for a bumpy ride this season.
Ryan, who will make his first foray into the TV world by being a panelist on ESPN's NFL Sunday Countdown on Super Bowl Sunday, still has about $16.5 million left on the final three years of his Bills contract. The firing stung him, even if it didn't make him eternally angry.
"I'm really not that bitter and maybe that $15 million is one of the reasons," Ryan said. "I'm not bitter, man. … Yeah, I'm hurt. I was hurt by it. There's no question. But bitter ain't how I feel. I'm like, 'Shoot, if they never wanted me here, then fine. I ain't here. I'm not your coach anymore. Fine and dandy.'
But I got an opportunity in front of me that a lot of guys don't get. I'm going to see where it takes me. Maybe this a different career and I really enjoy it. I'm hoping that's the way it is. Maybe I get into and I don't like it. Maybe they don't like me. Maybe I go back to doing something I love, which is coaching. I'll never say never. I'm a young guy still. … I'm healthy. But bitter? Nah. Not bitter, man. I'm really not."
You can tell that Ryan's fire to win a Super Bowl as a head coach still burns even as he prepares to spend at least one year in television. (He's unsure what media role will suit him best yet at this point). You can hear in his voice that he still wants to hoist the Lombardi Trophy one day.
"That's what drove me over anything," said Ryan, who is 65-68, including four playoff wins, in eight seasons as a head coach. "I wanted to put myself in a situation where I thought I could be successful and where I'd have support. Because I think that's all I need. That's going to be debated and questioned. They'll say I'm a .500 coach. … There's a reason why things happened.
I know I put forth an effort to try to build a championship team and to be a champion. And it hasn't worked out. Hopefully if I get back into it one day, I'll be able to do it. Sometimes you can't accomplish all your goals in life. I like competing against the very best. There's no doubt about it. Unfortunately, I was never good enough to win it all… you know, so far."
He never got a fair chance to do much of anything with the Bills despite the hope surrounding his arrival. Ryan didn't have a first or fourth-round pick in his first draft. His second draft included a first-rounder (Shaq Lawson) who missed the first six games this season recovering from surgery and a second-rounder (Reggie Ragland) who missed all of 2016 with a torn ACL.
"I wasn't real lucky coming in there with the situation I did," Ryan said. "Hey, that's the way it goes. No excuses. We went in there and did the best we could. I wish things would have been different. I wish Sammy Watkins wouldn't have had a broken foot and been healthy the whole year. I wish our draft picks would have played. There's a lot of things that I wished for, but at the end of the day, I'm responsible for the product on the field."
Although Ryan admitted that there's a sense of unfulfillment from the past two seasons, he pointed out that "It wasn't up to me to leave. That's not the case. They told me, 'Get out.' So I did."
"It felt weird the last Sunday of the season when I wasn't on the sideline for the first time in 30 years," Ryan said. "That really felt weird. That's going to take a little getting used to. Because you miss the work building up to it. There's nothing like gameday. So, that was weird. The Bills were playing the Jets and I was on a plane. And when I landed, I wanted to find out what the score was."
There was a clear lack of communication, trust and respect within the organization that ultimately did in Ryan. The disconnect between the front office and coaching staff was troubling. General manager Doug Whaley's claim that he didn't know why Ryan was fired revealed plenty about the leadership within the organization.
"I wasn't going to take just any job," Ryan said of joining the Bills after six years with the Jets. "I wanted to make sure it was the right thing and that I was going to get the backing of the owners and general manager after what I went through (in the final two years with former train-wreck Jets general manager John Idzik). I wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. That's what I was looking for. I wasn't going to take just any job. Obviously, it never worked out."
The Pegulas offered no concrete reason for giving Ryan his walking papers (he would have been fired after the season regardless) other than to give the corporate nonsense of "moving in a different direction."
"It doesn't matter what I think," Ryan said. "When the owners make that decision that it's time to get rid of you, then they get rid of you. I've been around this business long enough to know that's how it works. That's the reality of the business. I've been real fortunate. I got two opportunities when a lot of great coaches don't get any. How many were realistic opportunities? I'm not sure, but at least I had a chances to step up to the plate. So, that's something I'll always be grateful for."
"Do I still wake up at night thinking about, 'Dang, if we could have made this thing work or if we could have done that … in all the years even back to my Jet days? Yeah," Ryan continued. "Could it have been different if Brett Favre would have stayed at quarterback?
I think about all those kinds of things. But at the end of the day, I got to look forward. … I've had some great moments coaching and I've had some bad ones. Unfortunately, in this business, those bad memories stay with you more than some of the good memories."
Ryan won't be returning as a defensive coordinator ("Right now that doesn't interest me at all."), but will he ever get another chance to be in charge?
"The one thing about (being on TV) is that you don't lose," Ryan said. "You'll remember every damn loss. But the wins? You don't necessarily remember. So, it takes a lot out of you. I'm tired of getting f---ked. Unless it's a real situation, there's no sense of getting into it again."
The politics of his profession have taken its toll, but coaching is in his blood. It's forever part of him.
If Rex Ryan has another chance — a real chance — he'll be back.
