The NYJetsFan.com Official Hall of Shame was founded in 2007 to establish a memorial for those players and staff that have worn the green and white or represented the New York Jets during these torturous years of existence. This is our tribute to those that made the suffering possible.
Our very first inductee is the infamous Bill Belichek. Bill Belichick resigned as coach of the
New York Jets, one day after being elevated to the job when Bill Parcells resigned.Belichick insisted he was not burned out after 25 years in pro coaching, but he said the uncertainty surrounding his place in the organization dictated his decision.”I just can’t do what I need to do here,” Belichick said. “There are a lot of unanswered questions here. I have been concerned about it since Leon Hess died (in May). … I had no clear direction of where I am going in the organization.”I took Bill’s words to heart, thought about it last night,” added Belichick, who was Cleveland’s head coach from 1991-95, going 37-45. “All I can deal with is the situation I have at hand and that is what I am doing. It is not about trying to get out of a contract or leveraging a contract.”
Yeah sureThe Patriots contacted the Jets by fax to seek permission to talk to Belichick. But permission was denied because he already had been elevated to head coach. He said he would like to determine his career course. Asked if he wanted to coach next year, Belichick said, “I haven’t really thought about it.”
Yeah right! The decision had already been made when he decided to step down.Parcells said he couldn’t make the commitment needed to return for a fourth season as Jets coach. He turned around the franchise that was 3-13 and 1-15 under Rich Kotite, but was 9-7, 12-4 with a loss in the AFC title game, and 8-8 despite a slew of injuries.
Which brings me to the next member of the NYJetsFan Hall of shame…
Most of us remember the all powerful, super coach - Bill Parcells. They remember him for turning around our franchise and taking us within a 30 minutes of going to our first Super Bowl since 1969. Bill Parcells did many great things for the NY Jets and its fans, especially getting two #1 draft picks for the mouth that roared - Keyshawn Johnson but it’s what he didn’t do that earns him a spot in the NYJetsFan Hall of Shame. When Bill Belichek stepped down after only one day as head coach of the NY Jets, Parcells had only one honorable choice to act on and that was to take the reigns and be our coach for one more season. There were no other viable Head Coaches available and reaching for Al Groh was the act of a selfish man. If Parcells never coached again, he wouldn’t be on this list, but we all knew he would return. The Jets were still good enough to make it deep into the playoffs. When Parcells reached for Groh, he took that all away from us. Bill Parcells you deserve to be #2 on the list, for abandoning us in our time of need.
Number 3 on the list should come as no surprise.
Keyshawn Johnson our former #1 draft pick slides in at a most prestigious spot in our Hall of Shame. In a year without a true #1 Draft choice, the Jets fresh off a disastrous free fall during the Kotite regime were in position to grab the best player in the draft.
Unfortunately Parcells wouldn’t guarantee Peyton Manning that he would select him and Peyton elected to return to school for his senior year.
The Jets ended up with the mouth that roared instead. The Jets tried to negotiate a deal prior to the draft but Keyshawn held out and continued to hold out for the first 24 days of training camp.
After Keyshawn caught his first TD, he put on a show in the end zone that proved to be only the beginning in a long line of selfishness.
Soon after he released his book – “Just Give Me the Damn Ball” Keyshawn attacked the beloved Wayne Chrebet by calling him a mascot and then later on in his infantile display of jealousy, compared Chrebet as being a flashlight to his star.
Parcells was able to land two first round picks for Keyshawn which Keyshawn later blamed on Groh.
Keyshawn apparently forgot that it was Parcells that was steamed when Keyshawn was looking to renegotiate with 2 years left on his deal and had said that he would trade Keyshawn to the worst possible team if he could.
Justice was served when the Jets went into Tampa Bay and held Keyshawn to one catch while Wayne Chrebet caught the winning touchdown.
Me-Shawn Johnson… we never missed you.
Coming in at number 4, Mark Gastineau happens to be one of my favorite Jets of all time, but that doesn’t excuse one of the worst shameful acts of any Jets player to date.
Mark Gastineau turned self-promotion into an art form with his dance ritual that accompanied quarterback sacks in the early 1980s. His antics played a large part in the NFL making such celebrations illegal in March 1984. But that didn’t stop Gastineau, who helped revolutionize the position with his blazing speed. In 1984, Gastineau recorded 22 sacks, an NFL record that stood for 17 years until Michael Strahan had the record gift wrapped for him courtesy of Bret Favre. In January 1987, the Jets seemed on their way to the AFC Championship game as they led the Browns by 10 points with less than four minutes remaining. But Gastineau’s late hit on quarterback Bernie Kosar kept alive a Cleveland touchdown drive that preceded a late field goal. The Jets lost in the second quarter of overtime and Gastineau was fined $2,500 by the NFL for the hit on Kosar. Gastineau didn’t help his standing with teammates by crossing the picket line during the 1987 players’ strike. Teammates spit on Gastineau’s car as he tried to pass through their picket. On the field, Gastineau was unproductive, managing only 4½ sacks. Six weeks after the Jets’ season concluded, Gastineau announced his engagement to Nielsen. He and his first wife Lisa had been separated since 1986, but their divorce wouldn’t become final until 1991. Seven weeks into the 1988 season, Gastineau was leading the AFC with seven sacks when he stunned teammates by announcing his retirement; he said he wanted to spend more time with Nielsen, whom he feared had uterine cancer. It proved to be a false alarm. Years later, Gastineau admitted another reason he quit was that he was concerned that he would fail another drug test and that the public would learn he used anabolic steroids. Quitting on the Jets in mid-season should earn Gastineau the #1 spot, but the top 4 isn’t bad.
Number 5 on the list might be the number 1 choice for most fans but is his incompetence really to blame? Probably. In his brief two-year reign of terror, Kotite coached his way through a 4-28 record before finally getting the axe. Besides the inept staff he put together, Kotite was most remembered for putting Vance Joseph, an un-drafted free agent that never played CB before into the line of fire against Tim Brown and the Oakland Raiders. Brown was later quoted as saying how amazed he was that the Jets didn’t give Joseph any help and that he actually felt bad for him. In the 4th quarter trailing 47-10, the Jets players were astonished when they looked up at the Jets fans chanting - “Let’s Go Raiders”. In a move that equals only the Vance Joseph decision, Kotite started Everett McIver against another hall of famer in Bruce Smith. The hit Smith layed on boomer still echoes in my mind as McIver false started allowing Smith a clear path to the unsuspecting QB as he stood on the train tracks. So who’s to blame? Is it Leon Hess for hiring Kotite or Kotite for the pain he brought the fans. Either way, Rich Kotite, welcome to the NYJetsFan.com Hall of Shame.
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