As debut seasons for a head coach go, Aaron Glenn’s first year with the New York Jets has been among the worst in recent memory.

Glenn opened his introductory press conference last January with the promise of improvement. When the team stumbled at the start of the season, he loudly proclaimed his team wasn’t “the same old Jets.”

Now, Glenn has taken on a different tune.

With a 3-12 record that has seen countless two-score losses, a coordinator firing, trades of two of the best players on the roster, and slight improvement as the calendar has turned to December, he is preaching patience above all else.

Is the New York Jets’ rookie head coach worthy of such patience?

The Jets continue to push for patience

Jets fans have been put through the wringer. They have seen their team miss the playoffs in each of the last 15 years and haven’t finished above .500 since 2015.

Poor play, bad coaching, and questionable front office decisions have been a constant in Florham Park, NJ, during this stretch.

Despite all the issues, Glenn remains as willful as ever. On Monday, following a 29-6 blowout loss to the lowly New Orleans Saints, his message to the fanbase has remained consistently ironclad.

“I will continue to say don’t let go of the rope because there is a plan, there
is a vision,” Glenn said on Monday. “It’s going to be a tough road, and we knew that. The thing is, we know exactly what we’re doing, and we do have a plan. Don’t let go of the rope; I will say that.”

Despite a winning run in November, the Jets have been among the worst teams in the NFL all year. They have used three quarterbacks, don’t have a receiver on pace for 500 yards, and their defense looks unrecognizable from the top-10 unit that was a staple over the early 2020s.

Glenn’s coaching has also been a significant issue. While an argument can be made that his first year has been largely about evaluating the current players on the roster, he has done little to improve the talent at his disposal.

A lack of accurate adjustments remains a serious concern for the former Pro Bowl cornerback.

His message, therefore, deserves careful scrutiny. He can say that the fanbase needs to continue to trust his plan, but has he done anything to show himself worthy of that trust?

Do they deserve the patience that is preached?

Prior history indicates that Aaron Glenn’s first tenure is not dissimilar to that of two of his most significant mentors. In their first years running their own team, Bill Parcells with the New York Giants, and Dan Campbell with the Detroit Lions, each won just three games.

They each experienced significant improvements in their second seasons with the team. Glenn’s argument, and that of the front office, is that once they acquire players they believe in, the wins will eventually come.

But should fans believe him when he talks like that?

The reality is … no.

Jets fans have seen numerous coaches come into Florham Park with varying vibes—or, in some cases, varying blustery personas. Each believed they were the ones capable of ending Gang Green’s recent struggles.

They all failed miserably.

No coach in the last 15 years came with the kind of confidence and bravado as Glenn did, though. He was adamant that he was the right guy for the job, and improvements would be seen immediately.

His message, from the start of the regular season to the present, has undergone a dramatic change. Unfortunately, that’s a tell-tale sign of a coach grasping at anything and everything, attempting to hang on and prove he still knows what it takes to turn the team around.

Ultimately, Glenn is well within his rights to remain confident. It’s precisely why he got the job in the first place.

But to plead with a fanbase that has seen little evidence the current regime is any different from Robert Saleh’s, Adam Gase’s, or Todd Bowles’, is a tone deaf demand—one that won’t suddenly inspire confidence anytime soon.

Worse yet, thanks to the near-mythical basement-dwelling status for so long, it’s an unjust request of New York Jets fans. Granted, Aaron Glenn has limited alternative mantras to spout publicly, but the reality of this situation cannot be faked.