New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn aimed to bring his passion and “no-nonsense” attitude from the moment he was first hired by the organization last year.
It failed.
Glenn’s 3-14 first season with the Jets was among the worst in team history. Questions about scheme and player development reared their ugly head through each defeat towards the end of the year.
The once overconfident Glenn now looked humbled when speaking to the media on Tuesday during the Jets’ end-of-year press conference. Fans demand answers, but ownership has granted his staff patience.
New York’s head coach knows the truth.
If results don’t turn around in 2026, he won’t be a head coach for very long. Perhaps that was why Tuesday’s presser showed a new Glenn entirely—one that might just make it after all.
The ‘new’ Aaron Glenn
In 2025, Glenn was a confident coach who had plenty of bravado to believe he could be the one to turn around the struggling Jets. He had dreams of “winning now” and “being a team the fans could be proud of.”
With each passing week, Glenn had to walk back his comments and limit the damage his Jets were inflicting on the fan base. All the confidence left him looking like a coach who was outmatched and overwhelmed in the new role.
That’s what made Tuesday so important.
Instead of trying to sell fans on his plan or telling people they are wrong not to trust the organization, Glenn took ownership of what went wrong in 2025.
“I put a lot of it on me on the wins and losses, and I have to do a better job,” Glenn said Tuesday morning. “I’m not going to sit here and blame it on the roster, I’m not going to sit here and blame it on the coaching staff; I’m going to blame it on the guy that’s sitting right in front of you, and I have to do a better job, and I’m always going to say that. Until I get the whole situation situated, then we will be better, which I know we will next year.”
Let’s be honest: There was nothing Glenn or general manager Darren Mougey were going to say at the end-of-year presser that would excuse the organization’s poor performance.
The only logical thing they could do is take ownership of the mistakes and vow to correct them in 2026.
That’s what Glenn did.
A humbled Glenn, who’s seemingly honest about what went wrong, along with understanding his part in those struggles, can be the one to correct those mistakes.
It’s unclear if he will, of course. At the very least, by not selling New York Jets fans on a plan that no one can currently see and taking the losing year on the chin, Glenn shows that the first step to learning from last season is being taken.
He just has to find a winning formula now.
Reporting from the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, NJ.