5 other veteran NFL coaches the Jets can bring out of mothballs after Rex Ryan, Ron Rivera interviews

By firing Robert Saleh before Week 6, the New York Jets earned a longer head start than anyone in the NFL when it came to the 2025 head coach hiring cycle. All this extra time has reportedly led them not to rising young assistants or stars from the college ranks, but to sexagenarians who spent 2024 on ESPN panels.

Former head coach Rex Ryan, who hasn't held a coaching role in any form since 2016, and Ron Rivera, who was fired by the Washington Commanders after 2023, are both reportedly expected to interview for the Jets' top job as another lost season winds down. This somehow both surprising and not.

Rivera is a respected veteran. Ryan was at the helm of the last New York team to make the playoffs. That may be flimsy reasoning to build a coaching search around them, but the Jets are reportedly subject to the whims of teenage boys and Madden ratings under the stewardship of team owner Woody Johnson, so here we are.

Why stop at Ryan and Rivera? There are plenty of talented coaches waiting on the call to leave retirement or cushy studio jobs behind for the chance to become legend with a franchise that hasn't seen a Super Bowl since before the moon landing. Who else could New York dig out of cold storage?

1. Mike Martz

Last coached: The AAF's San Diego Fleet in 2019

Martz helped build The Greatest Show on Turf, but the only head coach job he's had since leaving the then-St. Louis Rams in 2005 was for a 3-5 American Alliance of Football squad. He was able to turn Kurt Warner into a Hall of Famer and Marc Bulger into a Pro Bowler. Imagine what he could do with a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers.

Probably not much, but still.

2. Bill Cowher

Last coached: Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006

Like Ryan, Cowher is a staple of NFL panels -- he's a core member of CBS's The NFL Today. He hasn't coached since leaving the Steelers after 2006, retiring one season after his Super Bowl XL victory. But his familiarity with the league's 31 other teams could give him a head start designing game plans for whomever is throwing passes in 2025 to destroy. Cowher could even bring an 87-year-old Dick LeBeau with him if the Jets want to double-up on long retired veterans.

3. Dave Wannstedt

Last coached: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (special teams) in 2013

Wannstedt knows a little something about long playoff droughts. He's the head coach of record for the Miami Dolphins' last playoff win. Instead of trying to reclaim his own franchise's glory days, Johnson could instead co-opt Miami's. Like Ryan, he's spent his decade away from the sideline as a panelist in pre- and post-game shows.

4. Gary Kubiak

Last coached: Minnesota Vikings (assistant head coach, offensive coordinator) in 2020

Would Kubiak give up his life in Poland for a chance to rebuild the Jets? If nothing else, he could take a job offer to ownership of the Wroclaw Panthers -- where he currently serves as an advisor for the European League of Football mainstay -- and see if he could turn it into a pay raise. It's possible he's sick of playing second fiddle to the dominant German teams in Europe. Maybe he'd like to play second fiddle to the Buffalo Bills instead?

5. Lou Holtz

Last coached: University of South Carolina in 2004

Holtz's departure from the sideline has led to a professional career as a football pundit and an amateur career in the world of politics. That aligns him with Johnson, who served as United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021. He's 87 years old and has been out of the game for two decades, but coaching the Jets would give him the opportunity to call out Ryan Day after a win, which is clearly the best possible outcome.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: 5 other veteran NFL coaches the Jets can bring out of mothballs after Rex Ryan, Ron Rivera interviews