FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- On the first day of his first training camp, New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn mentioned "Super Bowl" twice in his opening remarks to the media. That was 12 months and 14 losses ago.
This year, there was less bravado.
"No slogans, no hype speeches," Glenn said on Day 1.
And certainly no Super Bowl references. The goal, he said, is improvement.
Glenn's rookie year, one of the worst seasons in franchise history, was a humbling learning experience. He made a lot of mistakes, from clock management to staffing to quarterback decisions. He acknowledged there were "blind spots" that needed to be addressed in the offseason.
He's confident that Glenn 2.0 will be a lot better than the original version, and he needs to be because his margin for error isn't what it used to be. His name is all over preseason "hot seat" lists -- i.e., the coaches in the most danger of getting fired.
Owner Woody Johnson stuck with Glenn despite the 3-14 disaster, but his patience will wane quickly if 2026 is a rerun. With perhaps a nudge from Johnson, Glenn replaced half his coaching staff, including his offensive and defensive coordinators. Upheaval of that magnitude usually doesn't portend job security for the head coach.
Glenn believes he's better equipped for success because he added coaches and players he's familiar with. It's no coincidence that he brought in highly experienced people for three of the most important positions in the organization -- offensive coordinator Frank Reich (a former Jets teammate), quarterback Geno Smith and middle linebacker Demario Davis. For Smith and Davis, this is their second and third tour, respectively, with the team.
Opting for gray over green, Glenn wanted wise heads in those decision-making roles. He also hired a seasoned coach for the playcalling role on defense -- himself. Though Brian Duker has the title of defensive coordinator, it's Glenn who will steer the ship -- a departure from last season.
Glenn was hands-off with defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, letting him run the defense despite glaring deficiencies. He finally stepped in, firing Wilks -- one of his first hires -- with three games left. By then, the season was long gone.
Maybe this was one of the blind spots Glenn was referring to.
"It's really exciting for me to be able to install a defense that I know like the back of my hand," said Glenn, who delivered one of the most memorable quotes of the offseason when he said his "superpower" is calling plays. "If there's an issue, I can quickly fix it."
No longer the "CEO" coach who delegates responsibility, Glenn now is heavily involved in the action, standing on the sideline with a walkie-talkie in hand and sending in plays to the huddle.
For the first time in his coaching career, Glenn is wearing two hats -- no easy task. He will have to manage the entire game -- clock, timeouts, adjustments, etc. -- while calling plays and plotting defensive strategy between series.
"It's been fun to watch," general manager Darren Mougey said of Glenn's involvement on defense. "... To see him engaged with the players in the meetings, on the field -- you see that energy and enthusiasm with the defensive playcalling, him having his hands on it and be kind of in the nitty-gritty of it all."
The Mougey-Glenn dynamic is interesting. Glenn was hired before Mougey (typically, it's the other way around with a coach and a GM) and they had no previous working relationship. Arranged marriages often fail in the NFL; the Jets certainly have had their share of those. In terms of organizational structure, both report directly to Johnson.
Their first season of the partnership was essentially a get-acquainted period.
"There's a better comfort level going into Year 2," Mougey said. "My relationship with AG has only gotten stronger and better. We have dialogue every day. We're just much more in sync; time-on-task with anybody does that for you."
Glenn echoed those sentiments.
Typically, GMs enjoy more job security than head coaches -- the law of the NFL jungle. Once relatively unknown, Mougey has won the affection of the fanbase with his aggressiveness (13 player trades in one year) and ability to stockpile first-round draft picks (three in 2027).
It has gone the opposite way for Glenn. Once a popular player for the Jets, he experienced an abbreviated honeymoon. An 0-7 start will have that effect. He didn't help his cause with combative news conferences, which surprised some of his former teammates, even those still close to him.
"Honestly, I think everyone that comes to New York, even though he's played here before, it's like you bite off a little more than you can chew," running back Breece Hall said. "You don't realize it. His first year, he dealt with the high highs and the low of lows."
After a record number of blowout losses in 2025, Glenn's mission is to achieve respectability, if not the playoffs. He can do that by improving a historically poor defense (which failed to record a single interception), developing the cupboard of young talent and fielding a functional offense for a change. The Jets have gone 10 straight years with a bottom-10 scoring offense.
Basically, Glenn must convince ownership he's the right guy to lead the franchise into what could be a quarterback-driven era. If he leaves any doubt, the organization could opt for an offensive-minded coach to coincide with the expected arrival of a highly drafted quarterback in 2027.
"I think he understands that he's building from the ground up," Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles, a former Jets coach and a Glenn confidant, told ESPN in the spring. "His attitude and positivity are great, and he's got to get the pieces he needs. I think he's working on that, and I think you'll see great strides from him."
This is one of the toughest coaching jobs in sports. Glenn inherited a 14-year playoff drought, hoping to flip the losing culture. He realized quickly that it's a herculean challenge. Not everyone is cut out for the enormity of the job, which can crush even sound football men.
"It can get to certain people if you're not built the right way," said Bowles, the Jets' coach from 2015 to 2018. "He's built the right way, and I don't think it will get to him."