A lot of people — including me — will tell you he didn’t belong in the top job. We will tell you that nothing in his past performance indicated that he could handle the responsibility or had the right temperament for the pressures of leadership. Some of us opposed him before he stepped through the door and took charge. Considering the state of things, those of us who were opposed or skeptical from the start would be more than justified to declare, “See, I told you so.”
He promised winning, but all you have to do is look with open eyes and see the disastrous wreckage on his watch. People are hurting. There’s no reason to think things will be better by November. Putting this man in command, at a time when so much was at stake, when so many people had lost hope and were yearning for something better, was a colossal mistake, and the sooner we all recognize it, the better.
You still hear some of his defenders insisting, “But he won in Florida that time!” Yes, and a broken clock can be right twice a day. Enough with the relentless spin and desperate search for silver linings. The record is clear. In one great American city after another, week after week, we have seen high hopes just go up in flames. Almost everyone he’s picked to work under him has performed their duties terribly — and either he’s following bad advice, or he’s not following the good advice he’s given. The difference is moot.
Some people say he manipulates the media, and it’s not hard to find talking heads on the cable channels who will constantly make excuses for him. I certainly agree no one ever holds him accountable. No matter how many reports add up just how bad his record is, no matter how many times a review of the numbers demonstrates, beyond any doubt, just how clearly he failed in areas that were supposed to be his strengths, it never seems to stick to him in a way that matters.
But the cavalcade of excuses and unpersuasive spin in the media is only the side problem; it all starts at the top. No matter how bad things get, he always insists it’s somebody else’s fault. He stubbornly contends he’s got the right ideas and the right approach, and that everyone under him just botches the execution. He sticks to what he knows, no matter how many times it blows up in his face.
Now, in autumn 2020, the time for a decision can’t be put off any longer. It is time to correct an error, and to end this deeply disappointing era.
There’s just no two ways about it: Adam Gase must be fired as head coach of the New York Jets.
Wait, whom did you think I was talking about?