Head Coach
"In the past couple of years, being the coach of the New York Jets has required a unique amalgam of patience, resourcefulness, insouciance and tolerance. Miraculously, Weeb Ewbank has filled the bill on all accounts.
He has had to smile through jibes that some of his moves were dictated by former owner Sonny Werblin, he has had to endure the off-the field-capers of his prize quarterback, Joe Namath, and he has had to watch his leviathan offensive line slow his running game down to waltz. Through it all he was expected to win. He did. Not the big brass ring the Jets have been after since the coming of Namath, but at least the role of a ranking contender.
The reason for even this modest success is Ewbank himself, because behind his elfin-like exterior breathes a real flesh-and-blood coach. It has been said on more than one occasion that there is no team in either professional league that goes into a game better prepared than a Ewbank-coached team. And it's probably true.
Weeb's track record since his days as an assistant to Paul Brown in Cleveland includes his rebuilding of a doormat Baltimore club into one of the league's perennial powerhouses; he won two NFL championships in Baltimore, and along the way uncovered such stars as Johnny Unitas, Gino Marchetti, Jim Parker, Big Daddy Lipscomb and Don Shula, among others.
Since coming to New York, he has helped to erase the torpid image of the old Titans and shape the Jets into one of professional football's most exciting teams. All he needs to complete the picture now is an AFL title. He may get one soon."
-Jack Zanger, Pro Football 1968
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