The New York Jets parted ways with HC Robert Saleh Tuesday and announced defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich would serve as the team's interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
After starting the season 2-1, the Jets dropped a 10-9 home contest to the Denver Broncos in Week 4 before falling to the Minnesota Vikings, 23-17, last Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
"This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction," Chairman Woody Johnson said in a statement.
Through five games, Ulbrich has led a defensive unit that ranks No. 1 in yards/play (4.26) and No. 2 in yards allowed/game (255.8). Despite losing edge Jermaine Johnson to an Achilles injury in Week 2, the Jets have racked up 18 sacks, their most after five games since 2008. He led his unit to a No. 3 overall (292.3) finish in 2023 and a No. 4 finish in 2022.
"He is a tough coach who has the respect of the coaches and players on this team," said Ambassador Johnson of Ulbrich. "I believe he along with the coaches on this staff can get the most out of our talented team and attain the goals we established this offseason."
Ulbrich, who played linebacker at Hawaii, was a third-round pick of the 49ers in 2000 and appeared in 120 games (75 starts) for San Francisco over nine seasons, registering 501 tackles. He began his coaching career as Seattle's special teams assistant in 2010. That led to stints with UCLA (linebackers coach and special teams coordinator) and Atlanta (2012-20 coaching linebackers, as the assistant head coach and ultimately as the DC) before he joined the Jets in 2021.
"I would say the foundation of who we are is we're going to do what we do," Ulbrich said of his coaching philosophy this past spring. "We take great pride in the fact that we have a great coaching staff that really is about skills, technique and based on fundamentals and principles that we can really rely on to play the brand of defense we want to play. The beauty of that is, when I get to address the group, I'm not sitting there talking about 17,000 different schematic programs. I'm talking about finish, I'm talking about toughness, I'm talking about technique.
"You're talking about, to me, the real essence of football, I think that that's what makes us a little different than most. But at the same time, I'd say that we're not so stubborn as coaches, that we don't provide a few wrinkles here and there to keep the offense off balance, pushing ourselves this offseason to grow from a schematic standpoint, so we'll never lose our essence, and that's being based in great technique, great strain, great finish, great toughness, great bonds, but we never lose that."
Saleh, hired in January 2021, finished with a 20-36 mark as head coach. This is the third in-season head-coaching change in franchise history.
