Jets Country

Four Things to Know About New York Jets Interim Coach Jeff Ulbrich

Jeff Ulbrich will be a head coach for the first time after taking over as New York Jets interim coach on Tuesday.

Matthew Postins

Sep 25, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; UCLA Bruins defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium.
Sep 25, 2014; Tempe, AZ, USA; UCLA Bruins defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Now that the New York Jets have a new interim head coach in Jeff Ulbrich, he’ll step out of the shadows and get some attention as he tries to do what Robert Saleh could not — get the Jets to the playoffs.

The road starts on Monday against Buffalo. But, first, here are five things to know about the Jets’ newest head coach.

The Aaron Rodgers Connection

Both Ulbrich, 47 years old, and Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, 40 years old, grew up in California. Ulbrich grew up in Morgan Hill and Rodgers in Chicago, which are 213 miles from each other. They both played part of their college football at California junior colleges. Ulbrich went to Galivan and Rodgers went to Butte. The two schools were only slightly farther apart — 228 miles.

Their next steps were quite different. Rodgers ended up at Cal and Ulbrich ended up at Hawai’i.

The 10-Year Pro

Ulbrich was one of those players most fans didn’t pay attention to but ended up putting together a long career. He was a third-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2000 and he played 10 seasons before a concussion made him hang it up. He had 501 tackles for his career. He played on a pair of playoff teams.

The average length of an NFL player’s career is 3.3 years. Ulbrich is among the rare percentage to get to 10 years.

Oh, and he played against the Jets three times and combined for 10 tackles.

The 2016 Staff

It’s safe to say that Ulbrich’s biggest coaching influence is probably Dan Quinn. Now the head coach in Washington, he was formerly the head coach at Atlanta for several years, including that ill-fated Super Bowl LI against New England. The pair met in Seattle when Quinn was Pete Carroll’s defensive coordinator and Ulbrich was the assistant special teams coordinator. When Quinn took over in Atlanta, he hired Ulbrich to be his linebackers coach.

Which brings us to that 2016 coaching staff. Ulbrich is now the sixth member of that core staff to become either a head coach or an interim.

He’s Got a Little Dan Campbell in Him

Dan Campbell wasn’t necessarily a conventional choice when the Detroit Lions hired him in 2021. But it’s worked out. He took the Lions to the NFC Championship game last year, something that basically allows one to eat for free for life in Detroit.

But he and Ulbrich have some things in common. Both were long-time veteran players, Campbell a tight end and Ulbrich a linebacker. Both did a long stretch as assistant coaches after their playing careers were done.

Now Ulbrich has something else in common — interim head coach. Campbell took over in Miami for 12 games in 2015 after the Dolphins fired Joe Philbin.

Plus, like Campbell, he has the Jim Nagy/Senior Bowl seal of approval.

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets and Houston Astros for Sports Illustrated/FanNation.

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