Potential New York Jets Coaching Candidate Touted as ‘Program Builder’

The New York Jets could decide to look at a candidate that has a reputation as a program builder in his college days.

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is shown before their game against the Houston Texans Sunday, October 20, 2024 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Jets intend to case a wide net to find their next head coach. Among the qualities they’ll likely be looking for is a coach that can build something with the Jets long-term.

Perhaps someone that is known for building a program?

Sports Illustrated recently highlighted the Top 27 coaching candidates for the upcoming offseason hiring cycle and one program-building candidate was on the list — Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.

Before Hafley joined the Packers this season, he spent four seasons as the head coach at Boston College, where he went 22-26. The record is a bit misleading. He led the Eagles to three bowl-eligible seasons and wrapped up his tenure with a 7-6 season.

His former boss, BC athletic director Blake James, praised Hafley’s ability to build a program where it’s hard to sustain success, even at a .500 level. James described him as a “program builder,” along with his ability to take less-regarded prospects and turning them into stars.

“At Boston College, obviously, we get some super elite talent, but in a lot of cases it's about finding that diamond in the rough and developing them into the next Luke Kuechly,” James said. “I only worked with Jeff for two seasons but, look at guys like Zay Flowers. He was really coached up at BC.”

For nearly two decades Hafley was primarily a defensive assistant or a defensive backs coach. But when he joined San Francisco’s staff in that capacity in 2016 his career seemed to accelerate.

Former head coach Chip Kelly hired him. When Kelly was fired and Kyle Shanahan took over, Hafley stayed and worked with, among others, former Jets head coach Robert Saleh, who was the defensive coordinator.

That led to him taking a job at Ohio State in 2019 as the program’s co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. It was his first time in the coordinator’s chair, but he quickly built a reputation as a recruiter, as 247Sports.com named him college football’s No. 9 recruiter that season.

That led to his hire at Boston College.

With Green Bay, the Packers are now a Top 10 defense in points allowed at 20.3 per game.

Before Hafley got to San Francisco, he built a strong set of credentials as an assistant coach in college and the NFL, starting in 2001 as a running backs coach at WPI. From there, he went to Albany where he became a defensive assistant for four years before he took a defensive assistant job at Pitt in 2006.

After five years with the Panthers he moved on to Rutgers for a season, working under Greg Schiano, and followed him to Tampa Bay, where he was an assistant defensive backs coach.

After two seasons with the Bucs, he joined Cleveland as a defensive backs coach for two seasons before he joined San Francisco.