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Hiring head coaches under 40 is far from the NFL norm, although Mangini is in good (if rare) company: The Pittsburgh Steelers' Bill Cowher was 34 when he was hired to be head coach back in 1992, as was current Tampa Bay Buccaneer head coach Jon Gruden when the Oakland Raiders originally selected him in 1998—both have won Super Bowls within the past five seasons in years when Mangini's former employer, the New England Patriots, weren't involved. Don Shula was a mere 33 when in 1963 he was tapped to run the Baltimore Colts, a team he eventually got to Super Bowl III—which lost to Joe Namath's Jets in 1969, the same year Oakland brought 32-year-old John Madden aboard. Shula later won titles with the Miami Dolphins in 1972 and '73, while Madden's came in 1976; both men are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Still, sportswriters and NFL pundits focus on Mangini's age, having labeled him everything from "Boy Wonder" to "Mangreeni" (playing off both the Jets' colors and his youth). While acknowledging his ambition, meticulous work habits, exhaustive football knowledge and natural leadership, many question the selection of such a novice to take over a struggling franchise, especially within the fish bowl that is New York, infamous for its intense sports media and vocal, passionate (read rabid) fans. His relative lack of coaching experience is cited, as are concerns about dealing with players that are nearly his age.
The baby-faced Mangini takes it all in stride. "You know what, I think that is what it is," he says, deflecting the scrutiny with a phrase popularized by one-time boss and current Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells. "In each division I've been in, I've been 'the young guy.' When I was coaching defensive backs [with the Patriots during their three championship seasons], I think Otis Smith was the same age or older, and Roman Phifer, who I worked with defensively, was in a very similar situation. If guys can see that you're helping them be successful, it doesn't really matter whether you're 20, 50 or 80-being successful, that's what's most important. And that's what I think the players respect."
Success is everyone's goal, but achieving it rapidly has been a constant theme for Mangini, and with reason: In 1987, when he was only 16, his father Carmine—only 56 himself—died from a massive heart attack while playing racquetball in Cromwell with Eric's brother, Kyle. The sudden death of his role model, mentor and biggest fan had an indelible impact. "Losing a parent is always difficult," says Mangini. "And losing one at such a young age was incredibly difficult, but it made me appreciate how fragile life is, how important it is to not to wait to say the things you want to say to those people you care about—not wait to say, 'I love you,' because you never know when they're going to be gone. It also made me realize that nothing is promised, and anything in life is available. You have to approach life that way, and really work toward the things you want, and not wait—not wait for tomorrow, not wait for next week, to make things happen."
The youngest of five, he was a sophomore at Hartford's Bulkeley High School when his father died, and according to then coach Graham Martin, entertained thoughts about giving up football. "He was very close to his father," Martin recalls. "I went over to the house and I talked to some of the family members the next morning, and Eric and the whole family were obviously grieving. And I said to Eric, 'You know, your dad would want you to continue playing the great game of football. But you need to make your own decision,' and obviously, he did. But I just didn't want to see him not continue playing because he lost a big part of his life."
"Carmine was very involved with the children," says Nancy Mangini, Eric's mother. "He was a good listener, he was always right there ready for them. When I would have a parent-teacher conference, he would take time off from work to go with me and talk with the teachers." Carmine's older brother, Frank, also close to Eric, helped to fill the paternal void. "After Carmine died, Frank went to all of the football games," recalls Nancy. "He would pick Eric up, and they would go out and do lunch or do something fun. He really stepped up to the plate. He was a great comfort."
From this point, Eric dedicated himself to honoring his father's memory. He distinguished himself by winning the Brian Piccolo Award for outstanding athletic and academic achievement, and then being named Scholar Athlete of the Year his senior year. In addition to being a team captain, he even found time to become an All-State wrestler. "Eric is the type of person that you want to go to war with," says Martin. "Even in eighth grade, when he came here with Kyle, you could just tell . . . . I mean, you didn't know where he was going to end up, but he just had a love of the game, a willingness to learn, and was a student of the game all through the four years that I coached him. On the field, Eric knew where everybody was supposed to be. He knew the role and responsibility of everybody-including myself."
After graduating from Bulkeley in 1989, Mangini was ready for college. "My brother Kyle went to Wesleyan, and I had to choose between it, Tufts and Williams, but I had had such a great experience going to visit him that when I had the chance to go there, I thought it would be a great fit," he says. "I liked the football program there, I liked the coaches there. I had made some friends there through Kyle, and I wanted to stay close to home. It just worked out great."
At Wesleyan, he made an impression with his commitment and positive attitude, switching position from linebacker to nose tackle and earning four letters, setting a school record with 36.5 career quarterback sacks, being voted a first-team all-star by NESCAC and ECAC-New England Division III, and winning third-team All-American honors and All-East Coast in 1992-93. "Eric was a tremendous competitor," says then head football coach Kevin Spencer, now special teams coach of the defending NFL champion Pittsburgh Steelers. "He was a tough, hard-nosed kid who could hold his weight, very definitely, on the football field. And also intellectually, in conversation and classroom work. I mean, you could tell—the kid's eyes would light up when you talked to him. And he's still that way."
During his junior and senior years, Mangini decided to study abroad, and once again followed older brother Kyle (now an investment banker), this time to Melbourne, Australia. Looking to satisfy his need to stay busy between classes Down Under, he discovered the Kew Colts, a semiprofessional team that played American football. Starting out as an assistant, he quickly ended up in charge of the motley collection of players, some of whom were twice his age. "I had gone out there and I thought I was going to be an investment banker," he says. "I got involved with the team through a friend of a friend, and just fell in love with coaching."
In two seasons under student/coach Mangini, the Colts rattled off a 22-3-1 record and won two league titles. He had officially found his calling. "We had some success there and it was a great time in my life," he recalls. "When I got out of college, I decided I wanted to give it a shot and see what happens."
"I certainly wasn't surprised," says Nancy Mangini. "He loved football. He just kept getting more and more involved with it."
Back from Australia with the fire to coach burning, and eager to break into the NFL in any way possible, he contacted Spencer, who was by then an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns. He was able to arrange a below-entry-level job for Mangini as a ballboy with the team. "He got there a little bit early, of course," recalls Spencer, "and he said, 'Can I sit in on meetings?' and I said, 'Look, you're coming in as a ballboy. If you pick up any extra X's and O's, that's wonderful, but you have to do your job, keep your nose clean and don't be sticking it into areas where it shouldn't be.'"
"That was one of the few times in my life when I was the old guy rather than the young guy—a 23-year-old college grad with a pretty healthy group of 14- and 15-year-olds," Mangini laughs. "The team ballboy photo was pretty interesting. I was the giant."
With the door cracked open, Mangini rushed in, putting in what was becoming his trademark long hours and even interning in the team's public relations department. It was while working late into the night-manning an enormous photocopier dubbed "The Queen Mary," among other tasks-that he came to the attention of Bill Belichick, the Browns' head coach at the time, and also a Wesleyan grad (and member of the Chi Psi fraternity, as was Mangini). The two overachievers bonded, and in 1995, Belichick officially hired young Mangini as an assistant coach. "I think Bill has the uncanny ability to see the worth in everybody, and more importantly, how you can help his organization," suggests Spencer. "And he saw something in Eric he thought might serve well in the coaching area. He evolved very quickly from picking up socks and jocks to becoming Bill Belichick's right-hand man."
Belichick was fired by the Browns after the 1995 season, but new head coach Ted Marchibroda kept Mangini on as a quality control/ offensive assistant as the franchise relocated to Baltimore. It was during this move that Mangini met his wife, Julie, a fellow workaholic whose own sports roots go deep: Her father, Ron Shapiro, is a sports agent, while brother Mark is the general manager of baseball's Cleveland Indians. "I was an attorney in Baltimore at the time," she says of their initial meeting. "My brother was friendly with the Browns, and he knew a bunch of the people moving from Cleveland to Baltimore. He asked if I would meet up with them, show them around the city—they were sort of picking my brain about where to live and where to find apartments, what Baltimore was like versus Cleveland." She took a shine to Eric, especially his sense of humor. "We're very similar in our commitments to our families, and that they are priorities in our lives," she says. "And also our common work ethic and how we felt about our commitment to things we're passionate about, which was our family and work." They started dating.
Love life all set, a year later Mangini was also back with Belichick, who was now defensive coordinator for the New York Jets under head coach Bill Parcells. Mangini was made a defensive assistant in charge of quality control, and helped coach defensive backs for three seasons with the Jets. When Belichick left in 2000 to take over the top job in New England, Mangini went with him in the same capacity as in New York, to coach defensive backs. He was by Belichick's side during the Patriots' three Super Bowl wins over the next four years, and when defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel left to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2005, Mangini was immediately elevated to defensive coordinator. He served in that role for one season, helping the Patriots back to the playoffs. Three days after New England's season ended last January, Mangini took over the reins of the Jets.
After the Jets formally announced the hiring, Bill Belichick offered the following comments in a press release: "For over a decade, I had the pleasure of working with Eric Mangini, who is an outstanding coach and an even finer individual. I will always appreciate Eric's contributions. I value our friendship and look forward to supporting Eric's commitment to youth football in the future. Eric worked his way from the most entry-level position to a position of great responsibility during several successful seasons. The opportunity Eric has now earned is truly an example of good things happening to a good, hardworking person and I wish him well."
"Bill has been a great friend, and he will always be a great friend," says Mangini. "And now the fact that we're competing won't affect the friendship, and I really value that."
At the introductory press conference, Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson said of Mangini, "He's got a strong pedigree. He's been a major contributor to a very successful organization. He has demonstrated to us a passion for football, a passion for teaching. He knows something about the culture of football that appealed to us."
It's also a culture that Mangini even manages to find time to share with others beyond his players and coaches—his hometown community. "When I was at Bulkeley, [Chicago Bears linebacker] Mike Singletary came and spoke to the team, and spent some time with us on the field," says Mangini. "I remember thinking if I ever got a chance to come back and do something positive like that for kids, it was something that I wanted to do. I appreciated the time and the effort he took to help us."
Inspired by Singletary—as well as by lessons about giving back and selflessness imparted by his father and uncle (who died in 1996)—he and Kyle founded the Carmine and Frank Mangini Foundation, which annually sponsors a daylong football camp at Bulkeley for "under-resourced" youth. Players and coaches from across the NFL participate, including Belichick, New Britain's Tebucky Jones and fellow Hartford native Dwight Freeney.
"In terms of the foundation, and even my experience at Bulkeley—both my brother and I played and went to school with a lot of really good kids—a lot of good kids—who maybe went down the wrong path because when they left the building, they were surrounded by more negative opportunities than positive opportunities," says Mangini. "Joe Ehrmann [a former NFL player known for his charitable work] always talks about the saying, 'If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.' That's a great concept, but at some point, that man needs a pond to fish in. I view the foundation as trying to create a pond for these kids to make good decisions.
"The lessons I learned from playing football—about sacrifice, about teamwork, about hard work—all those things I carry through to today, and are really invaluable."
He is also intent on passing those values on to his own children, as his father and uncle did for him. Sons Jake, 2, and Luke, born this past January, supercede football on any given Sunday. "Eric is just an incredible dad and really makes the boys feel that they are a priority in his life," says Julie, whom Mangini married in 2001. "We make time in whatever way we can, whether it's stopping by the office or a quick hello. Sometimes, he'll run home, read a quick story to the boys and then head back to the office."
"You know, I honestly believe that you don't have to be a bad father to be a good football coach," he says. "I know I hope some day I can be the dad to them that my father was to me. I learned so much from him . . . I hope that they learn some of the same lessons I've learned from him."
"Carmine would be very, very proud of Eric's success, but he wouldn't be surprised," laughs mom Nancy. "Eric was always very determined. When he made up his mind he was going to do something, he did it."
Going from ballboy to head coach in a dozen years is nothing short of meteoric by NFL standards. By Eric Mangini standards, it's nothing out of character. "I'm excited about the opportunity, whether it came at this age or another age," he says, continuing to work, not waiting for tomorrow, not waiting for next week, to make things happen. "I can honestly say that I come in here each day and focus on the next task at hand and make sure that it's done, and done really well-a point we make to the players: 'Don't look back, don't look forward, just work on doing whatever we're doing at that moment as best as you possibly can, and the rest will take care of itself.'"
