FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — Jeff Ulbrich expressed some regrets about the way he handled his 12-game stint as the New York Jets interim coach as he looked ahead on Monday to his new job as defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.
Ulbrich was 3-9 as interim coach in New York while continuing to serve as defensive coordinator. He said he should have put another assistant in charge of the defense.
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Ulbrich said “the delegation piece” of his responsibilities as interim coach was important and added “which I failed at, to be completely honest.”
The Jets were 2-3 when owner Woody Johnson fired coach Robert Saleh and made Ulbrich, who was Saleh’s defensive coordinator, the interim coach.
“There is an element of a failure for myself in that way because I didn’t delegate,” Ulbrich said. “I didn’t. I just took it all on myself. In my mind’s eye, I was trying to to create continuity and I didn’t want a fractious staff.
“I thought the best thing for me to do at that point in time was just try to keep everybody in the same role that they had just so we could keep things rolling. And it wasn’t the right thing to do. It wasn’t as I look back. I should have delegated. I should have given the defensive coordinator responsibilities to someone else.”
Ulbrich listed the importance of delegating responsibilities as one of two top lessons learned as interim coach. The other, he said, was “truth telling” on the staff, a point he said will not be a problem in his reunion with Falcons coach Raheem Morris.
Ulbrich and Morris worked together in Ulbrich’s time in Atlanta as an assistant from 2015-20. In the final 11 games in 2020, Ulbrich served as the Falcons interim defensive coordinator when Morris was the interim coach.
Ulbrich said he’ll be careful to be candid with Morris, especially after seeing how he was approached in a different manner by assistants after he became the Jets interim coach.
“I learned even more than I knew the value of truth tellers on your staff,” Ulbrich said, adding it’s tempting for an assistant to try to “eliminate every problem from the head coach’s table so he can just thrive and do his thing.”
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Ulbrich said he learned “there’s certain things that need to be told to the head coach that are occurring because a lot of times what I found in that interim role was, although it was interim, it was like I felt the shift in the way people talked to me and treated me and what they said to me and the lack of truth sometimes was really detrimental, you know?
“So it just it reinforced the idea that (Morris) is going to need me in that way, to make sure that I’m always telling the truth and maybe, you know, eliminating some of the blind spots that he doesn’t see.”
Ulbrich didn’t elaborate on where he saw a “lack of truth” from other Jets coaches.
Former Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was hired as New York’s coach last week. Ulbrich said he interviewed for the full-time job with the Jets before interviewing with Morris and the Falcons.
“The timing actually worked out perfect,” Ulbrich said.
Ulbrich said he received a call from Morris soon after the team fired defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake and defensive line coach Jay Rodgers on Jan. 11. Ulbrich was hired one week later.
The Falcons added two defensive assistants on Friday when they hired Mike Rutenberg as defensive pass game coordinator and Nate Ollie as defensive line coach.
Ulbrich takes over a defense that has too often been the weak spot as the Falcons have struggled through seven consecutive losing seasons. Despite a late-season surge in sacks, Atlanta couldn’t build on a 6-3 start under Morris. The Falcons allowed a combined 74 points in back-to-back losses to close the season for an 8-9 finish.
The Falcons ranked 23rd in total defense and in points allowed and finished next to last in third down efficiency.
Ulbrich said he will call the defensive plays, but will take advantage of the knowledge of Morris and his assistants in devising game plans.
“This is going to be a collaboration on the highest level,” Ulbrich said.
“It would be criminal of me not to take advantage of these guys, you know, or have some hard conversations,” he said.
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