You cannot possibly look at Rex's record and not take into account the utter disaster that John Idzik was for this franchise.
And yes, I know when Rex had his say in terms of personnel that he was very influential in some absolutely horrible decisions. Signing Derrick Mason at the expense of J-Co and drafting Couples are the two that immediately come to mind.
He's not the first coach to not be able to effectively evaluate talent and he won't be the last. All I know is, when he had a somewhat competent GM and some talent on the team, he was more successful here than any other Jets head coach of my lifetime, Parcells included.
And...I know this has absolutely nothing to do with how to evaluate a head coach, so take it for what its worth. But he loved this franchise. When he knew he was coaching in his last game, first play on offense we shifted our guards like we did in SB3. I know its stupid-it still means something to me as a fan.
I've said this a million times but I will forever maintain that if Rex was coaching that Falcons team against the Pats, they win the Super Bowl that year and Shanny the Junior isn't having to answer questions about 28-3 this week.