FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Tuesday, January 17, 2006)

ERIC MANGINI TAKES OVER AS HEAD COACH OF THE NEW YORK JETS
(Spent Six Seasons With Patriots, Including 2005 as Defensive Coordinator, With Three Super Bowl Rings)

     

     Eric Mangini '94, who has been working in the NFL since 1995 when he broke in as a PR assistant with the Cleveland Browns and most recently has been with the New England Patriots the last six seasons including serving as defensive coordinator in 2005, has been named head coach of the New York Jets, succeeding Herm Edwards, who recently took the head job at Kansas City.
      Mangini, who earned numerous honors while playing football for four years at Wesleyan (1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993), remains the team's career (36) sack leader. He was a NESCAC all-star in 1993 and an Eastern College Athletic College (ECAC) New England Division III all-star in both 1992 and 1993.  He also received CoSIDA/GTE Academic All-America District I honors in 1992.
     During his college years, Mangini spent two semesters studying in Australia and coached football there twice, leading the Kew Colts in Melbourne to regional championships each time.
     During his NFL tenure, Mangini has coached with the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets before joining the Patriots staff in 2000.  He coached with mentor Bill Belichick '75 for nine of his first 10 years in the NFL but will now face him directly as an opponent in the AFC East.
     Mangini will be the youngest head coach in the NFL at age 35 and, with Belichick, gives Wesleyan University two of the 32 head coaching spots in the NFL.  While USC and San Diego State both boast three NFL head coaches presently, Wesleyan is the lone Division III college among the 18 institutions which NFL head coaches call their alma mater.
                                                                                                                -30-