After Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi tripped Dolphins gunner Nolan Carroll during a December game at the New Meadowlands Stadium, Alosi initially denied that he was part of any formation of staffers aimed at impeding the gunner’s ability to get down the field and cover punts by erecting a wall along the thick white stripe that borders the field.
He was nevertheless suspended through the completion of the team’s season.
Several days later, Alosi and the Jets admitted that he arranged for the placement of Jets employees along the border of the field. The suspension was transformed to indefinite.
Alosi has now resigned. The team announced the development this evening.
The move comes only three days after the same tipster who tipped us off to the layoffs with the team informed us that Alosi had been in the building. Though the Jets denied that he had been reinstated, it appears that he was likely attending meetings regarding his future with the team.
In the end, it appears that he had no future, and that the Jets offered him the chance to resign in lieu of firing him.
“After speaking with Sal, he decided that it is best for him to tender his resignation at this time,” G.M. Mike Tannenbaum said in a statement released by the team. “We appreciate all of Sal’s contributions during his tenure with the team. He played an invaluable role in our success and established what we feel is one of the better strength and conditioning programs in the NFL.”
In other words, they fired him without firing him.
It now remains to be seen whether Alosi claims that he didn’t devise the strategy on his own, and that he was told to do it by special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff or head coach Rex Ryan. Depending on the precise terms of Alosi’s resignation (i.e., severance pay), there’s a good chance he’ll be prevented from ever talking about what Westhoff and/or Ryan knew.