Baylor coach Matt Rhule won’t be the Jets’ next head coach.
Rhule sent a text message to his staff “indicating” he’s staying at Baylor, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Not long before Rapoport’s tweet, Jessica Morrey of KCEN in Waco asked Rhule whether he was leaving. “I’m still in Waco,” Rhule told her.
Rhule, 43, interviewed with the Jets over the weekend and was the favorite for the job.
The sticking point, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, was the coaching staff. The team was not satisfied with the quality of staff that Rhule could put together, and he wanted to hire his own staff.
He has coached on both sides of the ball and in the college and pro ranks, including serving as an assistant offensive line coach on Tom Coughlin’s staff with the Giants in 2012. Rhule, a native New Yorker, has turned around programs at Temple and Baylor.
Rhule interviewed with the Colts last year, but withdrew his name from consideration a day after news leaked of his interview.