Even before he's introduced as the next New York Jets head coach and begins to assemble his staff, Rex Ryan has an influential assistant.
"We talk football all the time," Ryan's famous father, Buddy Ryan, said Monday.
Buddy Ryan was entertaining at his farmhouse in Shelbyville, Ky., and couldn't stay on the line. But the conversation lasted long enough for a proud father to dote on his son, who left the Baltimore Ravens to sign a four-year contract earlier in the day.
"He should've been a head coach in the league before this," Buddy Ryan said. "He'll be ready.
"I'm excited about it, especially with the Jets. That's my first team."
Buddy Ryan broke into the NFL as the Jets' defensive line coach from 1968 through 1975. He began under Weeb Ewbank, winning Super Bowl III on Joe Namath's guarantee.
But where Buddy Ryan soared to fame was as the architect of the Chicago Bears' fearsome 46 defense as Mike Ditka's coordinator. When the Bears won Super Bowl XX, Buddy Ryan's players gave him head-coach treatment and carried him off the field in exaltation.
Buddy Ryan was the Philadelphia Eagles' head coach from 1986 through 1990 and the Arizona Cardinals' head coach in 1994 and '95.
Rex Ryan and his twin brother, Rob Ryan, got their NFL starts on dad's Arizona staff. Rex Ryan's next NFL job came in 1999 with the Ravens, and he established his own reputation as a defensive mastermind.
Over Rex Ryan's tenure, the Ravens rank second in total defense, first in run defense, first in fewest points per game, first in takeaways, first in third-down conversions and fourth in sacks.
