Who is Frank Bush: Jets Interim DC?

/ New York Jets / By

After one of the worst play calls to end a game I have ever seen, the Jets decided to fire Gregg Williams as their defensive coordinator, and rightfully so. Thankfully this season has been over for a while and most fans are hoping for losses to secure the 1st pick, which made this comical and not tragic. As I said in the video I posted after the game, not firing Williams would have sent the message that the Jets lost that game on purpose, which many top analysts before Williams was fired speculated they did as it was such a bad formation. However, we know tanking isn’t real, and players don’t lose on purpose, coaches don’t lose on purpose, which meant that Williams is really just that bad. To be fair, Williams has told us his favorite formation is the cover 0 so we should have seen that coming, but regardless the firing had to be done. What scared me before the firing was if it was intentional, it told me that he was going to be back next season, since why would you lose on purpose if you didn’t think your job was secure? Thankfully and for the first time since hiring Douglas, the Johnson’s made the right decision. We now are assured again that this coaching staff, primarily Adam Gase, will be gone at the end of the season.

I have never been a fan of Williams for Bounty Gate alone, but he is also a bad DC. I have shown that all season, as evident below. Now that he is gone, Frank Bush has taken over as the interim DC. In past articles I have pointed out that having an interim always has at least temporary success as teams are not prepared for the new coach and his playcalling/scheming, but Frank Bush has been around this league a while, as well he is a former player. Let’s take a look at who Frank Bush is.

Frank Bush played his college ball at NC State, which makes him okay in my book as an ACC guy. He played linebacker, which makes sense as he was the linebackers coach of the Jets before being promoted to interim, and was everywhere else he has been as well. He didn’t have much of a college career, but did enough to get himself drafted by the Houston Oilers in the fifth round of the 1985 draft. As a rookie he started 11 games and recorded 3 sacks. In his second season, tragedy struck. After his third game he was examined for an injury, and it revealed that he has a narrow spinal canal. This is a condition he always had that was not caused by play, but once revealed, it made it too risky for him to continue to play football.

The following season, he was hired by his team, the Oilers, to be their college scout. He scouted for them until 1992 when he was promoted to their linebackers coach. The following season he was also given the title defensive quality coach, as well as linebackers coach, and he remained in those positions until 1994.

Following that season he was hired by the Denver Broncos as their linebackers coach by Mike Shanahan. He was with the team when they won back to back Super Bowls, and held other positions with the teams as well (special teams coach (2001-03), secondary/nickel coach (2000) and linebackers coach (1995-99) ) until 2003.

In 2004 Bush joined the Arizona Cardinals where he was their linebacker coach until 2006. While with the Cardinals, Karlos Dansby over 3 years had 222 tackles, 17 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and 4 interceptions, including 2 returned for touchdowns.

In 2007 he joined the Texans, where he remained until 2010. His first two seasons he was the senior defensive assistant, and then in 2009 he was elevated to their defensive coordinator. While he was with the Texans, defensive end Mario Williams and linebackers DeMeco Ryans and Brian Cushing became Pro Bowl players, with Cushing being Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2009. However, he was fired in 2010 when the Texans finished 3rd to last in total defense.

After being fired, Bush returned to the Oilers (now the Titans) as their linebacker coach for two years. In 2013 he was hired as the linebackers coach of the Rams. He remained their linebackers coach until 2016, and is credited for helping Alec Ogletree finish ninth among all NFL linebackers in total tackles (408) as well as James Laurinaitis (335 tackles) who finished 20th. Ogletree had 11 forced fumbles and 5 interceptions as well. In 2017 Bush was hired by the Dolphins as their assistant head coach and linebackers coach, where he remained until 2019 when he joined the Jets.

For the last 2 seasons, Frank Bush has been the inside linebackers coach for our New York Jets. In 2019, Bush was supposed to have CJ Mosley and Avery Williamson, a combo we were all very excited to see. Unfortunately it never came to be, as Williamson tore his ACL in the preseason playing in a game he never should have been in, and CJ Mosley looked incredible until he got hurt, and only played 2 weeks then never returned. Fans were very disappointed and didn’t expect much from the inside linebackers last season, but Frank Bush got the most out of his replacement guys. With Neville Hewitt, a former UDFA, and James Burgess, a waiver claim UDFA, the Jets inside linebackers were surprisingly one of the bright spots on defense. Burgess was 2nd on the team with 80 total tackles, and also had 8 tackles for loss and 5 passes defensed. Neville Hewitt finished the season with career highs up to that point in every category: 74 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 5 passes defended. No one expected this kind of production from these 2 guys, and the credit goes to Frank Bush.

This season, CJ Mosley opted out, and Williamson spent the majority of the season hurt before being traded to the Steelers. This time, Neville Hewitt has been even better! He has a new career high in tackles with 103 on the season so far which also happens to be 8th in the entire NFL! Also, don’t forget Harvey Langi. Langi spent the first 3 seasons of his NFL career as an edge rusher. He did nothing with the Patriots in 2017, and nothing with the Jets last season. He looked to have a very short unproductive NFL career. This season however, due to injury, he was switched to inside linebacker, and with the help of Frank Bush, he has completely turned the corner. Langi has been a tackling machine, and has gotten better and better every week. Week 9 his 9 solo tackles tied for 3rd in the entire NFL, & week 11 his 8 solo tackles tied for 2nd! He looks like a breakout star.

Now for the remainder of the season, Frank Bush will be the Jets interim defensive coordinator. As we saw at every place he has been, he has gotten good to great production out of his linebackers, especially with the Jets. He has been a coach for 34 years now, so has seen just about everything. He had one stint as a defensive coordinator that didn’t end well, but that was a decade ago, and possibly other factors contributed to that as well. I’ve mentioned the success interims tend to see, even if just temporary. As a coach that has gotten the most out of linebackers and even defensive lineman with every team he has been with, it will be interesting to see how he fares in his second stint as a defensive coordinator.