With the New York Jets firing Todd Bowles on Sunday, the longest tenured coach in the New York-New Jersey area is not the New Jersey Devils’ coach John Hynes.
Credit where credit is due, I learned of this topic from the great Chris Ryan from NJ.com. He tweeted this out while covering the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
With the Jets firing Todd Bowles, Devils coach John Hynes is the longest tenured head coach of NY/NJ’s nine teams across the four major sports. He’s in his fourth season.
— Chris Ryan (@ChrisRyan_NJ) December 31, 2018
That’s both impressive and insane. Have the Devils ever had the longest tenured coach in the New York area? The Devils longest tenured coach ever is Jacques Lemaire. He was a head coach for five straight seasons from 1993 to 1998. So, think about this. Hynes is one season away from being tied as the longest tenured coach in the history of the Devils.
The New York area is known for being very hard. Coaches have high expectations in the biggest media market in the world. However, coaches surprisingly last longer than one would think.
The New York Yankees are the most obvious example. Since their inception in 1984, the Devils have had 23 head coaching stints (including Lemaire’s three stints and counting the Adam Oates, Lou Lamoriello, Scott Stevens fiasco as one). In that time, the Yankees have had 12 coaches. That includes six coaches between 1984 and 1989.
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The New York Rangers have been quick to the trigger in firing coaches themselves, but still sit at 19 coaches over that span including David Quinn. The Islanders have multiple coaches longer in tenure than the Devils have.
Hynes isn’t necessarily the most safe coach in the league. There was a time where every team underneath the Devils in the standings fired their coach, including Joel Quenneville with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Honestly, I’m not sure how much longer the Devils will stick with John Hynes, but it’s not ending this season. The team has made it clear that Hynes will remain the longest tenured head coach of the New York area for at least the most direct future.