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Eric Mangini wishes Spygate didn't become as big of a deal as it did for the NFL and New England Patriots.
(William Perlman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
For most NFL fans--especially those that live and die with Jets football--Eric Mangini's lasting legacy as a head coach was helping to take down the cheating Patriots by exposing Spygate.
While order--at least until the Deflategate scandal--was restored when the NFL came down hard on New England for taping video signals, the ex-Jets and Browns head coach wishes it didn't happen the way it did. In fact, during an interview with the New York Post, Mangini actually said that he regrets the way Spygate became a national story:
"Spygate is a big regret," Mangini said. "It wasn't supposed to go down the way it went down."
Mangini basically wanted to scare the Patriots into stopping the practice of taping signals from other teams. But the former Patriots assistant and one-time close friend to Bill Belichick didn't think it would actually be reported to the NFL. Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum had different ideas. Huge fines and draft pick loss hit New England and the NFL hasn't been the same since.
The same can be said for Belichick's legacy and the relationship the Patriots legend and Mangini no longer share.
"I cared about him," Mangini said. "I didn't want to hurt him. I didn't want to hurt the Patriots. They were a huge part of my life, too, and the Kraft family. The Krafts were always great to me. It wasn't like I was thinking I really want to get these guys. My thought was I don't want to put my team at a competitive disadvantage, no matter how small."
Perhaps the most striking part about Mangini's regret? He doesn't believe what the Patriots were doing had a tangible effect on wins and losses.
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"There was no great value in what they were doing," Mangini said. "It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it to me personally. It wasn't worth it to the relationship."
After spending the past three years with the 49ers, Mangini isn't coaching in the NFL this season.
Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.