Rex Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum are taking a lot of heat for the way they handled the Brian Schottenheimer departure, which was clumsy to say the least.

Remember, Ryan and Tannenbaum were telling the world how much they wanted him back, that they expected him back if he didn't receive a head-coaching job. Well, Schottenheimer didn't get the Jaguars' HC job and, before you could spell "Schottenheimer" backward, he was gone and Tony Sparano was in.

On Friday, Ryan, commenting for the first time, called it a "mutual decision," which is closer to the truth than Schottenheimer saying in a statement he left on his own accord. Tannenbaum admitted "there were probably a couple of things that we could have handled differently."

When the season ended, the Jets had "a number of conversations" with Schottenheimer, according to Tannenbaum.

"During the course of a few conversations, he represented to us that a fresh start would be in his best interests," Tannenbaum said. "Coach Ryan and I agreed with him."

Ryan added: "What I will say is this, when Brian went out to Jacksonville, we needed to have things lined up for our football team, the best thing for us. Just like it was the best thing for Brian to interview for the head coaching position at Jacksonville, we had to make sure that we were taking care of ourselves."

So they interviewed Sparano and OL line Bill Callahan for Schottenheimer's job even though he still had the job. Why not just fire him? In that case, the Jets would've been on the hook for his remaining salary, $3.2 million. Our guess is, they're probably still going to end up paying a chunk of it, but not all of it. Sparano still is getting paid by the Dolphins, so the Jets will save some money on that end.

On Friday, Schottenheimer was scheduled to interview for the Alabama OC job. He also has been linked to the Falcons' vacancy.