Gase denies rumored power struggle with Maccagnan

Adam Gase rejected the notion Monday that he and Mike Maccagnan were fighting for power when the latter was axed as general manager of the New York Jets.

"I disagree with that, as far as a power struggle, because whoever is getting hired (as GM) is going to have the same role - control of the roster," he told reporters, via Brian Costello of the New York Post. "I will coach the football team. That's what I'm going to do. Nothing's changing in that structure."

Maccagnan was surprisingly fired last week. Rumors claiming the two failed to coexist and fundamentally disagreed on the Jets' strategy in free agency quickly followed.

Gase, who was hired as head coach of the Jets in January on the heels of a three-year stint with the Miami Dolphins, was named interim GM. He'll assist in the search for a permanent personnel boss.

"In this business, shit like that happens all the time," he said. "It happened to me last year. That's what it is. I work for (Christopher Johnson). We're aligned as the head coach and the GM both report to the owner. That's the way it is."

Gase added that he was "surprised" when Johnson informed him Maccagnan would be let go, according to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

"I don't know who decides to put that stuff out there," he said of the reported rift. "It kind of pisses me off a little bit, because we have discussions on everything. That's our job. We have to work through so much stuff. That's what we got to do. That's all we've done since we've been here.

"Since we've started, we just constantly were in communication, whether he's coming down to my office or I'm going to his office. That's all we're trying to do, is just make sure we're on the same page all the time and making sure that we're trying to put this thing together as well as we can in a short period of time."

Johnson said when he announced the move that the decision to fire Maccagnan wasn't the result of a power struggle.

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