Jeff Ulbrich did not receive a single head coaching interview following the 2023 season, despite overseeing a Jets defense that finished in the top 10 the last two years. Now, Ulbrich will finally receive an opportunity to lead a team. On Tuesday morning, the Jets fired coach Robert Saleh following the team’s 23-17 loss to the Vikings in London and a 20-36 record in four seasons. Ulbrich was named the Jets interim coach after the disappointing 2-3 start. Saleh hired Ulbrich, 47, as the Jets defensive coordinator when he took the coaching job in 2021. After finishing dead last in yards and points per game in his first season as the Jets’ defensive coordinator, Ulbrich has led a top-five unit during the previous two seasons. Gang Green finished fourth (2022) and third (2023) in total defense. Last season, the Jets allowed just 292.3 yards per game. Following a tough 32-19 loss to the 49ers to begin the season, the Jets have rebounded to be one of the best defenses in the league. Gang Green is second in yards (255.8) and tied for fifth in points allowed per game (17.0). Although the defensive scheme is Saleh’s, Ulbrich has been the Jets’ defensive play-caller. It is unknown if Ulbrich will continue to call defensive plays now that he is the team’s interim coach. The 49ers selected Ulbrich in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft out of Hawaii. Ulbrich’s NFL coaching journey began after his 10-season career ended with the 49ers in 2009. The former linebacker spent two seasons (2010-11) as an assistant special teams coordinator with the Seahawks. Then, UCLA coach Jim L. Mora hired Ulbrich as its linebackers coach and special teams coordinator in 2012 and he later became the Bruins’ defensive coordinator in 2014. Ulbrich returned to the NFL in 2015 when the Falcons hired him as a linebackers coach. Atlanta and Ulbrich reached the Super Bowl in 2016 before falling to the Patriots in overtime. In 2020, Ulbrich was promoted to assistant head coach and became the Falcons’ defensive coordinator by Raheem Morris, who was made the then-interim coach following the firing of Dan Quinn after an 0–5 start to that season. Ulbrich does not have prior NFL head coaching experience, but he was the head coach at the 75th annual Senior Bowl last January. “I know how all of this works, “Ulbrich said about not receiving an NFL job interview during the previous offseason. “It takes like a year to get your name out there. “I always feel like things take like a year and then they talk about it and it gets the narrative going a little bit. If we play well again, who knows? My focus right now is winning a world championship with the New York Jets.”