The NFL coaching carousel continued to spin Tuesday when the Giants announced the firing of Joe Judge after two seasons in charge.
The team made the official decision Tuesday night. It comes a day after former general manager Dave Gettleman announced his retirement after four seasons as well. Judge met with Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch several times in recent days to discuss the future of the team.
It was after one of those meetings that Mara said he and Tisch made the decision not to hire Judge.
In Judge’s two years in New York, the Giants were 10-23, including a 4-13 record this season, one in which the team made headlines for its feats off the field and its performance on the field.
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Sporting News looks at why the Giants made this decision and who might be some of the best replacements.
Why did the Giants fire Joe Judge?
Judge, who came to the Giants from New England at the start of the 2020 season, took over a team that went 4-12 in 2019. He spent seven years in New England, including five as the team’s special teams coordinator.
The move was praised by many in the media at the time Judge was hired, with some even comparing him to Super Bowl winner Tom Coughlin:
Joe Judge presser review: Much more Coughlin than McAdoo / Shurmur. He played a lot of correct chords. #NYG the leadership is happy / safe for good reason.
– Kim Jones (@KimJonesSports) January 9, 2020
However, the Judge era got off to a slow start, as the Giants opened 2020 with a 0-5 record. Things never substantially improved, as the team never went above .500 at any point in Judge’s tenure and never made the postseason, extending the team’s playoff drought to five years.
2021 wasn’t much better, as the Giants went from finishing 6-10 to 4-13, with the final games of Judge’s tenure drawing particular criticism. Some players even asked to be fired. Following a 22-7 loss to Washington on the last Sunday of the season, one that included some questionable plays, Judge met with Mara and Tisch each of the next two days. Judge was fired after meeting with him on Tuesday.
“I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were going when we played our last game of the season.” Mara said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision.”
The Giants ranked 31st in both total offense and scoring offense in each of the past two seasons, while they ranked 21st in total defense and 23rd in scoring defense this season.
Who will replace Joe Judge in New York?
With Judge’s departure, the Giants’ new coach will be the team’s fifth in eight seasons. They will seek to guide New York to a winning record for the first time since 2016, when Ben McAdoo’s team went 11-5.
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The Giants have two former college coaches Jeremy Pruitt and Derek Dooley on their coaching staff, and they employed former Dallas head coach Jason Garrett as their offensive coordinator for the first 11 weeks of the season before he was replaced by the former Cleveland head coach Freddie Kitchens.
However, it is most likely that someone outside the organization is tasked with leading the team. Mara and Tisch said the new general manager will hire the coach.
Some of the main candidates could be:
- Jim Harbaugh, Michigan Head Coach
- Dan Quinn, Dallas defensive coordinator
- Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City offensive coordinator
- Kellen Moore, Dallas offensive coordinator
- Doug Pederson, former Eagles head coach
- Brian Daboll, Buffalo offensive coordinator
- Mike McDaniel, San Francisco offensive coordinator
- Kevin O’Connell, Rams offensive coordinator
Joe Judge Contract
Judge’s deal was for five years at approximately $ 5 million, according to the New York Post. At the time of Judge’s hiring, the Giants were still paying former coaches Pat Shurmur and Ben McAdoo, who were also fired before the end of their contracts.
Since Bill Parcells ‘last season in 1991, only two of the Giants’ seven coaches in that span have lasted at least four seasons. Judge is the last in the coaching line to miss that mark.