Pro Football Rumors
Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll joined the organization together in 2022, but they’re not leaving as a package deal. After Daboll steered the Giants to a 20-40-1 record, including a 2-8 start this year, they fired him on Monday. Owners John Mara and Steve Tisch agreed it was time to move on from Daboll during a phone conversation on Monday morning, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports.
Mara and Tisch made the decision to choose offensive coordinator Mike Kafka as the Giants’ interim head coach, according to Schwartz. The team later announced that Schoen is staying on to lead the search for a full-time successor to Daboll.
Although the team Schoen has assembled will miss the playoffs for the third year in a row, the Giants have enough talent to make their head coaching job a “coveted” opening, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says. A new head coach would inherit first-round quarterback Jaxson Dart, No. 1 wide receiver Malik Nabers, co-NFL sacks leader Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, and Dexter Lawrence, among other enticing pieces.
While it could be a couple of months before the Giants name their next head coach, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, former Raiders HC Antonio Pierce, and Colts DC Lou Anarumo are among names to watch, Rapoport relays.
Spagnuolo has won four Super Bowls as a coordinator, including one with the Giants under Tom Coughlin, but he finished an ugly 10-38 as the St. Louis Rams’ head coach from 2009-11. Spagnuolo then went 1-3 as the Giants’ interim head coach in 2017, briefly taking over after the firing of Ben McAdoo.
Pierce had a great run as a Giants linebacker from 2005-09, winning a title as part of a Spagnuolo-coached defense. Like Spagnuolo, though, Pierce’s initial experience as an NFL head coach didn’t go well. The Raiders dismissed Pierce last January after going 9-17 under him in parts of two seasons.
Anarumo is a Staten Island native who worked as the Giants’ defensive backs coach in 2018. His son currently serves as a pro scout in the organization, Vacchiano notes. Anarumo, then the Bengals’ D-coordinator, interviewed for the Giants’ head coaching job before it went to Daboll. The longtime assistant “left a strong impression” during that meeting, sources told Vacchiano. With Anarumo an important part of the Colts’ unexpected turnaround this year, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Giants or other teams in the market for a head coach speak with him in the coming months.
