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.
“We feel like Joe has assembled a good young nucleus of talent, and we look forward to its development,” said Mara. Unfortunately, the results over the past three years have not been what any of us want. We take full responsibility for those results and look forward to the kind of success our fans expect.”
The Giants’ official statement will be the last time they address the Daboll firing for now, Dan Duggan of The Athletic reports. They’re not planning to make ownership or Schoen available for interviews this week.
This isn’t the ending the Giants envisioned when the Schoen/Daboll reign began in promising fashion in 2022. The Giants went 9-7-1 and won a wild-card playoff game over the Vikings before losing to the Eagles in the divisional round. Daboll earned Coach of the Year honors.
New York has posted horrid results over the past two-plus years, but Mara and Tisch continue to hold Schoen in high regard, per Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports. Giants ownership is of the belief that Schoen has been a significant upgrade over predecessor Dave Gettleman, who was at the helm from 2018-21. The Giants stumbled to a 19-46 mark under Gettleman and failed to earn a playoff berth.
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 stands to 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.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try… try… try again!
Mehhhh i would ask the new GM to find the new HC !!!!!
I assume you are being sarcastic. There ain’t going to be a new GM.
Why?
YIkes.
Most GMs get two HC hires unless it’s a complete disaster, so this is normal. He has drafted some good players. I would have no problem with this if I was a Giant fan unless he was planning to hire another one of his buddies like with Daboll.
They list 3 defensive guys which is unusual. Be interesting to see if they go coordinator or an experienced HC like McCarthy, Kingsbury, Flores, Belichick, Gruden. As for coordinators or college I’ve hear Lane Kiffin, Klint Kubiak among others.
Yeah, they’ll throw a bunch of names out there to convince fans they are making a real effort, but at the end of the search, you just know some guy named Manning will be the choice…lol.
Belichick is almost 75 years old with below average results of late and would want total control so why would the GM even consider him. Gruden is quite possibly one of the most overrated coaches in the history of the sport. They’re not going to want Flores around a young developing QB and I don’t think Kingsbury is built for the NY market. Kiffin is going to be the sexy choice but I’d be careful with him since he always seems ready to dart (no pun intended) to the next job that comes his way and failed miserably his first go around in the nfl as well as his countless other opportunities.
I feel like McCarthy gets them into the playoffs next season and although fans might think it’s a boring choice, sometimes boring works
Doubt they go outside their comfort zone, which is one of their problems. It’ll be someone with ties to the organization or the GM. McCarthy makes more sense with the Titans.
Giants fans would revolt if they picked McCarthy, lol. I don’t think he’s that bad of a coach but hiring another Cowboys retread (like Jason Garrett before him) would be crazy.
Not a fan of hiring GMs and HCs separate.
I don’t even think Schoen has been that good. Dart was Dabolls pick. He has missed on key draft picks – Evan Neal, Deonte Banks. Obv let Barkley go & McKinney, bad contract at the time for Jones (should’ve franchised him). To be fair the Burns trade has been good, some other solid picks. However, I don’t think he’s done enough to warrant a second HC hire
Banks was the pick Martindale lobbied for, which is something you want is your GM to listen to what they think fits their vision. He just was out after the next season after bumping heads with Daboll, who is a hothead, so he doesn’t have someone who wanted to use him a certain way in that job anymore. The Neal pick was bad, but otherwise, he’s done a decent job gathering talent. They’ve way underperformed the players selected under Daboll and his coaching staff since year one.
I don’t disagree with the talent level being better than the record indicates. Especially this year, have had some brutal collapses.
IMO this FO has been at best mid and hasn’t done enough to get a 2nd crack at a HC hire. Especially considering the PR nightmare the offseason hard knocks presented with Barkley
Wow….If Schoen actually bent over for Wink with the Banks pick, that’s good enough for most of us to fire him right now….he’s supposed to do what’s best for the team….not bend to your DC wishes…..and when you toss in Neal, Schmitz, and Kayvon who is solid but not a #1 draft choice, you have more misses with what should be solid starting players than hits…..just because his picks are starting on the Giants doesn’t make him a winner at the GM game….the Giants have become the joke of the league….Flott, the entire secondary including safeties, Hudson…….alll guys he brought into the clubhouse either thru the draft or as free agent pickups have led them to where they are…in the words of Parcells…you are what your record says you are…..keep Schoen…..please….
That’s typical that you ask your coaches what fits their scheme. He was a scheme fit for Martindale’s blitzing defense. But you keep harping on it like it was a top five pick.
@realfootballfan: “The Neal pick was bad”
In hindsight, sure. Maybe the biggest bust in Giants history considering how bad Neal is. But at the time, it was a good pick. Almost every talent evaluator had Neal as a top 15 pick, some much higher than that. I don’t blame Schoen for the Neal pick because no one could have predicted he would bust out this badly.
Yes we can blame Schoen based on Giants drafting history…except for our current LT…every lineman the Giants have drafted sucks…the only drafted position that is worse than OLine is their track record drafting DB’S including Safeties….all the more reason to stay away from drafting either group….the Giants player eval. dept is bad and is run by a family member….enough said.
The Giant line does not suck. That’s one of the things I’m talking about. Daboll isn’t getting the most there. You’ll see when you get a new coach that a lot of the same players will look fine. Ask Raider fans with their OL roster or the Chargers currently who are working with duck tape with both of their tackles out about if they’d trade places with you.
I mean I’ve been on record before that draft panning it because of how stiff he is. I saw him since high school and never thought he’d translate to the league, but I could see where people overlooked it all because he was at Alabama and thinking his powerful frame would make him a good pro. That’s why I just say yeah, that pick was bad, but most people had him rated highly, so I wouldn’t ding him to much for that one. For the most part, he’s added good talent to the team that Daboll hasn’t translated into winning football.
“Obv let Barkley go & McKinney, bad contract at the time for Jones (should’ve franchised him”
They were going to franchise Jones. The plan was to sign Barkley long-term and franchise Jones. They didn’t offer Barkley enough and he turned down their offer. Instead of upping it, they franchised Barkley. At that point, Jones had them by the balls and scored his big contract.
You could argue that a struggling team like the Giants should not have given a huge contract to a running back, but when you look at the deal they gave Slayton last offseason (3/$36 million with $22 million guaranteed) it’s head-scratching to say the least.