In a flawless world, Tom Coughlin would have rode off into the sunset after Super Bowl 50 and today’s press conference to introduce Ben McAdoo would be happening a month from now.
Advertisement
“It has been a privilege to work and learn under Coach Coughlin”, McAdoo said in a statement posted on the team’s website Thursday aftenroon.
That’s right, the young 38-year old Mike McCarthy disciple, who is coming off two back-to-back 6-10 seasons with the organization, is now the boss in East Rutherford for this storied organization.
McAdoo, who was a little-known Green Bay Packers assistant just two years ago, credited many people for his swift ascent: his family from his hometown of Homer City, Pa., population 1,700; the coaches who mentored him with the Saints, 49ers, Packers and Giants; and his wife, Toni, and his children, 7-year-old Larkin and 3-year-old BJ.
McAdoo has not served as a head coach at any level, but it’s been pointed out that the Giants also elevated a relatively obscure coordinator to the top job in late 1982, when they named future Hall of Famer Bill Parcells head coach.
Ben McAdoo needed two seasons to fix the New York Giants offense.
It’s McAdoo’s way to honor his mentor over the last two seasons.
McAdoo takes over a team that has missed the playoffs the past four seasons. He once said, “They can’t fine me if I get up and walk away”.
In his second year in Jacksonville, he took the expansion team to the AFC Championship and in his second year with the Giants, won 11 games. “I have been preparing for this moment my entire professional life”.
McAdoo faces a big challenge.
Despite the letdown that was the Giants regular season, co-owner John Mara declined to give general manager Jerry Reese the pink slip for his years of lousy draft selections and repeated failures on the free agent side. A 29-36 record over the past four seasons forced him into making the one decision he’d been dreading for years, the one he famously refused to do before the 2007 Super Bowl season, parting ways with a coach who’d become as identified with the franchise as any in its long, storied history.
There are also reports that former Dolphins coach Joe Philbin, who worked with McAdoo in Green Bay, will be hired in some capacity. – Dan Graziano, ESPN.com Ben McAdoo will sit in an office that has only ever been occupied by Tom Coughlin.
The Giants hired McAdoo in 2014 to replace Kevin Gilbride. I am excited about staying the same. I think Coach McAdoo is a great coach, a great teacher, and will be a great leader of this team. “He came out of nowhere and is one of the best coaches out there”.
That aggressive play calling, though, is part of McAdoo’s game. [McAdoo] puts in the work and he cares about it. We had a great time working together, him in kind of a new role as a quarterbacks coach, and we learned a lot from each other.
Advertisement
As the Giants’ season deteriorated it was ironic that McAdoo seemed to be the main reason to keep Coughlin around, as losing the star offensive coordinator might cause a problem for Eli, Odell Beckham Jr. and the Giants’ offense.
