Giants' Dave DeGuglielmo knows timing of hiring was unusual
Dave DeGuglielmo, shown here when he was Jets offensive line coach in 2012, was hired to coach the offensive line after Giants coach Joe Judge fired Marc Colombo during the bye week. Credit: NEWSDAY/Joe Epstein
For Dave DeGuglielmo, the drama and awkwardness that led to his being hired as the midseason replacement offensive line coach after Marc Colombo was fired two weeks ago is irrelevant. He’s here now, and that’s what matters.
"Listen, everyone’s got a job to do," he said on Tuesday in his first public comments since taking over the role. "Everyone gets paid to do a job. It’s just business as usual."
Then he paused before acknowledging the obvious.
"It’s just highly unusual."
That it is. And DeGuglielmo said it is up to him to make the transition as smooth as possible for the players.
"I think in this circumstance, you need to keep guys staying the course," he said. "You need to follow the message of the coordinator and the head coach. End of conversation."
That may be the crux to why DeGuglielmo is here and Colombo is not. The new O-line coach went out of his way to talk about following orders and even noted that he won’t "have the same concerns about rotating guys in as other people might have." That was an issue between Joe Judge and Colombo.
DeGuglielmo, who never met a metaphor he didn’t like, compared himself to "a plumber called to a different company to do a plumbing job" and said adjusting to the new team is "like taking a job in Spain and I don’t know Spanish. I still know how to do my job, I just don’t know the language of it."
He also dispelled concerns that he has had too many jobs and bounced around too much.
"I think I bring something to whatever program wants me," he said. "I’ve come into this role more than once. This is the third time I’ve replaced a guy at a certain position [during the season]. It’s not ideal for me either, trust me. But when you look at it, I still keep getting hired, so I must have some value to somebody for some reason."
The Giants hope that’s the case, and that DeGuglielmo can keep the offensive line going in the direction it has been for the past month or so.
"I think this line is growing," he said. "Whether I was the line coach in the beginning or the line coach in the middle or the end, we’d still be doing the same thing. We’d be emphasizing points that need to be addressed and just focusing on them and getting better every day. That’s all we can do and they’ve done a great job doing that. What more could I ask for?"
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
