New Giants coach Joe Judge wowed team's co-owners in interview
Patriots special teams coach Joe Judge on the sideline during warm-ups prior to Super Bowl LI against the Falcons on Feb. 5, 2017, in Houston. Credit: AP/Jim Mahoney
John Mara has been part of many interviews with candidates to become head coach of the Giants. Probably too many recently for his liking, as the Giants have been involved in selecting a new on-field leader for the third time in five years this past week and a half.
On Monday, though, the co-owner of the team sat down with Joe Judge, the 38-year-old special teams coordinator for the Patriots, whom he had never before met. Mara came away from that encounter calling him “as impressive a candidate as I have interviewed.”
On Wednesday, he called him the new head coach of the Giants. That’s when the team made official what had been widely reported since Tuesday morning, that Judge would become the 19th head coach in franchise history. He’ll be introduced at a news conference on Thursday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
“I am humbled and honored,” Judge said in a statement through his new team, thanking ownership and management for the opportunity. “Over the past couple of days we had great conversations about where this team is and where it is headed and how we are going to get there. My job is to lead our players and coaches. The mission is clear: to win games. There is a process to reaching that objective, and we will implement that process and work that process starting today.”
The Giants hired Judge, but it seems as if they hope there are two other very successful coaches whose influences they might be getting. Many of the statements issued by the team included references to Judge’s time serving on staffs under Nick Saban at Alabama and Bill Belichick with the Patriots. He won five championships — two national titles and three Super Bowls— coaching for those men.
“We had a great conversation, and Joe articulated his vision of leadership and team building,” said co-owner Steve Tisch, who met with Judge in Providence on Tuesday. “He clearly learned some valuable lessons in both those areas while working with Bill Belichick and Nick Saban.”
Added Mara: “He knows what winning looks like and should look like. His exposure and experience in New England and Alabama have helped shape his philosophy of building a winning program and culture.”
The Giants reached out to Belichick, who gave them a glowing report on Judge that helped assuage any hesitations they might have had regarding his lack of experience.
“Joe has done an outstanding job,” Belichick said of Judge at his news conference this week. “He is an exceptional leader and one of the best coaches I have been around.”
Quite the letter of recommendation.
Saban weighed in as well.
“Joe is one of the brightest young coaches in our profession, and I think he will do a tremendous job as the head coach of the New York Giants,” he said. “They are getting an extremely smart football coach who is very loyal, organized and diligent about getting the job done.”
Of course there were other candidates, including one who snubbed the Giants. Matt Rhule was introduced on Wednesday as head coach of the Panthers. He accepted that job on Tuesday with an interview scheduled with the Giants that day. Rhule was considered a front-runner for the Giants opening. The Giants also had asked for permission to speak with former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
The Giants were given an opportunity to match the Panthers’ offer to Rhule, but because they had not even spoken with Rhule — and more importantly had spoken with Judge – they declined.
“We did have some other candidates lined up to speak with,” Mara said, “but Joe had established the threshold at that point.”
For this hiring process and, apparently, any that may come after him. Ideally, the Giants won’t have to measure interviews against his for a while.
“He is an impressive young leader,” Tisch said. “He will have the full support of ownership to get us where we want to be.”
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.
