Former Giants head coach Ray Handley dies at age 81

There have been New York football coaches statistically inferior to Ray Handley, and there have been ones with shorter terms.

But few, if any, left the job with a reputation as tattered or disappeared from public life as thoroughly.

Handley, who coached the Giants in 1991 and ’92, died on Thursday at age 81. The Giants said in a social media post on Monday that Handley's death was confirmed by his nephew, Rob Handley

In the final three-plus decades of his life, Handley succeeded in avoiding journalists (and fans) as much as any significant New York sports figure in history.

In 2007, Newsday’s Jim Baumbach managed to get him on the phone for 48 seconds. After Baumbach identified himself and said he was working on a where-are-they-now column, Handley said, “How did you get this number?”

Baumbach said he obtained it using public records, with the coach’s full name, Robert R. Handley, at his home in Nevada, near Lake Tahoe.

“I doubt that,” Handley said. “It’s unlisted.”

Baumbach: “I apologize if you’re not interested.”

Handley: “No, I’m not in the least bit interested. Thank you very much.” Then he hung up.

The public trashing and eventual disappearance were a pity, given the history with the franchise that Handley brought to the job in 1991 when he succeeded Bill Parcells and inherited most of the Super Bowl XXV championship roster.

He was known for razor-sharp smarts and had played a key role on Parcells’ two Super Bowl winners, not only working with the offensive backfield but serving as a clock-management guru of sorts.

Handley was born on Oct. 8, 1944, and grew up in Reno. He was a running back at Stanford, then found a professional calling in coaching.

He met Parcells as an assistant at Army in 1968 and later coached at Air Force with Parcells, who was the school’s head coach in 1978.

After his third stint as an assistant at Stanford, Handley joined Parcells with the Giants in 1984 as a backfield coach. He was named offensive coordinator in early 1991, shortly before Parcells left, in part to keep him from leaving for law school.

Two other assistants on that staff likely would have been better options to take over for Parcells. But by the time Parcells left in May, citing health concerns, defensive coordinator Bill Belichick had left to coach the Browns and receivers coach Tom Coughlin, who likely would have gotten the job if Parcells had left sooner, had departed for Boston College.

That left Handley to take over, far deeper into the offseason than NFL head coaches usually are hired.

Handley began his term by announcing a quarterback competition between Super Bowl XXI MVP Phil Simms — who missed the latter part of the 1990 season because of an injury — and Jeff Hostetler, the starter in Super Bowl XXV.

Hostetler eventually got the nod and led the Giants to a 16-14 Week 1 victory over the 49ers in a rematch of the previous season’s NFC title game.

The Giants finished 8-8 that year, but there were early signs of trouble. Handley feuded with players and the media and adopted a largely joyless public demeanor.

He once walked out of a news conference because he was displeased with questions about the quarterback situation.

Even when he was a respectable 7-5 in his first season, Pulitzer Prize-winning Newsday columnist Murray Kempton authored a scathing piece on him in the main news section, writing among other things:

“Who the hell is Ray Handley? He is only a football coach, and a poor one, thanks to the disability that tellingly identifies the workman bound to be bad at his trade: He has no sense of community, and it never occurs to him that the team is larger than himself.”

Things got far worse in 1992. The defense revolted against coordinator Rod Rust’s “read-and-react” system, often ignoring his instructions as the Giants fell to 6-10.

Handley, presumably believing he had been treated unfairly by the public and by his own team, quickly faded from public life.

General manager George Young sought to hire Coughlin, then Dave Wannstedt, before settling on Dan Reeves, who led the team to an 11-5 record with Simms as his quarterback.

Handley lost six of his last seven games in 1992. The lone win came in his final appearance at Giants Stadium, a 35-21 victory over Kansas City.

Newsday columnist Joe Gergen noted that even with the Giants leading by three touchdowns, fans chanted “Ray must go!” and that when it was over, there was no celebratory Gatorade dousing from the players he never was able to reach.

Wrote Gergen, “He left Giants Stadium unscathed, untouched and largely unsympathetic.”