Ryan Poles gets seal of approval for Giants' GM job from ex-BC teammate Mathias Kiwanuka
Ryan Poles is the the executive director of personnel for Kansas City. Credit: Kansas City
Mathias Kiwanuka used to tease one of his former college teammates by joking that one day he’d be general manager of the Giants.
It’s not a joke any longer.
Ryan Poles, the executive director of personnel for Kansas City, met with the Giants for a second interview on Wednesday for their open position. The Giants hoped to learn more about him, his leadership style, his vision and his personality before hiring anyone for the job.
Kiwanuka, who played at Boston College with Poles from 2003-05, already has a firm grasp on most of those qualities.
"I know him," Kiwanuka told Newsday. "I know his character. I’ve sat and broken bread with him. I know how hard he is willing to work . . . I think he can do it. He’s well-equipped for the job. He is more than up to the challenge. He gets it, and I believe he would bring that to New York."
Kiwanuka was two years ahead of Poles at Boston College but recalled him as a "cerebral" offensive lineman who even then had an understanding of how the offense came together as a whole. "He understood where receivers are supposed to be lined up and why somebody was out of formation and where the play is supposed to be hitting," Kiwanuka said.
Kiwanuka wound up setting school records for sacks and was a first-round pick of the Giants before winning a pair of Super Bowls. Poles was an offensive tackle who had a training camp tryout with the Bears but never made an NFL roster.
"I don’t recall him ever beating me, per se," Kiwanuka said with a laugh, "but he was a good lineman. He was stout. He played alongside some guys who had been there a significant amount of time and he fit right in."
Once his NFL playing career fizzled, Poles returned to Boston College as an assistant and soon landed a low-level scouting job for Kansas City. He has been with the organization since 2009, climbing his way through three different general manager regimes to become one of the top voices for a team that has built itself into an AFC power with the potential to play in a third straight Super Bowl next month.
"He’s confident in himself but he’s also humble enough to ask questions," Kiwanuka said. "I think that can get lost. Some of the hardest things to get coaches or anybody in a front office to admit is that they don’t have the answer to a question. He is confident enough to ask a question he doesn’t have the answer to."
Case in point: Poles called Kiwanuka this season when Kansas City’s players were having trouble mastering the schemes run by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Kiwanuka played under Spagnuolo in New York and was able to offer some advice. Kansas City’s defense, which struggled through the first part of the 2021 season, has since been among the best in the league.
"I’m certainly not saying I was the reason [for the turnaround]," Kiwanuka said, "but I think he does a good job of reaching out and gathering information."
Kiwanuka retired from the NFL in 2014 after nine seasons with the Giants. He’s still a close observer of the team; he and former Giants teammate David Tyree host "Odds With Ends," a weekly sports betting show on MSG Network (Fridays at 5 p.m.).
"Let’s be honest, right now the team is in disarray," he said. "The offense struggled. I think if you don’t fix the offensive line you don’t really have a shot. But you need to figure out who will be the signal caller on the offensive side of the ball, you need to make sure the components you have — whether it’s Saquon [Barkley] or Daniel Jones or whatever wide receiver combination you have— you have to put the pieces together."
Kiwanuka is also aware that having a high-profile job in New York is different than it is in Kansas City.
"It’s a different beast, a different animal," he said. "I think we saw it get the better of Joe Judge later on in the season this year. It’s a difficult spotlight to be in. It’s not normal. Even though you are on the NFL stage and you may be used to it, it’s something that takes some time to get adjusted to."
Poles, he said, will be able to handle it.
"He’s a big boy," Kiwanuka said. "He can take criticism."
Poles is 36 and the youngest of the Giants’ candidates for the job. He is widely considered a top-notch talent evaluator and although his resume lacks some of the overall management experiences the Giants seem to be interested in they were intrigued enough by his first interview, done virtually last week, to ask him in for a second interview. He and Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen, who met with the Giants in person on Tuesday, and 49ers assistant general manager Adam Peters who is scheduled to meet with the Giants on Thursday, are the only known finalists for the job, though there may be others who interview.
Having a Boston College background has never been a detriment when it comes to working for the Giants. Both John and Chris Mara — two-thirds of the team conducting the general manager interviews along with co-owner Steve Tisch — attended the school as undergraduates and there is a long line of players and coaches who have made the jump from Chestnut Hill to East Rutherford, including Tom Coughlin, Chris Snee, Mark Herzlich and Kiwanuka.
Kiwanuka even said the Giants are in some ways similar to Boston College.
"You have certain requirements to get in academically that changes who you can bring to the institution," he said of his alma mater. "I think the Giants have certain parameters about what they are expecting from a person’s maturity level and character."
Where a candidate went to college isn’t nearly as important as what they can do with the job if they are tapped for it, though. Kiwanuka is certainly rooting for Poles to be the next general manager of the Giants, but he’s more concerned about the organization making the right hire.
"It has to change," he said of the Giants’ trajectory over the past decade. "The opportunity is there. It’s not a futile situation. It can be fixed. I believe it will. They just have to get it right this time. Please, dear Lord, let them get it right! I don’t care if it’s a big name or a no-name, I just want that person to come in and be effective and get some wins."
And if it happens to be someone he played with in college?
"Even better."
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.
