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Have the New York Giants finally found their next championship head coach? Bill Belichick sure thinks so.
After the dismissal of Tom Coughlin at the end of the 2015 season, the team tried going the assistant coach route, hiring first offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo and then bringing in Pat Shurmur, another accomplished NFL assistant.
In 2020, ownership decided to continue down that road but hire a more progressive, yet old school figure in Joe Judge — the long-time New England Patriots and Alabama assistant and confidant of both Belichick and Nick Saban.
According to a Patriots source, when the Giants were interviewing New England assistant Joe Judge, Bill Belichick told John Mara, "He's better than the last two guys you hired."…Yes, it does seem Judge is better than Pat Shurmur & Ben McAdoo. https://t.co/75TOMDvoho
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) March 29, 2021
So far, Judge has not proven Belichick right. The Giants went 6-10 in Judge’s first season at the helm but confidence is high — higher than it ever was under McAdoo or Shurmur.
Judge has brought some buzz back to the Giants, reminding people of two of the team’s most successful and iconic coaches (Tom Coughlin and Bill Parcells) and his presence has led to several big ticket free agent signings this month.
“You always know where Joe is on the practice field, just like you did with Bill and Tom,” Giants co-owner John Mara told the New York Post. “His attention to detail is very impressive to me, and those are characteristics Tom and Bill had as well.
“He’s made believers out of the players, as far as his program is concerned, in what he’s trying to teach them and the culture he’s trying to build. I’ve been around a number of situations in my years where I didn’t have that sense that the players believed in the head coach, but Steve [Tisch] and I do feel that way now.”
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