Giants caught off guard by Aaron Wellman’s departure

The New York Giants were apparently caught off guard by Aaron Wellman’s decision to take the Indiana job.

The New York Giants and head coach Joe Judge had finally begun to feel settled after compiling their staff and weathering a brief storm in which Bret Bielema was drawing college interest, but that newfound peace exited stage left over the weekend as strength and conditioning coordinator Aaron Wellman departed for Indiana.

Wellman’s decision to leave apparently came as a complete surprise to the Giants and Judge, who are now left looking to fill another position on their staff mere days before the start of the new league year.

Joe Judge and the Giants have an opening they did not foresee, as Aaron Wellman, the strength and conditioning coach, is leaving to fill the same role at Indiana University, his alma mater, The Post confirmed.

This came as a surprise to Judge and the Giants. Wellman, hired by Ben McAdoo in 2016 and retained by Pat Shurmur and Judge, oversaw a transformation to the entire training operation, both in the offseason and during the season. As a result, the Giants were a healthier team after Wellman arrived than they were before he came aboard.

Ironically, the chain reaction that led to Wellman leaving East Rutherford also loosely involved the Giants.

A position at Alabama opened up when Scott Cochran left for Georgia, but prior to signing on with the Bulldogs, Cochran tried to land a job with the Giants to no avail. From there, Indiana’s strength and conditioning coach, David Ballou, took the Alabama job, creating an opening in Indiana.

It’s a small world, isn’t it?

From here, the Giants front office, Joe Judge and senior vice president of medical services and head athletic trainer, Ronnie Barnes, will get to work on finding a replacement for Wellman.

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