When the New York Giants announced they were hiring New England Patriots assistant Joe Judge to be their next head coach, the focus was on the coaching trees he derives from.
Judge coached under Nick Saban at Alabama and Bill Belichick in Foxborough. Both legendary coaches gave Judge stellar reviews and for some reason, the Giants were the only team to grant Judge an interview.
The knock on the Judge hiring is that he will fair much like the rest of the Belichick acolytes have in the NFL, meaning he won’t be successful.
But Judge is a different breed than those who came before him. He is his own man, and we’ve seen that just from watching his introductory presser this week. He is a boss who will mix old school values with 21st century technique and technology.
The Giants hope Judge will be the person who changes the Giants’ losing culture back into a winning one, just like their two greatest coaches — Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin — did.
“The only culture we’re going to have in that building, period, is a winning culture,” Judge said convincingly.
MassLive New England Patriots reporter Christopher Mason has been around Judge for several years and knows the Giants are getting a coach who is ‘engaging,’ ‘confident’ and ‘unafraid to take risks.’
“He’s also not afraid to be loud,” Mason told NJ Advance Media. “During the media window at Patriots practice, Judge’s voice was always a familiar one.”
Mason said Judge appears to be capable of breaking the spell of failure among Belichick’s disciples.
“It’s always fascinating to see how Belichick protegees conduct themselves when they get the keys to their own kingdoms. Some try to be Bill with the media. Others stick to being themselves,” he said.
“I think Judge falls into that second category, and the Giants will be better for it. In speaking to us, Judge always came across as compelling, genuine, and confident. If you had a good question, you were likely to get a good answer.”
And we’ve already seen that. The Giants media can be petty at times and even at his initial presser, Judge shut down a few jokers who were trying his resolve by being his own man.
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