After clinching their first playoff berth in seven years Sunday, the Giants dumped sports drink all over the man who deserves to win the NFL Coach of the Year award. No one has done more with less than Brian Daboll in 2022. No one hired in these last few cycles has toiled on the unappreciated rungs of the coaching ladder for as long before being pegged as a guru or a genius worthy of a serious look.
But this hiring took a monumental effort we don’t often consider when it comes to the identification of successful football coaches. It required the Giants to bet against themselves, to look past a formula that had made them one of the most successful modern franchises and to gut an operation that comfortably thrived on a familial atmosphere. We have written about this before, but on a day like Sunday, it takes on a greater importance. The Giants hadn’t brought real, fresh, unfamiliar blood into their organization since the late 1970s, when they hired legendary general manager George Young. From there, each subsequent hire was in some way inspired by the correct choices before it. Bill Parcells eventually gave way to Dan Reeves, the 1993 coach of the year; who gave way to Jim Fassel, the ’97 coach of the year, who made it to Super Bowl XXXV; who gave way to Tom Coughlin, who won Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. All of those hirings were made either by Young or one of his associates.
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