The fallout between New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale was a slow process. It took months for everything to finally reach a head but when it did, it was explosive.
Martindale reportedly cursed out Daboll before storming out of the East Rutherford facilities and heading home to Florida.
Then everything slowed down again and it took days before the two sides reached an agreement and a “parting of ways.”
Publicly, fans and media personalities split into two distinct sides — there were those firmly against Martindale and those who held Daboll to a justifiably higher standard.
Inside the organization, however, the ugly divorce barely registered. Despite the poor optics, Daboll didn’t take a hit within 1925 Giants Drive, reports Paul Schwartz of the New York Post.
Make no mistake, Daboll within the organization did not take a hit for how this all went down. Could Daboll in his second year as a head coach at any level tried to smooth things over more adroitly? Perhaps. But there is a feeling within the organization that Martindale’s quirks and what increasingly was viewed as his lack of being a team player grew into issues that had to be expunged, unless Martindale changed his ways.
Thus, the Giants do not see themselves as a damaged franchise because Martindale cursed out Daboll and abruptly left the premises after Daboll informed him that two Martindale loyalists, outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins and his younger brother, Kevin, a defensive assistant, were getting fired.
And the Giants know all about Daboll’s running-hot persona, on the sideline, on the headset, on the practice field, and do not view him as a raving lunatic who needs to tone it down. Not that he is impervious to learning and growth.
Although Daboll avoided any debris from the fallout, it’s evident that something will have to change. Even with Martindale and his close associates gone, there are still cracks in Daboll’s foundation.
On several occasions, sources from inside the building have leaked unflattering information about Daboll with one even warning assistant coaches to stay away.
Still, the Giants continue to brush that off. For now, they’re fine with Daboll and his explosive personality but that will only last for so long. If the team doesn’t resume its winning ways in 2024, Daboll’s seat could become as hot as his temper.
To be a head coach in the NFL is to be a survivalist. They don’t fire themselves. When things go bad, heads roll and it is the head coach — sometimes at the behest of the general manager or ownership — who swings the ax. The best and brightest wield this power wisely and without rancor. The rancor part was not avoided with the Martindale parting and Daboll needs to make sure that does not happen again.
The easiest way to avoid these pitfalls is to find success on the field.
