The New York Giants officially announced the hire of Michael Ghobrial as their next special teams coordinator on Thursday.
Ghobrial will replace long-time Giants coach Thomas McGaughey, who was fired on Black Monday after six seasons with the team (second stint).
Here are five things fans should know about Ghobrial.
Career resume
Ghobrial has spent the past three seasons with the Jets serving as their assistant special teams coach. Before that, he spent 12 seasons coaching at the college level in multiple roles. Sandwiched in between was a 2017 stop with the Detroit Lions as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship.
Ghobrial broke into coaching as an undergraduate assistant at UCLA in 2009 — which came after two seasons playing defensive end for the Bruins.
Success with Jets
Although Brant Boyer steers the ship for Gang Green, Ghobrial is partially credited with the success they’ve had in recent years.
In 2021, the Jets finished second overall in special teams DVOA. They were also ranked third this past season on Rick Gosselin’s 2023 Special Teams Rankings (9th in 2022).
In 2022, Jets special teams captain Justin Hardee was named to the Pro Bowl. Two years earlier, wide receiver/return specialist Braxton Berrios was named an All-Pro.
Versatile coach
Although Ghobrial is known for his role as an assistant special teams coach, he has a wide range of experience.
In addition to his time working on various special teams units, Ghobrial has coached defensive lines and outside linebackers. He’s also served as a quality control coach at UCLA.
Ghobrial did serve as a special teams coordinator at the college level but this will be his first time at that post in the NFL.
Hands on approach
Ghobrial considers himself a very engaged, hands-on coach and he enjoys working side-by-side with his players.
“My coaching style is something to where, if I can’t show a player how to do it then I don’t feel comfortable teaching them that,” he’s said. “I always try to put myself in the mindset of them and if I’m asking them to do something very difficult, I want to know that. And how I can help those guys is actually being able to do it.
“Now, obviously, I can’t do that at the level of some of these guys but it puts me in the mindset of giving the guys the necessary tools to win, you know, having experienced it myself. And also just playing around with schematics and stuff.”
No history with Daboll
Giants head coach Brian Daboll has largely hired outside of his inner circle and that also applies to Ghobrial.
The two have never crossed paths at the NFL level or the college level, which is admirable for Daboll. However, it’s fair to note that recipe has not worked in his favor thus far. He’s had fallingouts with several assistants and coordinators, including Wink Martindale.
We’ll see if Ghobrial can handle the whole Daboll experience.
