With each ugly loss, it seems less and less likely that Brian Daboll can engineer a late-season turnaround that would ensure his remaining as head coach of the New York Giants past this season.
Of course, Daboll can play the “I’m the guy who identified and can develop Jaxson Dart” card in a pitch too keep his job. He can also play the injury card. He can’t, though, explain away an embarrassingly under-performing defense led by his hand-picked defensive coordinator. He can’t explain losing so many winnable games. He can’t explain away three straight 2-7 starts. He can’t explain away 11-32 since the surprising and unsustainable 2022 season.
All of that puts in a place where we have been too often since the Giants showed Tom Coughlin, one of the two best coaches they have had in the Super Bowl era, the door after the 2015 season. A place where we have to consider who might be next if the Giants do move on from Daboll at the end of yet another disappointing season.
Below, a list of 10 potential candidates.
Current college coaches
Lane Kiffin — The only current college head coach on my list, and an OBVIOUS candidate. You want a head coach who you know can help Jaxson Dart continue his upward arc as an NFL quarterback? How about the guy who helped him become a college quarterback worthy of being a first-round pick? That’s Kiffin, a guy known for his ability as an offensive coach.
Kiffin has NFL experience, having coached the Oakland Raiders in 2007 and part of 2008. Granted, that didn’t go well. Kiffin’s Raiders were 4-12 in 2007 and he got fired when Oakland was 1-3 four games into the 2008 season.
Still, Kiffin was 32 years old when he took the Raiders’ job. He isn’t that same young, brash coach.
Kiffin is 50 now. He is 114-53 (.683) at Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss. At each stop, Kiffin has had more success. At Ole Miss, his teams are 52-19 (.732) with five straight bowl game appearances.
Kiffin has worked for Pete Carroll and Nick Saban. He has been open about his struggles to overcome alcoholism.
With so many openings in college football, Kiffin is going to be able to pick the job he wants this offseason. If he wants to try the NFL again, the Giants make a lot of sense.
NFL assistants
Mike Kafka — The Giants’ offensive coordinator has been sought after for head-coaching jobs during each of the past three offseasons. He has interviewed with the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans and New Orleans Saints.
I don’t know if Kafka can be an NFL head coach. I wonder if he has the ability to lead an entire locker room and be the public face of an organization. I do believe the Giants should interview him as a serious candidate, especially if they want some continuity for Dart.
Brian Flores — This would be a tough one, but one the Giants should think about. The Giants were named in Flores’ as yet unsettled lawsuit against the Giants alleging discrimination and saying his 2022 interview for the head-coaching job that went to Daboll was a “sham.”
It would also be difficult because the Giants would have to trust that Flores, 44, has changed the coaching style that fractured his relationship with Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and perhaps alienated other players when Flores was Dolphins head coach has softened.
No one, though, doubts Flores’ ability to coach football. The creative, aggressive style of defense Flores has installed as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings would certainly be appreciated in New York.
Steve Spagnuolo — The former popular and outstanding two-time defensive coordinator of the Giants might have earned himself a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the work he has done running the Kansas City Chiefs defense.
Spagnuolo was interim head coach of the Giants at the end of the disastrous 2017 season. Personally, I have often wondered if the Giants should have given him the head-coaching job outright for the 2018 season. Instead, they have had Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge and now Brian Daboll in that chair over the last eight seasons.
Spagnuolo, of course, flopped as head coach of the St. Louis Rams, going 10-38 over three seasons before being fired. He will be 66 next season. Does he still burn to get another head-coaching opportunity? If so, he loves the Giants, the organization loves him, he would bring credibility despite his stint with the Rams, and is a coach Giants’ ownership needs to consider.
Kliff Kingsbury — Yes, Kingsbury would be considered a retread after going 28-37-1 as Arizona Cardinals head coach from 2019-2022. He has been praised for his handling of Jayden Daniels as offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders, though, and could be worthy of a second head-coaching opportunity.
Jesse Minter — A highly-successful defensive coordinator for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and with the Los Angeles Chargers, Minter is on the short list of hot coordinator candidates looking for a first-time head-coaching opportunity. Harbaugh is certainly an outstanding mentor. Minter also coached for John Harbaugh from 2017-2020 with the Baltimore Ravens.
The 42-year-old has the pedigree. He would, of course, come with the “can he make the jump to head coach?” question. With Dart as the centerpiece of the Giants’ universe now, Minter would also need to show he could bring in a quality offensive coordinator and offensive coaching staff.
Jeff Hafley — Another rising defensive coordinator, Hafley has been defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers the past two seasons. The 46-year-old is a Montvale, N.J., native and UAlbany grad who has coached at Rutgers, been head coach at Boston College, been co-defensive coordinator at Ohio Sate and had several NFL assistant coaching stops.
Hafley’s resume is impressive, but he would come with all of the same questions that apply to Minter.
Wildcards
Nick Saban — If you’re Giants ownership, after all of the failures of recent years, don’t you have to pick up the phone and see if Saban has any interest in resuming his coaching career? And, with seven collegiate national titles on his resume, taking one more shot at finding the NFL success he could not find 20 years ago with the Miami Dolphins?
He’s 74. Big deal. Pete Carroll is doing the job at 74 for the Las Vegas Raiders. You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think Saban has the energy to do the job.
In my view, you have to at least ask.
John Harbaugh — Except for marriages that last a lifetime, most relationships run their course at some point. In his 18th season as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, with a Super Bowl championship and 12 playoff appearances in his first 17 years, there are whispers that the Harbaugh-Ravens relationship might be about to run its course.
If Harbaugh becomes available, the Giants should immediately find out if he has interest in shepherding Jaxson Dart’s development and what it might cost.
Mike McCarthy — Many of you will turn your nose up at this one, but check the resume. Like Harbaugh, a Super Bowl title and 12 playoff appearances in 18 seasons. In five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, his teams won 12 times despite dealing with Jerry Jones. McCarthy has a 174-112-2 regular-season record, a .608 winning percentage.
If you are looking for an experienced coach with a successful pedigree, McCarthy has to be on the list.
Final thoughts
In my view, the Giants need an experienced coach with a winning background who will command respect from the second he is hired.
Right now, there are justifiable questions about the effort being given by players — specifically defensive players. They need a head coach who is not going to tolerate that. Right now, I think one of the issues the Giants have is that Brian Daboll is not that guy. The Giants, in my view, have an accountability problem.
The next coach has to walk in the door with the credibility, and the willingness, to fix it.
To me, that means I would lean toward guys who have done a significant amount of winning as a head coach, or have been around and been a big part of a significant amount of winning.
To me, the whole “offensive coach” or “defensive coach” thing is overrated. Tom Coughin was an offensive assistant and Bill Parcells a defensive one before becoming head coaches. With the Giants, though, they were both COACHES.
They ran the entire show. Everyone answered to them. Everyone knew the expectations, the standard. They knew what would not be tolerated. It’s about leadership, respect and whether a room filled with highly-paid, alpha males with immense egos who have spent most of their lives being catered to because of their athletic ability will will listen to and follow you.
If the Giants move on from Daboll, that’s the type of coach they should be looking for.
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