The Giants’ head coaching search quickly moved from January’s undercard to the main event on Wednesday night.
With GM interviews still underway, the Giants put in a request to interview Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator — and New Jersey native — Dan Quinn for their head coaching vacancy, multiple league sources confirmed to the Daily News.
Quinn, born in Morristown, N.J., is arguably the hottest candidate in this year’s hiring cycle league-wide. He’s interviewing for five of the eight full-time openings: the Broncos, Vikings, Dolphins, Bears and Giants.
He went 43-42-0 in five-plus seasons as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach (2015-20), including a Super Bowl appearance in 2016 that culminated in the infamous collapse to the New England Patriots.
But Quinn, 51, quickly built momentum for his second head coaching gig with his work in Dallas this season. Cowboys players and coaches view Quinn as a great leader and teacher.
The timing of the Giants’ request for Quinn came as a surprise, though, because co-owner John Mara had said the team wanted to get the GM hire “done first.” Mara said the new GM would then “lead the search for head coach.”
The team hasn’t hired a GM yet, though.
There are three known finalists for that post: Joe Schoen (Bills), Ryan Poles (Chiefs) and Adam Peters (49ers). And it’s possible there are one or two more that haven’t been made public.
Schoen, 42, visited the Giants’ facility for his second interview in person on Tuesday. Poles, 36, was there on Wednesday for his own meeting with Mara, Steve Tisch and Chris Mara. And Peters, 42, is expected to visit on Thursday.
The Giants were determined not to “rush into anything” with their GM search, in Mara’s words, as they did in Dec. 2017 with Dave Gettleman’s telegraphed hiring. But in an effort to be patient, they’d fallen behind all of their competitors in head coaching interviews.
The Giants, in fact, were the last of the eight NFL teams with full-time coaching vacancies to request an interview with a prospective candidate.
So they seemingly changed their plan — and requested Quinn’s interview before hiring a GM — to avoid watching an intriguing candidate get hired elsewhere without as much as a hello.
Undoubtedly, the Giants have discussed potential head coaches with their GM finalists in these interviews, but it’s not clear who or how many of them have Quinn on their list.
It’s easy to draw a direct line between Peters and Brian Flores, the recently fired Dolphins coach and Brooklyn native, as a possible pairing for the Giants’ next hire. Peters and Flores worked together with the New England Patriots from 2003-08, mostly in scouting.
Flores has eyes for the Giants and is expected to interview for their head coaching position, as the Daily News reported last Saturday. It isn’t clear whether he will be the right fit for the Giants at this juncture, though, or if the Giants are the ideal fit for him.
Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll would seem to be a natural package deal fit with Schoen. Schoen and Poles both have ties to the Andy Reid tree, which could mean a look at former Eagles Super Bowl winning head coach Doug Pederson.
Michigan’s John Harbaugh has no clear ties to the known GM finalists, so the possibility of the Giants making that call seems less likely now than it did a few days ago — though it remains to be seen what other GM candidates make the trip to New Jersey later this week.
The GM that does get hired should have the autonomy to add whatever names he wishes to that head coaching search, as well.
But while Mara said last week that the new GM would “lead the search for head coach,” he also couched that by saying “those decisions always are subject to final approval by ownership.”
And as evidenced by Wednesday’s request for Quinn, ownership already is moving forward with at least one possibility at head coach, without a new GM leading the way.
Source: Berkshire mont
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