New York Giants: Matt Patricia deserves consideration
Big Blue has begun their coaching search.
The 2017 season will go down as one of the worst in New York Giants franchise history. But now, the organization must take advantage of the opportunity presented and find a coach to lead both on the field and off.
Matt Patricia of the New England Patriots has found success working under Bill Belichick. And he can bring that to New York.
Another chapter in Giants history is set to begin. After the disastrous departure of Ben McAdoo, the Giants will begin the process of hiring their second head coach in three years. While the general manager vacancy will also need to be addressed in the offseason, the new head coach will be tasked with not only handling the on-field performance of the team but affecting change on fundamental levels that have been sorely lacking the past few seasons.
Usual Suspects
Various names have been discussed in connection with the open coaching position. The usual retreads of coaching searches, including former Steeler coach Bill Cowher, former Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, and former Broncos head coach and current Patriot offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, have all been mentioned in reports regarding the vacancy.
New York Giants
Gruden has said if the right situation arises, he is willing to recommit to coaching, but his ESPN salary and insulated booth make a re-dedication to coaching a bit dubious. Cowher has been out of coaching for over a decade and his name comes up when any noteworthy coaching job is up for grabs. But, as NJ.com points out, this is not the first time the Super Bowl winning coach has been linked to the Giants head coaching job. This time is just as unlikely as the others in convincing Cowher to coach the Giants.
The other big name that has been brought up as a possible candidate is McDaniels. He is the youngest of this group by far and has shown an ability to lead a prolific offense, albeit with Tom Brady at quarterback. He has prior head coaching experience despite being just 41-years-old.
Forgettable Tenure
McDaniels and current Giants interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo also have shared coaching experience. Both were part of the St. Louis Rams staff during the 2011 season, with Spagnuolo serving as head coach and McDaniels as offensive coordinator. This pairing, coupled with a disastrous team that went 2-14, was shown the door after the year. While this season may not be indicative of McDaniels’ prowess as an offensive mind and coach, his stint as head coach of the Broncos does.
Much like McAdoo, the Broncos exceeded expectations in 2009 in McDaniels’ first year, and immediately regressed the following season. McDaniels was fired mid-season amidst other allegations of Denver’s staff videotaping an opposing team’s practices. According to The Denver Post, his not reporting the incident was a factor in the firing.
From these surface evaluations, McDaniels does not appear to be a fit candidate for a head coaching position of a team in turmoil and enduring one of it’s most important transitions in franchise history. Another Belichickian disciple could be in line for the position and may be the sideline presence that was sorely missing during McAdoo’s tenure.
Meteoric Rise
Patricia’s rise to defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots is unorthodox by today’s NFL standards. Patricia graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in aeronautical engineering and began his professional career selling multistage centrifugal systems.
His career as a coach did not begin until he volunteered as a high school coach in East Syracuse, New York. From there, he began coaching as a graduate assistant at his alma mater and broke into the Division I football ranks as an offensive assistant at Syracuse University.
Patricia joined Belichick’s staff in 2004 as an offensive assistant. Despite playing center at RPI, Patricia began coaching the defensive side of the ball, and before the 2012 season was promoted to defensive coordinator. His defense has been a top-ten unit in scoring since he took over the position, and New England has won two Super Bowls in no small part due to the time and work Patrica has put in to make the unit better.
Geared for Success
ESPN’s Mike Reiss lauds the job Patricia has done during his tenure. In particular, an eight-game stretch this season where the defense did not allow more than 20 points, which shows his ability to devise and modify game plans to fit his personnel and opponent.
“It’s been a series of moving parts all year and Patricia has tapped all his resources to try to piece things together,” Reiss wrote. And those pieces have been missing or at least utilized in limited roles for large chunks of the season.
Dont’a Hightower, New England’s defensive captain and arguably best player, has been out since Week 8. Defensive starters Malcom Brown, Stephon Gillmore, and Trey Flowers have all missed time due to injury, and rotational players Eric Rowe and Alan Branch have also been forced out at some point during the team’s eight-game winning streak.
Despite the deficiencies in personnel, practice squad additions from other teams, and a historically atrocious start on the defensive side to start the season, Patricia has manufactured success out of limited means, and that is what great coaches do.
Player’s Coach
Patricia also espouses the importance of developing relationships with his players. This was a notable absence from McAdoo’s coaching repertoire in his brief stint with the Giants. On the surface, he looked distant, brooding, and uninspiring. And it turns out, that was the case in the locker room.
Both current and former players found his coaching and overall demeanor troublesome both personally and professionally. Patricia however, appears to hold a different belief. During a Dec. 5 conference with the New England media, Patricia spoke about his interaction with players as a coach:
"…but when I decided to get into coaching and leave engineering one of the things I just really missed about the game of football and when you’re involved in the game itself is that camaraderie, that ability to be around the team atmosphere and the guys that you played with. Then when you make that transition to coaching I really found more enjoyment out of watching individuals achieve their goals and succeed. I actually found more enjoyment out of that than I did playing. I remember the moment that that happened to me and that transition where I just fell in love with coaching."
It is hard to imagine the words “fell in love with coaching” escaping McAdoo’s pursed lips. Patricia appears to approach coaching with a different mentality than McAdoo. The former shows a vested interest in the advancement and success of his players, while the latter appears to see the team in a more stark contrast, a dichotomy of right and wrong that dictates his impressions of players.
Patricia and his colleague McDaniels will be at the top of every moribund franchise’s potential coaching lists this offseason. While McDaniels has been the preemptive choice for those concerned with the Giants, perhaps a defensive-minded rocket scientist is exactly what is needed to lift the Giants off the ground.