GMEN HQ
FanSided

New York Giants Football: Ranking the five worst head coaches in franchise history

By Matt Clark

SANTA CLARA, CA - NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Pat Shurmur of the New York Giants looks on during warm ups prior to their game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on November 12, 2018 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Pat Shurmur of the New York Giants looks on during warm ups prior to their game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on November 12, 2018 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next

3.) Ray Handley 1991-1992

Following the retirement of Hall of Fame Head Coach, Bill Parcells, after winning the 1990 Super Bowl, Ray Handley was named the head coach of the New York Giants. The Giants ownership and management group would infamously choose Handley over defensive coordinator Bill Belichick, who would go on to become arguably the greatest coach in NFL history with the New England Patriots.

Handley’s tenure with the Giants would be surrounded in conflict. He decided to have quarterbacks Phil Simms and Jeff Hostetler battle for the starting position in preseason, after Simms had led the Giants to a 11-2 record the previous year, prior to a leg injury ending his season. Hostetler would take over for Simms in 1990, leading the Giants to a Super Bowl championship.

Handley would name Hostetler the starter in 1991, but the idea of Simms losing his starting position due to injury did not sit well with many veteran Giants players. Following that 13-3 Super Bowl championship season, Handley would lead New York to a disappointing 8-8 record.

In 1992, Handley would bring Rod Rust in as the defensive coordinator for New York, following his firing, after going 1-15 as the New England Patriots head coach the prior season. Rust was despised by many Giants players, with defensive players later admitting that they would blatantly ignore his play calling and call their own plays.

Due in part to the handling of the quarterback situation and the hiring of Rust, Handley lost the Giants locker room and the team would once again underperform, going 6-10 in the 1992 season, leading to Handley’s dismissal.

Timing and circumstance have as much to do with Handley being listed as one of the worst coaches in Giants franchise history as his performance does. The Giants went from a Hall of Fame coach leading them to a championship the season before Handley’s hire, to a team in decline for nearly a decade. Salt was further poured on the arterial wound, with the realization that the organization passed on a future Hall of Fame coach in Belichick, in favor of Handley.

Home/NY Giants All-Time Lists