The NY Giants and Joe Judge have taken their first step towards filling their final coordinator position in interviewing incumbent offensive coordinator Mike Shula.
Shula was ousted when Pat Shurmur was fired, presumably so new NY Giants head coach Joe Judge could build his own staff. One important thing to remember is that Shurmur called the offensive plays, not Shula, so the failure of the offense was on him. Shula was Daniel Jones’ mentor and his quarterback coach so he never really was an actual offensive coordinator but more of a position coach with a better title.
As new coach Joe Judge tries to fill out his staff, he interviewed Mike Shula on Monday for the Giants offensive coordinator job, per sources. Shula was the Giants OC the last two years under Pat Shurmur. Helped in the development of Daniel Jones.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) January 14, 2020
He can no longer be considered for that role, as the Giants just hired quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski to that position, so he interviewed for actual offensive coordinator position this time. When Shula was calling plays in Carolina, he was successful in mentoring Cam Newton into an MVP and the NFL’s number one ranked offense in the midst of some middling years for the offense as a whole. Newton once called Shula his “secret weapon,” which is definitely notable.
It is possible that Shula will stay in the building as the Giants’ offensive coordinator but it does not really seem like a practical move at the moment. Shula is known for his work with quarterbacks yet the Giants have already hired a quarterbacks coach, lessening his influence on the position. That alone points to the fact that they may just be doing their own due diligence inside their own building but it would be foolish to dismiss the possibility of his hiring to the position.
So far, Joe Judge has brought a lot of assistants he is very familiar with and is probably not done yet when it comes to his own connections. I would expect him to bring another Patriots connection in for the role and I would watch out for that before making the judgment on whether Shula will be the hire.