The New York Giants lost a member of a very exclusive coaching fraternity. Ray Handley, who coached the team in the 1991 and 1992 seasons and served as one of Bill Parcells' top offensive assistants during two Super Bowl runs, passed away on February 5 at the age of 81, per his nephew Rob.
Most fans will remember Handley as the man who succeeded Parcells as head coach in New York. While he didn't win as many games as many expected in that time, he did play a crucial role on two teams that made it to the mountain top and erased decades of lousy Giants football.
Parcells' teams were built on controlling the game via the ground on offense, and Handley managed to make names like Joe Morris and Ottis Anderson legends in Giants history who will be remembered as some of the finest running backs this franchise has ever seen.
Former Giants head coach Ray Handley passes away at 81
Handley was a productive college coach on both sides of the ball at service academies like Army and Air Force as well as Stanford. Handley came to the Giants when Parcells hired him as offensive backfield coach in 1984, and the ground game took off when he came there.
The 5-7 Morris ran for 35 touchdowns across two seasons under Handley's watch, and Anderson went from a washed-up back at the end of his Cardinals tenure to a bell cow for a contender. Handley was hired as head coach in 1991 over defensive coordinator Bill Belichick after wide receivers coach Tom Coughlin left earlier to take the job at Boston College.
Handley went 14-18 in two seasons as head coach following Parcells' second championship. Between mismanaging the tenuous situation between Phil Simms and Jeff Hostetler, Handley's work as an assistant is viewed in a better light.
Handley famously withdrew from the public eye almost entirely when he was fired by the Giants for Dan Reeves, retreating to the Lake Tahoe area. The lone post-retirement statement he made was "No, I'm not the least bit interested" when a reporter unearthed his unlisted home phone number prior to Super Bowl XLII in 2008.
Handley took on the tough task of succeeding Parcells in New York while also making his mark as one of the best offensive coaches in franchise history. Our best well-wishes are with the Handley family in what is assuredly a very stressful and sorrowful time.