Finding Gettleman's guy: 5 head coach candidates for Giants
The New York Giants are halfway done filling the positions vacated by Jerry Reese and Ben McAdoo during the franchise's worst season ever.
Former Carolina Panthers executive and longtime Giants pro personnel director Dave Gettleman replaced Reese as general manager Thursday. His first task will be to hire a head coach. Here are five potential candidates:
Steve Wilks
Current position: Panthers defensive coordinator
After Sean McDermott departed to join the Buffalo Bills last winter, Wilks helped the Panthers' defense become one of the league's best once again, following a season in which it allowed the seventh-most points.
Though he hasn't been a head coach since he was at Savannah State in 1999, Wilks has served as assistant head coach to Ron Rivera since 2015 and has 12 years of NFL experience.
If Gettleman is looking to replicate Rivera's culture, Wilks is likely his top candidate.
Steve Spagnuolo
Current position: Giants interim head coach/defensive coordinator
Gettleman's hiring doesn't exactly scream "new direction" for the Giants, so it would be no surprise if they stuck with an equally familiar face at head coach.
Spagnuolo is serving as interim head coach in his second stint with the Giants after running the team's defense while Gettleman was in town in 2007 and 2008. "Spags" wound up as head coach of the Rams from 2009-2011 after his ultra-successful stint in New York. While his first head coaching job didn't work out, he can sell Gettleman on the idea that he has learned from his mistakes, as well as McAdoo's, and that he knows how Tom Coughlin ran the club.
The Giants would likely go back in time and keep Coughlin if they could. Spagnuolo doesn't have the resume as the two-time Super Bowl-winning coach, but he could restore the continuity Coughlin's teams thrived on.
Dave Toub
Current position: Chiefs special teams coordinator
Toub has been mentioned as a potential head coach for the past few seasons, and after the success of former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson in Philadelphia, this seems like the year someone will pull the trigger on the special teams guru.
The 55-year-old New York native spent nine years as the Chicago Bears' special teams coordinator, coaching the likes of Devin Hester, before joining the Chiefs in 2013.
He doesn't have any direct ties to Gettleman or the Giants, but if the club is looking for an overall team strategist - like Coughlin - instead of an offensive or defensive specialist, Toub would be a great fit.
Mike Shula
Current position: Panthers offensive coordinator
Shula, like McDermott, was a scorching-hot name in hiring circles after the Panthers' 15-1 season in 2015, but their trip to the Super Bowl forced prospective teams to wait too long for his availability, eventually ruling him out of possible jobs.
The youngest son of all-time winningest coach Don Shula has been with Carolina since 2011, serving as offensive coordinator the last five seasons.
He would likely be Gettleman's second choice from the Panthers after Wilks, though, as Carolina's offense has been more dependent on its players than its scheme.
Perry Fewell
Current position: Jaguars defensive backs coach
It has been about six years since Fewell was brought up as a potential head coaching candidate, but with his recent success with the Jacksonville Jaguars' secondary, ties to Coughlin, and experience with the Giants, this might be his best chance to earn a coveted position.
Fewell ran the Giants' defense from 2010-2014, winning Super Bowl XLVI in 2011, and followed Coughlin to the Jaguars in 2017. He also started his pro coaching career under Coughlin in Jacksonville in 1998. His time in New York overlapped with Gettleman's first stint for three years.
Fewell is a darkhorse candidate for the job at best.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)