The Giants never reached out to Sean Payton, because, as co-owner John Mara said Monday, “he’s still under contract to another team.” And, Mara said, the team was “disappointed” when Dan Quinn pulled out of the running for the head coaching job, as he was “a serious candidate.”
But, at the end of the day, the Giants are “very happy” with the hire of Brian Daboll, who was introduced officially on Monday.
“I think you saw a little bit during the press conference that he's very down to Earth, natural, gets along with people, and believes in building relationships,” Mara said. “I think he had a great vision for where he wants to take us and I think the fact that he and Joe (Schoen), first off, are comfortable together, and have similar philosophies, I think that's probably what sold us.”
That said, though, it was interesting to hear Mara’s thoughts on how difficult it was to evaluate a candidate like Daboll, who has never been a head coach, as opposed to someone like Brian Flores or Dan Quinn, who had.
“It's the most difficult decision by far that you ever make in this business because you just don't know,” Mara said. “You have to try to get to know the individual as best you can, talk to the people they've worked with, try to get an understanding as to whether there's a presence and the leadership skills and the knowledge of X's and O's, and then you make your choice and then you live with it. You don't know until they actually start getting in the building and start building the program.”
Similarly, despite the Giants’ offense being the team’s biggest deficiency under Joe Judge – a special teams coach by trade – Daboll was the only “offensive” coach the Giants interviewed, given that the other five serious candidates all made their bones on the defensive side of the ball (including former head coaches Flores and Quinn).
“I don't think we were focused on offensive coordinator per se. We just wanted to get the best person for the job,” Mara said. “I think Brian has a lot of qualities that you look for. He has a certain presence about him. He has the leadership skills, people like working with him, his players revere him. So, I think those are the factors. Obviously, the fact that our offense is so challenged right now, I think he brings a certain skillset that will help us.”
Obviously the brass believed Daboll was the guy, and he’s also seemingly the complete opposite of Judge – someone who speaks with a quiet confidence in a more relaxed manner.
“That certainly made him likeable right from the beginning. I don't know that I'd say we've never had a coach with that type of personality, but he seems like somebody that will be very easy to work with in the building, that people will respond to and want to work with. That was certainly something we took notice of right away,” Mara said.
All that said, the owner also noted that despite the optimism, he wasn’t walking out with his chest puffed out or any false sense of hubris about the Giants turning it around.
“I'm not walking around anywhere with my chest pumped out after the last few seasons we've had, but I do feel good about the future of the franchise,” he said.
As Mara added, the Giants “are in last place, so there's no place to go but up” – and even though Daboll is a “nice guy,” the owner is hopeful that nice guys won’t continue to finish last.
“I don’t think that’s a concern; I think he can be tough when he needs to be tough,” Mara said of Daboll. “That's what we found out about him and certainly Joe has had the experience with him in Buffalo and has seen his command of the room. I think that's something we're very comfortable with.”
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