The first press conference can make a strong first impression on a fanbase.
It's the initial opportunity for a newly appointed head coach to convey his message across to the thousands of fans, while also offering reassurance about the future of the organization. Former Patriots assistant coach Joe Judge is set to take on the task Thursday afternoon, as he'll be introduced as the Giants head coach. WFAN's Boomer Esiason is excited to see how Judge fares in his introductory press conference.
"I'm looking forward to this press conference," Esiason said. "(Wednesday), we had the Panthers press conference and the Cowboys press conference — one with Mike McCarthy and the other with Matt Rhule. Matt Rhule is like the energizer bunny; he just kept talking and talking. He came off great. You can see he's got a lot of energy. You can see why people were high on him.
"It's fine and dandy to win the press conference," Esasion added. "Now, you've got to go do it. I'm really interested in what Joe Judge does and how he sounds and what he looks like. It's important because we've had some really weird press conferences around here over the last few years."
Esiason's co-host, Gregg Giannotti, vividly remembered Adam Gase's first press conference with the New York Jets. In 2019, Gase became the subject to various memes and jokes due to his unusual and bizarre expressions throughout the afternoon.
"Nothing will be worse than the Adam Gase press conference," Giannotti said. "I don't think Joe Judge can do anything that will make that Adam Gase press conference not be the weirdest thing we've ever seen in our lives! ... You think about that, my lord how strange that was."
Judge was already an unexpected candidate as a successor to now-former head coach Pat Shurmur. He spent the last few seasons with the New England Patriots, most recently serving as a special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach.
"You just want to set a good first impression," Esiason said. "That's kind of what Matt Rhule did. That's what Mike McCarthy did yesterday down in Dallas. They both got off to good starts. That's all you want. I don't want to come in here tomorrow and have some wacky thing happen in this press conference.
"The interesting thing is that when you think of who Joe Judge is and all of a sudden you're starting to read all the articles about him and how (Nick) Saban said he was great and you're going to hear all the (Bill) Belichick quotes, that's going to put everybody at ease," Esiason added.
Giannotti looked at the hire with a sense of optimism.
"There was a massive negative reaction when Daniel Jones was the draft pick, last spring, and the guy was phenomenal," Giannotti recalled. "There was a massive negative reaction when Joe Judge was named the head coach of the New York Giants because Matt Rhule didn't even get in the building, Mike McCarthy's with the rival Cowboys and now you've got this guy who's in relative anonymity before he's named the coach. Who the hell knows? You might be introduced to the guy who delivers a championship to the New York Giants."
Click the audio player above to listen to the opening from the Morning Show with Boomer and Gio.
