The Giants conducted their second round of general manager interviews in person after using videoconferencing for the first round.
When it was time to bring in Joe Schoen for his second interview, Big Blue and co-owner John Mara experienced a slight hurdle.
The team could only get the Bills assistant GM a middle seat on a flight to New York, in the last row of the plane next to the restroom.
When Schoen arrived at Newark Airport and didn’t express any complaints about his trip from Buffalo, Mara knew he might have found his man to lead the Giants out of their current five-year darkness.
“He never complained about it a bit,” Mara said. “So I like him already.”
As for Schoen, there was no reason to complain. He was taking a short flight to a potential promotion that would give him the opportunity to restore a once-proud franchise within the biggest sports market in the country.
“I’m going to interview for the Giants general manager,” Schoen said. “I’ll ride on the wing if you need me to.
“That’s not me. I roll up my sleeves, put me wherever you want to put me, I’m going to interview for the New York Giants, I’ll ride on the wing if you need me to. I didn’t care where they put me, that’s not me. I’ll sit wherever.”
Schoen was used to a private jet during his time with the Bills thanks to team owners Terry and Kim Pegula, and while Giants ownership has a private jet of his own, it was not available on short notice to bring out Schoen to East Rutherford. So, Mara kept it blunt with Schoen, and one potentially uncomfortable flight later, the Giants had their next general manager.
“John told me, ‘Our private jet around here is called JetBlue,’” Schoen laughed.
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