New York Giants Job Was Passed On By Joe Philbin

The New York Giants thought they had former Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin joining their staff under Ben McAdoo, but family and a chance to go back to the Midwest was too much to turn down.

The New York Giants had to do something they haven’t done in a very long time this offseason in building a new coaching staff. With the team and Tom Coughlin parting ways, the Giants needed a new head coach and found one in offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, who was promoted to the head coaching role.

While filling out the coaching staff, the Giants kept some familiar names, such as Mike Sullivan going from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, and Steve Spagnuolo being retained as defensive coordinator. One of the external options the Giants looked to be acquiring was former Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin.

Philbin was fired by the Dolphins in October and many people thought that he would join the Giants staff in some capacity on the offensive side of the ball. Mike Garafolo went as far as to say that Philbin would have another title, potentially assistant head coach, with Sullivan being promoted to offensive coordinator.

The move made sense on a number of levels. For one, Philbin had experience as a head coach so he could have given some help to McAdoo, who is a rookie head coach and has spent only two years above a position head coach. Also, the two worked together on the Green Bay Packers’ staff from 2006-2011, as McAdoo was the tight ends coach and Philbin handled the offensive line and offensive coordinator duties.

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But, it would turn out that the gun was jumped on Philbin joining the Giants staff, as he would decide against coaching with his former staff mate. Instead, Philbin decided to join the coaching staff of the Indianapolis Colts as the offensive line coach.

While coaching alongside McAdoo with the Giants had its positives, the chance to return to the Midwest and help protect franchise quarterback Andrew Luck was too much to pass on.

“You make decisions that are best for you, your family,” Philbin said. “I have great respect for Coach Pagano and what he’s done here, what he stands for. I thought the organization was really committed to winning a championship here. They have a great group of men. I thought the staff that he was putting together was excellent and it just fit. I lived in the Midwest for 13 years out of the last 17 and loved every minute of it, so this is where I wanted to be.”

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Philbin seems happy and content with his decision, as the Giants missed out on adding a veteran to their staff. While having a person with experience such as Philbin around would have been nice, the Giants have filled their staff out with people they think can help McAdoo learn the ropes and get the Giants back on track this season after missing the postseason for four consecutive seasons.