BREAKING NEWS: According to Fox Sports' Mike Garafolo, New York Giants' coach Tom Coughlin may resign his position on Monday. If true, this news means a lot of changes could be coming to the organization in the next few weeks.
With the possibility of a coaching search on the horizon, potential candidates' names have started swirling around the media, and most of them aren't very exciting. One name does stick out, however, and that is Ben McAdoo.
When McAdoo was hired as the team's offensive coordinator before the 2014 season, it was pretty much assumed that he would eventually replace Coughlin as coach, but questions about his readiness to assume that role, remain unanswered.
Overall, McAdoo has been a success with the Giants. While the team's rushing performance has been nothing short of a disaster, their passing game is one of the most electric in the league. Despite their dismal rushing attack, the team's passing game has done enough to keep them well within the top half of the NFL in total offense. While much of this can be attributed to Odell Beckham Jr.'s presence, the fact remains that quarterback Eli Manning has lifted his game under McAdoo, too, raising his completion percentage, while reducing the number of interceptions he's thrown. McAdoo deserves some credit for that. His offensive system is centered around Manning getting rid of the ball much quicker than he had in the past. This has allowed the Giants' receivers, like Beckham, to make the plays, and has reduced the risk of Manning throwing costly interceptions down the field.
On the other hand, McAdoo is only two seasons removed from being a position coach for the Green Bay Packers. While he's shown promise, two years of play calling doesn't exactly qualify someone to be a head coach in the NFL. Furthermore, the Giants' clock-management failures, which have been well documented this season, might fall on him. While Coughlin has taken most of the slack for it, McAdoo has pretty much been in charge of the offense all year. Coughlin, for the most part, has stepped out of his way. One can't help but wonder what role the offensive coordinator played in those late-game blunders that plagued the Giants' season.
Despite his inexperience, you have to believe that McAdoo will emerge as a leading candidate, should Coughlin decide to resign, or is fired. The Giants' offense is in a much better place under McAdoo than they were his predecessor, Kevin Gilbride, and Manning has thrived in his system. Why would the team want to abandon that kind of success? But if the Giants go looking outside the organization to replace Coughlin, they may not have a choice in the matter.
There's always the chance that the Giants hire a defensive guru as coach, and McAdoo is left in place to run the offense. In reality, however, any coach the Giants bring in from outside the organization, especially a veteran, is likely going to want some say in who his assistants are. Such a scenario could mean the end of McAdoo in New York.
There is enough uncertainty surrounding McAdoo to justify the Giants going another way in their potential search for a new coach. McAdoo has also shown enough promise as a coordinator to substantiate the organization's fear of losing him, and to beat a dead horse, those are just two more reasons the Giants should do everything they can to bring Coughlin back for 2016. But even if the coach decides to walk away from his post on Monday, the Giants can still move forward without shaking up their whole team.
It may sound crazy given the Giants' defense ranked near the bottom of the league in 2015, but defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo represents the team's best coaching candidate, outside of Coughlin himself.
Spagnuolo is loved within the Giants organization because they know how good of a coach he is when given the personnel to succeed, which he certainly wasn't this year. There is no question that he's got what it takes to coach a championship defense, and he's got a ton more experience than McAdoo does, including as a head coach. Spagnuolo's promotion would also allow the Giants to keep McAdoo in place as offensive coordinator, where he, his quarterback, and the rest of the offense can continue to improve.
Maybe McAdoo is the future coach of the Giants, but it isn't the right time for that yet. A few more years under Coach Spagnuolo, or better yet Coach Coughlin, could change all of that.
One thing that's certain is that this team has been a lot more interesting to follow since they officially got eliminated from playoff contention, than they were when their season had meaning. That should continue in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more.
