Gettleman vows to rebuild Giants
One-time Kingston High head coach says Manning will be starting QB next season
Dave Gettleman is going right to work as the New York Giants’ general manager.
There is plenty to fix with a team that has two wins entering the final weekend of the season, starting with finding a new head coach.
There is not a lot of time to waste, either. With the regular season ending Sunday, there are going to be good head coaches getting pink slips around the league. The week also gives the Giants a chance to talk to coaches on teams that have a first-round playoff bye.
One-time Kingston High head football coach Gettleman and Giants co-owner John Mara want to be in position to talk to those people and others, so mark Monday as the day the search starts.
Gettleman wants his coach to be someone with intelligence, leadership ability and vision, equating the job with that of a chief executive.
Mara said the Giants want someone with NFL experience, either as a head coach or a coordinator.
Giants interim coach and
defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will get an interview. Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks also has to be considered a candidate.
Having worked with the likes of Marv Levy, Mike Shanahan and Tom Coughlin, Gettleman knows what he wants.
“My idea is, toughness is important,” Gettleman said Friday at a news conference to discuss his hiring. “Every successful head coach I’ve been around has been tough. Now, maybe the delivery was different, but they were tough.”
That might describe Gettleman, too. He’s an old-fashioned football man. He has 30 years NFL experience, including 15 years with the Giants before he went to Carolina to become the Panthers’ general manager in 2013. He lasted four years, taking the team to the Super Bowl in the 2015 season and being fired the next year after the team missed the playoffs.
Gettleman believes defense wins championships, big linemen allow teams to compete, there is no such thing as too many great players at one position and being able to run the ball, to stop the run and pressure the passer is the best way to win.
“My plan is to come in here every day and kick ass,” the 66-year-old Gettleman said. “That’s my plan, OK? And I’m going to keep doing it until they either take my key card or the Lord calls me home.”
Gettleman was a Tigers’ assistant in 1982 and ’83 before serving as head coach for one season in 1984. He also served as head football coach at Spackenkill from 1973 to 1978 and 1980 to 1981 before moving to the Kingston school district, where he taught physical education at Myron J. Michael Junior High School and coached junior varsity baseball.
He left Kingston to earn a graduate degree in sports administration at Thomas University in Miami.
The Giants needed just over three weeks to find a successor to Jerry Reese, who was fired on Dec. 4 along with second-year head coach Ben McAdoo with the team spiraling with a 2-10 record and fans upset with the benching of two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning that weekend.
“Given the state of our team at the moment and with all of the difficult and important decisions that we have facing us, we believed it was important to bring in somebody who had experience as a general manager. Somebody with a proven track record,” Mara said.
Gettleman clearly met the criteria, and his history with the Giants made him the perfect fit.
Talking with a rich Boston accent, Gettleman described himself as inveterate film watcher. He plans to build the team through every avenue possible, draft, trade, waiver wire, free agency. He is a firm believer in handling issues through communication and collaboration.