IT’S SHOWTIME FOR SPAGS
INTERIM head coach Steve Spagnuolo has brought energy, focus, a bit more practice discipline and a lot more personality to the Giants. On Sunday against the Cowboys, we’ll see if he is a better head coach his second time around. There is no time to waste if he has any chance at all of persuading Giants ownership he could be their man, which is a long shot at best. But hey, with the Yankees hiring Aaron Boone out of the ESPN broadcast booth, anything is possible these days when it comes to running a team.
At the least, Spagnuolo, who was 10-38 during his initial head-coaching stint with the Rams, can freshen up his résumé for some other team looking for a head coach.
I’m a believer in giving a coach who has failed his first time a second chance to see if he has the capability to change and learn from his mistakes.
Spagnuolo impresses me as just such a coach.
Expect Spagnuolo to be aggressive come kickoff Sunday at MetLife Stadium, something the Giants desperately need. Under robot Ben McAdoo, the Giants lost their aggressiveness.
Asked by The Post the biggest thing he has learned between his failed time with the Rams and this stop-the-bleeding promotion from defensive coordinator to Giants interim head coach, Spagnuolo said Friday: “This was a little different. In a normal setting, you take the job as a head coach. There is some time in there. It’s almost like a buildup. Here, it was a thrust.
“So what I tried not to do was to change too much, not to do too many things. One of the things you do learn when you take it the first time is you think you are going to charge in there and do everything on your own. You got to rely on a lot of other people, and we are lucky here because we have good people. I feel confident in the assistant coaches, the staff, and everything went smoothly in that regard, and that’s a credit to all the people in the building, and I appreciate that.
“I’m trying not to stick my hand or foot or face or brain where it really doesn’t belong. That’s probably the biggest thing.”
Those are key words — so many head coaches or managers become total control freaks. They can’t always be that way. They have to pull back a bit and let people do their jobs. It would have helped if McAdoo were not so stubborn and controlling in that respect. It was all about his system. Spagnuolo clearly is saying it’s all about people.
He is empowering others, and that is the secret to leadership.
“That’s the way it should be, cer- tainly in this business of pro football,” he said. “And if you can build a couple of wins in there, usually you can get it to snowball, so we’ll try to work on that on Sunday.”
Spags and his 2-10 Giants desperately need a win. His defense has been a big reason for the team’s poor record, and it needs to step up its play. Eli Manning is back at quarterback and needs to have a good game against Dallas for many reasons.
“We got some pretty good work done,” Spagnuolo said of his new Friday practice plan. “I thought the guys responded well.”
He said he does not want to “upset the apple cart,” so he will continue to call the defense.
“I enjoy that part of it,” Spagnuolo said.
Spagnuolo got the blessings of many NFL coaches this week, including one former Giants coach, Tom Coughlin.
“I haven’t talked to Tom, but he is in constant contact,” Spagnuolo said. “You know he’s a pretty good text man. He doesn’t claim to, but he does a good job.”
Like Coughlin, Spagnuolo knows the value of a Sunday victory, no matter the record.
“There’s nothing like that feeling in a locker room when you win a game,” Spagnuolo said. “That feeling is something we’re chasing.”
The Giants need to catch that feeling now more than ever.