Ranking 8 best assistant coaches in Giants history
The New York Giants are closing in on a century of existence and many famous and powerful names have worn the blue over that time.
When it comes to head coaches, the Giants have had some great ones — Bill Parcells, Tom Coughlin, Jim Lee Howell, and Steve Owen — and some notable ones in Allie Sherman, Jim Fassel, and Alex Webster.
But what the Giants are really known for is grooming head coaches; men who worked for the club and went on to become some of the great head coaches in NFL history.
Here are eight of those names.
Marty Schottenheimer
Marty Schottenheimer was the Giants’ linebackers coach under Bill Arnsparger for the 1975 and 1976 seasons. He is mainly credited with coaching a young Harry Carson and converting Brad Van Pelt from a defensive back into a Pro Bowl linebacker.
Schottenheimer would go on to be the head coach of four NFL teams — Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and San Diego — compiling a record of 200-126-1 and is seventh all-time in NFL coaching victories.
Schottenheimer, unfortunately, will be remembered for his playoff failures. He took his teams to the postseason 13 times and never made it to the Super Bowl.
John Fox
John Fox was Payton’s counterpart on the 2000 Giants as their defensive coordinator. He served under Jim Fassel from 1997-2001.
In 2002, Fox began his head coaching career with the Panthers in Carolina, leading them to Super Bowl XXXVIII, where they fell to the New England Patriots.
Fox would go on to be the head coach in Denver — where he led the Broncos to the Super Bowl — and then with the Bears in Chicago.
Sean Payton
Sean Payton was hired to be the Giants’ quarterback coach in 1999 by Jim Fassel and was promoted to offensive coordinator the next season. He is responsible for revitalizing the career of quarterback Kerry Collins.
In 2000, the Giants’ offense under Payton became a powerful unit culminating in a 41-0 whitewash of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.
Payton would go on to takes the head coaching reins in New Orleans, leading the Saints to a .631 winning percentage from 2008-21 and winning Super Bowl XLIV along the way.
He is currently in his first year as head coach of the Denver Broncos.
Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin
Bill Parcells began his Giants career as their linebackers coach/defensive coordinator in 1979 under new head coach Ray Perkins but declined the job to work in the private sector instead. He returned to football with New England in 1980 and then moved to the Giants in 1981, just in time to coach rookie sensation Lawrence Taylor.
You know the rest. Parcells took over the head coaching job in 1983 and led the Giants to two Super Bowls before leaving the team in 1991. He would go on to coach the New England Patriots, New York Jets, and Dallas Cowboys before ending his football career in the Miani Dolphins’ front office. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Tom Coughlin began his Giants career as an assistant to Parcells, coaching the wide receivers from 1988-90. He would go on to become the head coach at Boston College and then with the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars. He became the Giants’ head coach in 2004 and won two Super Bowls before retiring in 2015.
Tom Landry
Tom Landry began his professional playing career in 1949 with the New York Yankees of the All-American Football Conference. In 1950, Landry moved over to the New York Giants of the NFL where he was a key contributor as a punter, returner, and defensive back as well as a player-coach.
Landry became the Giants’ defensive coordinator in the mid-50s under head coach Jim Lee Howell and led one of the NFL’s most dominant defenses of the era. The Giants won the NFL Championship in 1956 with Landry running the defense and were a staple in the postseason the entire decade.
In 1960, Landry — a native Texan — accepted the head coaching job of the expansion Dallas Cowboys, a job he would hold for the next 29 years.
Landry was an innovator and is considered the father of the modern NFL franchise model. He led the Cowboys to five Super Bowls, winning two, and had his team in the postseason every year from 1966-82 with the exception of 1974.
Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick began his Giants career in 1979 under Perkins as the special teams coordinator and defensive assistant. He was elevated to defensive coordinator under Parcells in 1985, a position he would hold until 1991.
Legend has it that in 1991, Giants general manager George Young and outgoing head coach Bill Parcells both agreed to install running backs coach Ray Handley over defensive coordinator Bill Belichick as their new head coach. That sent Belichick packing.
No one cared until Handley fell flat on his face and was gone after two seasons. Belichick, who took the head job in Cleveland, would also fail in his next stop. It wasn’t until he reached New England in 2000 that his head coaching career took off.
From there, Belichick has simply become one of the greatest head coaches in league history winning six Super Bowls.
Vince Lombardi
His name isn’t on the trophy by accident. Vince Lombardi is considered the gold standard of NFL coaches and his pro coaching career began with the New York Giants as their offensive coordinator back in 1954.
That’s right. At one time, the Giants had Tom Landry running their defense and Vince Lombardi running their offense. It resulted in a golden era of Giants football and one NFL Championship in 1956.
Lombardi would leave the Giants after the 1958 season to take the head coaching position with the floundering Green Bay Packers who had not appeared in the postseason since they won the NFL Championship in 1944.
Lombardi made quick work of turning the Packers into a powerhouse. They would have winning records in all nine of his seasons as head coach, winning five NFL Championships and the first two Super Bowls.
