The search for a Giants head coach quickly moved from the January undercard to the main event on Wednesday night.
With interviews still ongoing with GM, the Giants have reached out to interview New Jersey-born Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn for a head coaching job, multiple league sources have confirmed to the Daily News.
Quinn, born in Morristown, New Jersey, is arguably the hottest candidate in this year’s hiring cycle in the entire league. He interviews five of the eight permanent jobs: the Broncos, the Vikings, the Dolphins, the Bears, and the Giants.
As head coach of the Atlanta Falcons (2015–20), he went 43–42–0 in more than five seasons, including a Super Bowl run in 2016 that culminated in an infamous crash to the New England Patriots.
But the 51-year-old Quinn quickly picked up the pace for his second job as head coach thanks to a run in Dallas this season. Players and coaches of the Cowboys consider Quinn a great leader and teacher.
However, the timing of the Giants’ request for Quinn came as a surprise because co-owner John Mara said the team wanted GM to hire “first”. Mara said a new general manager would spearhead the search for a head coach.
However, the team has yet to hire a CEO.
There are three notable finalists for this post: Joe Shawn (Bills), Ryan Poles (Chiefs) and Adam Peters (49ers). And perhaps there are one or two more that have not been made public.
Sean, 42, visited the Giants’ facility on Tuesday for his second in-person interview. Powles, 36, was there on Wednesday for his own meeting with Mara, Steve Tisch and Chris Mara. Peters, 42, is expected to arrive on Thursday.
According to Mara, the Giants were determined not to “rush anything” with their GM search, as they did in December 2017 with the Dave Gettleman hiring cable. But in an attempt to be patient, they fell behind all their competitors in interviews with head coaches.
The Giants were, in fact, the latest of eight NFL teams with full-time coaching positions to request an interview with a potential candidate.
So they seem to have changed their plan – and asked Quinn for an interview before hiring the GM – to avoid watching an intriguing candidate hired elsewhere without even a hello.
Sure, the Giants have discussed potential head coaches with their GM finalists in these interviews, but it’s unclear who or how many of them have Quinn on their roster.
It’s easy to draw a straight line between Peters and Brian Flores, the recently fired Dolphins coach and Brooklyn native, as a possible match for the Giants’ next hire. Peters and Flores worked together with the New England Patriots from 2003 to 2008, primarily in scouting.
As the Daily News reported last Saturday, Flores is eyeing the Giants and is expected to be interviewed for the head coach position. However, it’s not clear if he’s a good fit for the Giants at this stage, or if the Giants are perfect for him.
Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daball seemed to be a natural fit for Sean. Sean and Pole have ties to the Andy Reed tree, which could mean a look at former Eagles Super Bowl-winning head coach Doug Pederson.
Michigan’s John Harbaugh doesn’t have clear connections to known GM finalists, so the possibility of the Giants making that call seems less likely now than it did a few days ago, though it remains to be seen which other GM candidates will make the trip to New Jersey. later this week.
The GM who is still hired should also be free to add any names he wants to this head coach search.
But while Mara said last week that a new CEO would “lead the quest for a head coach,” he put that into words as well, saying that “these decisions are always subject to the owner’s final approval.”
And, as Wednesday’s inquiry on Quinn testifies, ownership is already moving forward with at least one head coach nominee without a new CEO.
