NFL Team Fires Head Coach After 2 Seasons

Another NFL team has joined the club of firing its head coach. On Tuesday evening, the New York Giants announced they have parted ways with Joe Judge after two seasons. This comes one day after the Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears decided to enter the 2022 season with new head coaches. 

“Steve (Tisch) and I both believe it is in the best interest of our franchise to move in another direction,” team president John Mara said in a statement. “We met with Joe yesterday afternoon to discuss the state of the team. I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Joe of our decision. We appreciate Joe’s efforts on behalf of the organization. I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season. Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision.”

The decision comes shortly after general manager Dave Gettleman announced his retirement. That could be the reason Judge was let go along with the fact the Giants only won 10 games in his two seasons with the team. Judge, 40, joined the Giants in 2019 after spending eight years as an assistant coach for the New England Patriots. 

“This will be a comprehensive search for our next general manager,” Mara said. “We are looking for a person who demonstrates exceptional leadership and communication abilities, somebody who will oversee all aspects of our football operations, including player personnel, college scouting and coaching.”  

The Giants finished the 2021 season with a 4-13 record. The team hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2016 and since then they have had three different head coaches, excluding interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo in 2017. From 2004-2015, Tom Coughlin was the Giants head coach, and the team won two Super Bowls under his watch. Before Coughlin, Jim Fassel was the Giants head coach from 1997-2003. 

“Obviously, the fans deserve better than what we gave them this year,” Judge said after the team’s final game of the season this past weekend, which was a 22-7 loss to the Washington Football team. “Our team deserves better than what we accomplished this year. I have much higher expectations as a team. I’m never going to compromise or negotiate on that. My expectations are what they are. As I’ve said a number of times, I’m very proud of a lot of things our team has done through a lot of adversity this year.”