For the last six years, the rumors involving the New York Giants and Bill Cowher have been ongoing.
Yet, nothing has happened. Maybe the recent events in East Rutherford will call for a change to happen.
Those rumors involving the Giants and Cowher never happened when the Giants had a head coaching opportunity arise after the dismissal of Tom Coughlin. Instead of Cowher getting a call from John Mara to gauge his interest, the job was practically handed over to Ben McAdoo, a move many felt wasn’t the right one.
Ben McAdoo was hired due to fear of the Philadelphia Eagles hiring him, which then lead to the Giants giving him the job and ending their farce of a coaching search since we all knew McAdoo was going to be the guy from the moment Coughlin was let go in January of 2016.
The first year went well for the Giants under McAdoo, as they went 11-5 and got to the playoffs. But that was mostly due to the Top 5 defense lead by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Ben McAdoo’s coaching weaknesses were masked by a strong year.
The second year though, couldn’t be any worse for the Giants and for McAdoo, as he has shown in 2017 that he has no business being an NFL head coach. And to go even further, Ben McAdoo might be coaching himself straight out of the NFL just like Ray Handley did in 1992.
The New York Giants are a flat out mess; a mess that Ben McAdoo (and Jerry Reese) has created. The players are quitting on him, and that was extremely evident during the 31-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers when the team didn’t look interested in playing football and barely looked interested in playing defense.
When this season is over and hopefully the entire coaching staff of the Giants is sent out, John Mara picks up the phone this time and calls Bill Cowher to see if he wants to come to New Jersey. Actually, better yet. John Mara needs to call and beg Cowher to come with an $8 million a year salary and roster control.
If there was ever a time for a need for an established coach to come and help save the Giants, that time is now. And if there was ever a better time for Bill Cowher to come and fix the Giants, that time is now.
In the past when Bill Cowher was linked to the Giants, they were a pretty good team under Tom Coughlin. And even when the Giants didn’t have winning seasons, they weren’t giving up on their coach like this team has under McAdoo.
The Giants on Sunday let a San Francisco 49ers team that was as bad as it got in the NFL and made them look like a competent NFL franchise. The Giants allowed a 49ers team that in their last three games had a combined 30 points, and against them, scored 31 points.
That’s embarrassing. But that’s what Ben McAdoo has turned the Giants into. A flat out embarrassment. Ben McAdoo should have never of been hired in January of 2016 and he needs to go.
There are going to be those who say Bill Cowher has been away from coaching too long. Yes, he hasn’t coached in the NFL since the 2006 season. But he’s always said he wouldn’t rule out a return to coaching for the right opportunity.
If the Giants head coaching job is the dream job that may have claimed that it is for Cowher, then the team being in complete chaos and turmoil is the perfect scenario for him to return to coaching.
The Giants can’t hire another “top coordinator” to come and try to fix the mess in New Jersey with the Giants. A Josh McDaniels or Teryl Austin isn’t going to help this team. Having the “hot coordinator” type like Ben McAdoo was doesn’t fit for the New York Giants.
They need an established name to come here. The Giants needed it when they let Jim Fassel go following the 2003 season and when things got out of control, which lead to Wellington Mara hiring Tom Coughlin and worked out over the next 11 years.
Th nay-sayers for Cowher will say that there is no incentive for him to leave CBS Sports and the cushy studio gig for the sidelines, especially after 11 years away.
But if Cowher can get the Giants turned around and back to being a perennial contender, like he did with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he could try to do something that no other coach has done before in the NFL; try to win a Super Bowl with two different teams.
That kind of accomplishment would make the 60-year-old Super Bowl winning coach a lock for the Hall of Fame; if that’s something Bill Cowher would look to do.
The Giants made a mistake when they didn’t call Cowher back in January of 2016. They shouldn’t make that same mistake again if they are looking to make a coaching change and look for someone to fix the mess Ben McAdoo has created.