Giants' Next Head Coach has Philly Roots
It was in the days leading up to Super Bowl LII between the Eagles and Patriots in Minneapolis when Joe Judge walked into the media room as the special teams coordinator for New England and took his place at one of the tables to await questions from a roving throng of reporters.
Except the throng was slow to come his way, preferring to cluster around offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels or then-defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. Even then-linebackers coach Brian Flores had more reporters around him than Judge.
Patricia would go on to become the head coach of the Detroit Lions and Flores the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. McDaniels had already been named the Indianapolis Colts’ head coach and would join them after the Super Bowl, until, that is, he changed his mind.
Judge, who just turned 38 on New Years’ Eve, became the next disciple of Bill Belichick to earn a shot at being a head coach when the New York Giants tabbed him to replace Pat Shurmur on Tuesday.
Judge began with Belichick as an assistant special team coordinator in 2012, when Judge left Nick Saban’s staff at the University of Alabama. Judge rose to special team coordinator then became the wide receivers coach last year.
It was a surprise hire, to be sure, but sometimes special team coaches can be successful head coaches because they have to be familiar with all 53 members of the roster because specialty units are made up of players from both offense and defense. Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is an example of that after Harbaugh spent years coaching special teams with the Eagles before getting his opportunity.
“Joe is a very outgoing, charismatic personality, and not afraid to say what’s on his mind,” said Ed Marynowitz, Judge’s good friend from their time together at Alabama, several years ago. “Obviously, with him being in New England, and all the things going on up there, and just being under that Belichick tree, I definitely think he’s going places. It’s unique for him being with Saban and now with Belichick.
“You can’t ask for two better guys than that. He’s on the right track. Inside staff meetings, Joe is very descriptive whether it’s describing a player or whatever. He’s awesome, awesome. I think he’ll do great job. In this league, I know those assistant special teams guys, they’ll get an opportunity.”
At the Super Bowl on that early February day in 2018, Judge recognized one Eagles reporter, who sat down with Judge for some one-on-one time before a slow trickle of other reporters made their way to his table.
The reporter had covered Judge when he played quarterback for legendary Pennsylvania high school coach Jim Algeo in the late 1990s at Lansdale Catholic High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia, which, yes, made him an Eagles fan growing up.
That family will root now for the Giants when the Eagles and Giants meet twice a season as NFC East rivals, just as they did in SB LII. It was particularly difficult, though, for his mother, Denise Judge, who is an Eagles fan through and through and is the longtime principal at Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Catholic School, a kindergarten through eighth-grade school in North Wales, Pa.
“It’s tough because she wants so badly to root for the (Eagles), but she has an allegiance somewhere else right now,” said Judge to that reporter two years ago.
Though he grew up an Eagles fan, Judge knew then where his allegiance lay that day and will be as the head coach of the Giants.
“I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve tried to avoid looking at all the outside circumstance of what they are and focus on them purely as a team,” he said that day during Super Bowl week. “There’s no time really to get caught up emotionally or nostalgically with these guys. They’re just too good of a team. If you’re going down memory lane, they’re working too hard on beating your butt.”
Judge is close with Eagles assistant coaches Mike Groh, the team’s offensive coordinator, and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.
At the Super Bowl, Groh said: Certainly proud for all the success he’s had. For him to be a part of Belichick’s staff for this long and all the success they had, I’m very proud. I know he works really hard and he’s a really good football coach.”
Added Stoutland then: “Obviously, Joe adds a lot of value to that organization, otherwise he wouldn’t be there as long as he’s been there. He’s a young guy who’s a really smart guy. I think he’s a realist. I think he puts players in position where they can make plays. He doesn’t ask them to something that maybe is more difficult. I think he learned a lot of that from coach Saban at Alabama. I think the sky’s the limit for Joe.”
First and foremost, Joe Judge is all about family.
He has four children with his wife Amber, who Judge met when he left suburban Philadelphia to go to college at Mississippi State. Amber was a soccer standout at Mississippi State; Judge played special teams, first for head coach Jackie Sherrill the, after Sherrill was fired, Sylvester Croom.
“I’ve been fortunate to be around really good coaches, even back to high school, coach Algeo, then playing for Jackie Sherrill, Sylvester Croom - tremendous people who knew how to coach,” said Judge two years ago. “The opportunity to work with Saban and Belichick. You try to soak up everything every day, you take a lot of notes. You look like a court stenographer because you write down everything and reference it each day.”
