Gettleman Says His Performance Hasn’t “Been Good Enough”

East Rutherford, NJ -- When it comes to opinions expressed by members of the Giants franchise, there have been very few times when the fan base—the paying customers—have agreed with what they were told.

But one thing the customers will likely agree with is general manager Dave Gettleman’s very honest assessment of his two years on the job.

“Not good enough,” he said during a nearly 30-minute press conference Tuesday with reporters. “Really, it hasn’t been good enough.”

But the 67-year-old Gettleman vowed, “It will get better.”

Why should fans believe that it will get better? For one, Gettleman, perhaps humbled by his role in a 9-23 two-year record that saw head coach Pat Shurmur sent packing while Gettleman was merely put on notice by team owners John Mara and Steve Tisch that his batting average has to improve moving forward, seems more willing to embrace changes that coincide with the times.

Such as?

“I know this may sound crazy, but I met recently with a big analytics guy,” he said when asked if he’s reflected on how he can get better at his job.

“I’m going to learn from my mistakes. I never stop asking myself the question, ‘What could we have done differently? What could we have done better?’ That question never stops getting asked. We evaluate, we re-evaluate, we go backward and forwards with it. And that’s what I’ve got to do. I’ve got to talk to other GMs, inside and outside the industry, and continue to grow.”

Gettleman reiterated that the team has completely overhauled its approach to how it evaluates college and pro personnel.

He mentioned that the team also hired four computer programmers to create software applications designed to bring the team up to speed in the analytics department and that changes are being made to the “backend” of the team’s college and pro scouting systems.

He’s also vowed to reconsider his practice of limited media availability, a strategy that, in essence, backfired given how the franchise’s season unfolded and how the growing number of questions that he was better suited to handle than Shurmur.

But media availability aside, it’s all about the franchise’s direction, which, based on the record, isn’t looking up.

Gettleman, while acknowledging that things haven’t been perfect, disagrees.

“There are many reasons why the New York Football Giants are in the current state, and I take my share of culpability,” he said as part of his opening statement.

“As John (Mara) said yesterday, I have had misses. However, given where we started in December of ’17, we’ve made progress in many areas on and off the field that we are encouraged by and see as a sound foundation for the team to come.”

How so?

“When I came here, I had two major goals. Number one was to find a quarterback, and I believe we’ve done that,” Gettleman said.

“The second accomplishment I had as my goal was to set the team up for sustained success. Since I’ve been here, we have regenerated, we have rebooted, so to speak, and done a lot of things behind the scenes that needed to be done.”

While all that sounds well and good, it means nothing if the results on the field aren’t there. And not even Gettleman could say for certain how close the Giants are to turning things around to where the topic of his job security is no longer the primary focus.

“It all depends upon how quickly the puppies come along,” he said. “We have a lot of young kids. We led the league in snaps by rookies. A big part of it is how quickly they come.”

To that end, hiring the right coach to continue the development of the young kids will be key.

“These young kids are getting better. That’s what this next roster-building season is about. When you’re talking about teams that get turned around quickly, take a look at what they started with first.”

With all that said, Gettleman is still very much a realist who understands that the product on the field these last two years, however promising it might look, hasn’t produced the way it needs to.

“It’s getting better, and this is frustrating for all of us. I’m not happy about this. Ownership’s not happy; we’re all frustrated. But unfortunately, it takes time.”

Of which Gettleman might not have as much if the results don’t improve.

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