What Giants Fans Need to Know About Their Newest Head Coach: Joe Judge
The New York Giants' third head coach since the Tom Coughlin era will be New England Patriots special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach, Joe Judge. He will replace Pat Shurmur and will try to help rebuild a Giants team that has a young, talented offense and lots of money to spend this upcoming offseason.
The hiring of Judge makes sense from a New England perspective. But for those in the Big Apple, you may be wondering one thing: who the heck is Joe Judge?
Let us explain.
Judge, who was the Patriots' special teams coordinator for five seasons and the wide receivers coach for the 2019 season, joined New England as an assistant special teams coach back in 2012. Before then, he spent three seasons at Alabama as a football analyst under Nick Saban.
Judge was viewed as a potential head-coaching candidate heading into the 2019 season. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick reportedly realized early on that Judge was head-coaching material, which is why Belichick would meet regularly with him to go over program-building and how to be a head coach.
But what are the qualities that Judge possesses that make him head-coaching material?
"Joe's a really good coach. Joe does a good job," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said last July about his special teams coordinator via Zack Cox of NESN. "He's smart. He's played quarterback, he played offense, so he has a good offensive background. There are a lot of defensive principles in special teams; he's a good defensive coach, teaching those fundamentals and techniques in the kicking game, but they would carry over to defense. Joe could probably coach any position on the field. He does an excellent job of teaching players. He thinks quickly. The game comes easy to him. He understands concepts and adjustments and fundamental techniques. That's the mark of a good coach. I would definitely put him in that category."
Players and beat reporters have also weighed in on what makes Judge a great coach.
"I asked wide receiver Phillip Dorsett how he would explain what Joe Judge's style is like, and he said he is 'really, really, really, really detailed oriented' for effect," ESPN's Mike Reiss said on "NFL Live" when asked to explain who Joe Judge is. "I would say he is also demanding, Wendy. When you go out to a Patriots practice you can hear Joe Judge's voice, so he is the type of presence that can command a room.
"At one point over the last few years I asked Joe Judge what type of football team he would like to have as a coach, and he said a 'smart, tough football team that plays fundamentally sound.' So you think about that, and pair it up with Dave Gettleman, sort of an old-school General Manager, you can see how that would sort of pair together. And one last thing - I once asked Joe Judge 'what is your coaching philosophy?' and he explained it to me this way, 'coaching is a people business, and if you can't relate and players don't trust you and don't know that you're truly invested in their best interest, it's going to be hard to get the best out of them.'"
The Boston Globe's Nora Princiotti had this to say on Twitter about a conversation she once had with Judge, which perfectly explains his personality coupled with his work ethic:
Being from the Belichick coaching tree, along with having spent time under Saban has certainly helped Judge gain enough knowledge and experience to earn this head-coaching gig with the Giants. That, along with his blunt personality foreshadows a strict, hardworking football team in New York in the near future. The culture Judge brings to the Giants locker room may not immediately translate to wins, but it will certainly point the New York football team in the right direction.
