Even if Kevin Gilbride did not decide to retire last week, he would not have returned as offensive coordinator, because, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, the Giants were prepared to fire him in order to fix what co-owner John Mara called a “broken offense.’’
Interviews are ongoing to find a successor to Gilbride. Former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan met with the Giants Wednesday, former Titans offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains interviewed on Thursday, former Texans quarterbacks coach Karl Dorrell arrives on Friday and Ben McAdoo, the quarterbacks coach for the Packers, will be interviewed Saturday.
Mara said there could be others interviewed as well.
Gilbride after 10 years with the Giants — the last seven running the offense and calling the plays — was living apart from his wife the past few years, a situation he did not want to continue. He may or may not stay retired, but his leaving made it easier for all concerned to part ways.
“He retired and fortunately it didn’t come to any type of situation where he had to be forced out,’’ Mara said Thursday in an interview on WFAN.
“He did a great job for us, but there’s no question our offense did not play well this year and really in a number of games put us in a hole we could not climb out of.
“I think going forward, having a change is probably going to be good for us, but I don’t want to diminish in any way what Kevin accomplished for this franchise. As I told him when I saw him the other day we would not have won two Super Bowls without him.’’
The Giants have assembled a disparate group of candidates. Sullivan, 46, is the popular choice of Victor Cruz and Eli Manning in that he spent eight years as an assistant for coach Tom Coughlin, six as receivers coach and two as quarterbacks coach. Loggains at 33 is the youngest — he’s the same age as Manning. Dorrell, 50, brings with him something the other three candidates do not. He spent five years as the head coach at his alma mater, UCLA, the first African-American head coach in the school’s history. He went 35-27 with the Bruins.
Dorrell spent the past two years as the quarterbacks coach for the Texans, but was dismissed when the newly hired Bill O’Brien fired almost all of Gary Kubiak’s staff.
McAdoo comes in with the endorsement of Aaron Rodgers, who jokingly told him “Make sure you put me down as a reference’’ when McAdoo this week embarked on job interviews.
McAdoo, 36, is viewed in some circles as the second coming of Andy Reid, who in 1999 was hired as the head coach of the Eagles, though he was a young and relatively little-known assistant. McAdoo has followed a similar script. Like Reid, McAdoo spent time (six years) coaching tight ends in Green Bay before he was promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2011 and succeeded in gaining Rodgers’ backing.
“Any opportunity he gets, he deserves,’’ Rodgers said this week on his radio show. “He’s a guy that works extremely hard.’’
McAdoo interviewed on Wednesday for the Browns head-coaching job. Though he never has been a coordinator at any level of coaching, the Dolphins might also have interest in him.
The Giants will not need to find a new defensive coordinator. Perry Fewell interviewed for the Redskins head-coaching job that Thursday went to Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden. Tom Quinn, the Giants’ special teams coordinator, is also expected to return.
There will not be another major shakeup to Coughlin’s staff despite the 7-9 finish.
“I just don’t think that merits cleaning house and blowing the whole thing up and bringing in a whole new staff in there,’’ Mara said. “There comes a time when you have to do that, I don’t think this is the time and I think people just have to be patient and accept the fact we had a lot of injuries this year.
“Yes, we have missed on some draft picks and some of our free-agent acquisitions haven’t worked out in the past year or two but I still have a lot of confidence in our staff here and our coaches and I think we will get it turned around.’’