NFL

Giants shake up McAdoo’s staff, firing two longtime coaches

On some level, it should not be a surprise the Giants are undergoing massive and emotionally charged changes to their offensive coaching staff. After all, one of the guys who writes the checks — co-owner John Mara — said the offense is “broken’’ and a team doesn’t go to the trouble of hiring a new coordinator only to have him work with the holdover assistants already in place.

Still, what is taking place inside the Giants’ practice facility is a shock to the system to those who work in and around the building. Tight ends coach Mike Pope, the longest-tenured assistant in franchise history, was fired Wednesday, as was another staple of the Tom Coughlin regime, running backs coach Jerald Ingram. More moves could be coming and there is no doubt the offensive coaching staff, now directed by newly hired coordinator Ben McAdoo, will be almost unrecognizable.

“Both of these men are very good talent evaluators and, in their own way, are very good teachers,” Coughlin said. “I decided to make a change in our staff that I believe will be productive going forward. These are very difficult decisions, but I felt they were in the best interests of the Giants moving forward.”

No doubt, these were difficult moves for Coughlin to make but it was more difficult for him to watch the deterioration of a once-formidable offense, as the demise of Eli Manning and the passing attack and the inconsistency of the rushing game caused the ruination of the season, which ended at 7-9.

McAdoo, 36, spent the previous eight years with the Packers, the last two as quarterbacks coach and there’s little doubt the Giants will look to fill the vacancies with assistants he knows and worked with in the past.

Mara and Coughlin promised a thorough and complete evaluation of the entire operation and, clearly, the analysis convinced the powers that be the operation grew stale and new voices are needed.

Kevin Gilbride, a member of the staff for a decade, the last seven years as offensive coordinator, retired after the season before he was to be fired. It is likely Sean Ryan, the quarterbacks coach the past two seasons, will be reassigned. Gilbride’s son, Kevin M. Gilbride, is the receivers coach and he could be safe. Pope, Ingram and all the assistant coaches had contracts running through the 2014 season.

Pope, 71, is nearly as much part of the Giants fabric as the “NY” logo, given that of his 31 years coaching in the NFL, 23 were with the Giants. He worked for Bill Parcells and Jim Fassel and then Coughlin, who once called Pope “the best tight ends coach in football.’’ It was a sentiment shared by many, as the affable Pope has a legion of tight ends in and out of the NFL who swear by him. Pope was the only member of the coaching staff that has four Super Bowl championship rings from the franchise’s four Super Bowl victories.

“He has coached many, many outstanding players in the years that we’ve been here, guys that have made great contributions to our success,’’ Coughlin said.

In a conversation following the season with The Post, Pope said he still has the passion and love of the game and wanted to return but if not, he had no intention of retiring.

Ingram coached running backs for Coughlin in Jacksonville with the Jaguars and was one of Coughlin’s first hires when he came to the Giants in 2004. He was viewed as a father figure to a stable of running backs from Tiki Barber to Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs to Andre Brown.

Tight end and running back were two positions that failed miserably throughout the season. Free-agent acquisition Brandon Myers did not perform as expected at tight end and at running back, nothing seemed to work. Brown missed the first half of the season with a broken leg, second-year David Wilson was ineffective and then sidelined with a serious neck issue and Jacobs and then Peyton Hillis were pulled out of unemployment to find healthy bodies in the backfield.

“Jerald demonstrated again last season what a good teacher he is when we had injures at the running back position,’’ Coughlin said.