Update: The team has announced the move. GM Joe Schoen will not only remain in place, he'll lead the search.
“We feel like Joe has assembled a good young nucleus of talent, and we look forward to its development,” Giants president John Mara said in a statement released by the team. “Unfortunately, the results over the past three years have not been what any of us want. We take full responsibility for those results and look forward to the kind of success our fans expect.”
The New York Giants are firing head coach Brian Daboll, according to a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.
The move comes one day after a 24-20 loss to the Chicago Bears, dropping Big Blue to 2-8 on the season. Daboll exits the organization with a 20-40-1 mark in three-plus seasons. The high point came in his 2022 debut, when the Giants went 9-7-1, defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild Card round and fell to eventual NFC champion Philadelphia in the Divisional round, a year that garnered NFL Coach of the Year honors for the then-rookie head coach. The Giants slipped to 6-11 in 2023, and then 3-14 last season.
The failure to develop Daniel Jones will go down as the defining moment of Daboll's career. Jones is now the starter for an 8-2 Indianapolis Colts squad, while the Giants have cycled through a number of veterans before drafting Jaxson Dart out of Ole Miss last spring. Daboll got the Giants job after four seasons as the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator, a period that saw him mold Josh Allen from a raw, undeveloped talent into one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator for Alabama's 2017 national championship team. And in Daboll's defense, the disastrous Hard Knocks: Offseason saga showed Daboll would have traded up to take future NFL Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels if it were up to him.
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will step in as interim head coach, per ESPN.
Looming over the move is that the Giants are an organization that has made more wrong moves than right ones over the past decade-plus. The Giants last won the NFC East in 2011, a year that saw them rise up from 9-7 to Super Bowl champions. Prior to Daboll, Joe Judge exited New York with a 10-23 record, Pat Shurmur went 9-23, and Ben McAdoo went 13-15. Daboll's replacement will be Big Blue's fifth full-time head coach in 11 seasons, and Daboll was the first among the recent string to last more than two seasons.
From Daboll's bio:
Brian Daboll was hired as the 20th head coach in Giants history on Jan. 28, 2022, and directed one of the most successful debut seasons in the history of the franchise.
Daboll was named the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year after leading a resurgence that resulted in nine regular-season victories, the team's first playoff berth in six years, and its first postseason victory in 11 seasons. Daboll was the fifth Giants coach to be selected Coach of the Year since it was first awarded in 1957. Allie Sherman was honored in 1961 and 1962, Bill Parcells in 1986, Dan Reeves in 1993 and Fassel four years later.
When he was the Buffalo Bills' offensive coordinator in 2020, Daboll was voted the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year after the Bills finished 13-3 and unseated longtime powerhouse New England atop the division. Daboll is the first person to win both Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year.
Daboll was the fifth Giants coach to be selected Coach of the Year since it was first awarded in 1957. Allie Sherman was honored in 1961 and 1962, Bill Parcells in 1986, Dan Reeves in 1993 and Fassel four years later.
When he was the Buffalo Bills' offensive coordinator in 2020, Daboll was voted the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year after the Bills finished 13-3 and unseated longtime powerhouse New England atop the division. Daboll is the first person to win both Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year awards.