While the New York Giants and a few other teams are stuck in neutral in their search for a new head coach, the rest of the league isn’t waiting. Other teams are busy either participating in the playoffs or rounding out their coaching staffs for next season.
That's how the system works. Assistant coaches for teams still waiting for a new boss don’t sit idly by. Otherwise, they could end up squeezed out of a job when the game of musical assistants ends in a few weeks.
Most of the Giants assistant coaches were under contract for at least another season, but the franchise allowed them to look for jobs elsewhere as it attended to bigger business. That’s because until the Giants have a new head coach in place, they can’t guarantee anything. They are not going to force any assistants on a new head coach.
So while the Giants have been busy trying to find a new head coach, their coaching staff from this past season has begun to find gigs elsewhere. An update on the assistants:
New Jobs
Mike Sullivan (Broncos QB coach) -- The former Giants offensive coordinator landed in Denver to coach quarterbacks. It’s a job he had on two separate occasions with the Giants.
Frank Cignetti (Packers QB coach) -- He’s going from coaching Eli Manning as the Giants' quarterbacks coach to working with Aaron Rodgers. Sounds like a good gig. Cignetti, who was highly respected by former Packers assistant Ben McAdoo, will work under Mike McCarthy in Green Bay.
Adam Henry (Browns WR coach) -- He took a three-year deal with Cleveland. The Giants wanted to keep the strong voice in Odell Beckham Jr.'s ear around but couldn’t guarantee a job under the new coach. So Henry understandably left before the other door closed.
Kevin M. Gilbride (Bears TE coach) -- He joined new Bears coach Matt Nagy in Chicago. Gilbride, the son of the former Giants offensive coordinator, had been their tight ends coach for the past four seasons.
Patrick Graham (Packers DL coach) -- He also reportedly landed with the Packers in the same role he had with the Giants.
Interviewing
Mike Solari -- The longtime offensive line coach is going to interview with the Dallas Cowboys, per ESPN’s Todd Archer. That would be a nice jump from a Giants line that lacked elite talent to perhaps the league's best O-line.
Looking or Waiting
Ben McAdoo -- The fired Giants head coach is hoping to land as an offensive coordinator somewhere. Let’s see how the chips fall in the next few weeks.
Steve Spagnuolo -- It’s not impossible that he returns to the Giants as defensive coordinator under Pat Shurmur or Josh McDaniels, who were Spagnuolo’s offensive coordinators when he was a head coach in St. Louis. Or Spagnuolo may land with Shurmur or McDaniels -- or someone else -- elsewhere.
Tom Quinn -- He’s had his ups and downs over his 12 seasons with the Giants. The longtime special-teams coach is still looking for a job while waiting to see how everything unfolds in New York.
Others: Bill McGovern (LBs), Craig Johnson (RBs), Lunda Wells (assistant OL), Tim Walton (CBs), David Merritt (secondary/safeties), Ryan Roeder (offensive assistant), Rob Leonard (assistant DL), Bobby Blick (defensive assistant), Dwayne Stukes (assistant special teams).