Building an all-time Giants coaching staff means stacking Parcells, Lombardi, Belichick, Landry, Coughlin, Spagnuolo, Steve Owen, Sean Payton, Mike Pope, and more — but the cost is brutal: real Giants legends get pushed into smaller roles or left out completely.
Follow on Spotify and leave a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts if you enjoy no-BS Giants debate.
The Big Question: Who belongs on the greatest New York Giants coaching staff ever? The answer depends on whether you value Giants-only impact, total NFL résumé, championships, innovation, or clean role fit.
Drew and Rob start with Bill Parcells as head coach, but Steve Owen’s Giants résumé keeps the conversation from being automatic. Parcells has the modern Super Bowl weight and the franchise-shaping presence, while Owen brings the longest Giants head-coaching résumé and pre-Super Bowl championship history. Jim Lee Howell also gets major credit as the CEO-style coach who had Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry on the same staff.
Does total football immortality matter more than the exact Giants job a coach held?
That question drives the offensive staff. Lombardi is the obvious offensive coordinator, Allie Sherman gets tied into the Giants coaching tree, Sean Payton lands at quarterback coach, Mike Pope is the tight ends lock, and Steve Owen’s playing background gives him a place with the offensive line. The uncomfortable debate comes with names like Ray Handley and Tom Coughlin: one was a rough head coach but valuable assistant, while the other is too important to Giants history to leave out.
The defensive side becomes even more stacked. Bill Belichick gets the defensive coordinator role, Tom Landry still has to be honored for his Giants impact and defensive innovation, and Steve Spagnuolo lands as defensive line/pass-rush coordinator because the staff is that overloaded. Romeo Crennel, Marty Schottenheimer, John Fox, Earl “Potty” Potteiger, Mike Nolan, and John Harbaugh all create different arguments about résumé, role fit, and how much Giants connection should matter.
Who got punished by how loaded this list is?
The episode closes on the real problem with building an all-time Giants staff: there are more qualified names than available jobs. Some fans will value Parcells and Belichick. Others will argue harder for Landry, Owen, Flaherty, Fassel, Reeves, or another old-school Giants figure. That is what makes this debate work — there is no painless version of the final staff.
Merch: https://2giantgoofballs-shop.fourthwall.com/
Support: https://buymeacoffee.com/2giantgoofballs
All episodes: https://2giantgoofballs.buzzsprout.com/
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show