Joe Judge is in his first season as head coach of the Giants, who hope he is the next long-term coach in New York after sifting through two head coaches and an interim coach since Tom Coughlin resigned in 2015.
Judge spent the last 11 seasons coaching special teams with Alabama (2009-11) and New England (2012-19), so the lessons learned from Nick Saban and Bill Belichick should pay off in his first head-coaching job.
New York has work to do. The Giants have the worst record in the NFL over the last three seasons at 12-36. Is Judge the right coach to lead that turnaround?
We take a closer look at the head coach:
Who is Joe Judge?
Judge replaced Pat Shurmur as the Giants head coach on Jan. 8, 2020. He has a unique blend of East Coast roots as a Philadelphia native and SEC experience dating back to his time as a three-year letter-winner at Mississippi State.
Judge is the 10th coach who served as an assistant under Bill Belichick in New England to become a head coach at the NFL level.
Judge will be held to a high standard as the Giants’ first-year head coach. Four of New York’s last seven head coaches reached the postseason in their first year.
Joe Judge's age: How old is the Giants' coach?
Judge will turn 39 years old on New Year’s Eve. He is the fourth-youngest coach in the NFL behind Sean McVay (34), Zac Taylor (37) and Kevin Stefanski (38). Brian Flores (39), Matt LaFleur (40) and Kyle Shanahan (40) make up the rest of the NFL’s 40-or-younger head-coaching crew.
LaFleur was nine years old when Belichick won his first game as a head coach with the Cleveland Browns in 1991.
Joe Judge's East Coast and SEC roots
Judge was born in Philadelphia and attended Lansdale Catholic High School. His father, Joseph, was a tackle under Wayne Hardin at Temple and part of the school’s 14-game win streak in the 1970s.
Joe Judge was a backup quarterback and holder for Mississippi State from 2000-04 and a graduate assistant from 2005-07. He continued that college coaching career as the special teams coach for Nick Saban at Alabama for three seasons.
The Crimson Tide won the BCS championship in 2009 and 2011.
Judge's wife Amber played soccer at Mississippi State. The Judges have four children – Sean, Michael, Emma Riley and Ella Grace.
Joe Judge's salary with the Giants
The New York Post reported Judge signed a five-year contract with the Giants worth a little more than $5 million per season.
Joe Judge’s first NFL Draft with Giants
Judge concentrated on offensive line and defense in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Three of the first five picks were offensive linemen, including first-round pick Andrew Thomas, a left tackle from Georgia.
The other seven picks were defensive players, led by former Alabama safety Xavier McKinney in the second round.
Joe Judge is next Belichick assistant in NFL
Judge is the 10th former Belichick to become a head coach in the NFL.
Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel, who led the Titans to the AFC championship game last season, technically does not count because he was a former player under Belichick but did not serve as an assistant coach in New England.
The other nine former assistants have had mixed results at best as head coaches:
| COACH | W | L | T | PCT |
| Al Groh | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 |
| Bill O’Brien | 52 | 44 | 0 | .542 |
| Nick Saban | 15 | 17 | 0 | .469 |
| Eric Mangini | 33 | 47 | 0 | .413 |
| Josh McDaniels | 11 | 17 | 0 | .393 |
| Jim Schwartz | 29 | 51 | 0 | .363 |
| Romeo Crennel | 28 | 55 | 0 | .337 |
| Brian Flores | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 |
| Matt Patricia | 9 | 22 | 1 | .290 |
Those coaches have combined for a 191-271 record in 29 seasons. That includes a 2-6 record in the postseason. O’Brien, who is 2-4, has both victories. Mangini and Schwartz were 0-1 in the playoffs.
Giants head coaches in their first season
Before the Super Bowl era, New York had two head coaches enjoy huge success in their first season. Earl Potteiger led New York to the NFL championship in 1927. Allie Sherman won NFL Coach of the Year honors in 1961 after leading the Giants to the NFL championship game.
That is the standard, and four other coaches led New York to the NFL playoffs in their first year. That list includes Bill Parcells (1984), Dan Reeves (1993), Jim Fassel (1997) and Ben McAdoo (2016).
That is the high standard Judge is up against in leading a rebuild in the Big Apple.
Giants coaches in first seasons
| COACH | W | L | T | NOTE |
| Bob Folwell (1925) | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4th in NFL |
| Doc Alexander (1926) | 8 | 4 | 1 | 7th in NFL |
| Earl Potteiger (1927) | 11 | 1 | 1 | NFL champs |
| LeRoy Andrews (1929) | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2nd in NFL |
| Steve Owen (1931) | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5th in NFL |
| Jim Lee Howell (1954) | 7 | 5 | 0 | 3rd in Eastern Conference |
| Allie Sherman (1961) | 10 | 3 | 1 | Won Eastern Conference |
| Alex Webster (1969) | 6 | 8 | 0 | 2nd Century Division |
| Bill Arnsparger (1974) | 2 | 12 | 0 | 5th NFC East |
| John McVay (1977) | 5 | 9 | 0 | 5th NFC East |
| Ray Perkins (1979) | 6 | 10 | 0 | 4th NFC East |
| Bill Parcells (1984) | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2nd NFC East, Divisional playoffs |
| Ray Handley (1991) | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4th NFC East |
| Dan Reeves (1993) | 11 | 5 | 0 | 2nd NFC East, Divisional playoffs |
| Jim Fassel (1997) | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1st NFC East, NFC Wild Card |
| Tom Coughlin (2004) | 6 | 10 | 0 | 2nd NFC East |
| Ben McAdoo (2016) | 11 | 5 | 0 | 2nd NFC East, NFC Wild Card |
| Steve Spagnuolo* (2017) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4th NFC East |
| Pat Shurmur (2018) | 5 | 11 | 0 | 4th NFC East |
