Passed Over Giants Coach Moves On

Peter Giunta is keeping a stiff upper lip in New York after being snubbed by the G-Men for the team's defensive coordinator job then blocked from leaving the team for other opportunities.

Paul Schwartz in the NY Post has the story of Giunta, 52, who put in for the DC job vacated by Steve Spagnuolo. The position went instead to Giants linebackers coach Bill Sheridan.

But Spagnuolo, hired as the Rams new head coach, wanted Giunta to join him in St. Louis. The Giants wouldn't let Giunta go, keeping him there as secondary coach.

"You're hurt, you're upset by the situation but you deal with it," Giunta said on Tuesday.

In the past, assistant coaches in the past didn't have to ask permission to leave their teams if they were getting a promotion. So teams would raid staffs, give guys the same role with their new team but attach "assistant head coach" to their job title. Instant promotion. Now, assistants can only interview without permission if they are headed for a head coaching job.  

So even though Giunta was asked to interview for defensive coordinator jobs in Green Bay and St. Louis, the Giants blocked his posterior. Which would rankle me some because, at 52, opportunities that put you a heartbeat from a head coaching job aren't going to keep floating by.

To Giunta's credit, he's maintaining the party line, "It was a great compliment, because (Giants head coach Tom Coughlin) wanted me to stay here. He said we're so close to coming back and winning another championship here, he didn't want to break up the staff. He wanted to keep as much continuity as he could."