When Mike Sullivan jumped to the Buccaneers as offensive coordinator, the Giants were left with an opening at quarterbacks coach.
They didn’t have to look far for a replacement. The Giants announced Thursday that Sean Ryan, who coached the Giants wide receivers last season, will move into Sullivan’s old job for the 2012 season. From the sound of things, Tom Coughlin didn’t give much thought to going outside the organization for a replacement.
“Continuity is important,” Coughlin said in a press release. “It’s not that I don’t think there are some talented people out there. But I do think that these two are very talented and the best approach we could possibly take would be to continue to support our players at those positions with people who are products of the system.”
The team also announced that Kevin M. Gilbride, son of offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, will become the new wide receivers coach. The younger Gilbride had been the offensive quality control coach for the team and they recently blocked him from interviewing for the quarterbacks coach in Tampa.
That block raised some eyebrows at the time it was announced as it is unusual to see a team block a low-level assistant make a step up the coaching ladder. In his Monday Morning Quarterback column this week, Peter King of SI.com said that the team’s choice rubbed some coaches the wrong way. Now that the Giants have given Gilbride the boost in-house, any bad feelings will likely disappear.