Giants

Giants OC Kevin Gilbride Expected To Retire

January 2, 2014

Update:

Giants OC Kevin Gilbride officially announced that he will be retiring from the NFL on Thursday.

“It’s hard to say, ‘It’s time,’” Gilbride said, via Giants.com. “To finally do it, it’s a very unnatural feeling. I’ve been telling my wife (Debbie) for years I was going to do it. … I knew this was it.”

Tom Coughlin spoke very highly of Gilbride as a coach and as a person.

“I have great respect for Kevin and Debbie and their family, so it’s not an easy thing to part ways,” Coughlin said. “Kevin is a professional. He’s been an exceptional football coach for the New York Giants. He helped win two Super Bowl championships. Kevin was the play-caller in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. He has done a great service to the franchise.”

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Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports reports that Giants OC Kevin Gilbride is expected to announce his retirement from the NFL at some point soon.

Gilbride has come under a ton of criticism for the Giants offensive struggles and rumors from last week indicated that he was likely to be fired in the coming weeks.

Former Buccaners offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan, who was fired earlier today, has been mentioned as a possible replacement.

We’ll have more as the news is available.

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Jordan Raanan of NJ.com reports that “high-ranking officials in the Giants organization” believe OC Kevin Gilbride will be fired at some point in the near future.

Raanan’s source adds that the Giants will likely have a new offensive coordinator in 2014, unless something changes during the team’s organizational meetings next week.
Raanan points to QB Eli Manning’s regression this year and his league-leading 27 interceptions as the main reasons for the change.

Both ownership and GM Jerry Reece told reporters on Monday that HC Tom Coughlin was going to return for another season, so it’s not all that shocking that Gilbride could be the one on the outs in New York.

Gilbride has been with the Giants for seven years now and has helped to develop Manning into a two-time Super Bowl MVP. However, there have some concerns with his overall decision-making as well as his play-calling this season.