When newly introduced New York Giants head coach Joe Judge spoke at his introductory press conference on Thursday, you could hear a little bit of Tom Coughlin, Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells and Nick Saban in his words.
From the teaching of men to the demand of his players, the 38-year-old Judge sounded like a vested veteran with decades of experience under his belt.
That just shows he’s been paying attention and has a willingness to learn from some of the greatest football minds in history.
The prime example of that came when Judge discussed his personnel and what he expects from his coaches, explaining that every player has a role and something they’re good at, and that it’s up to he and his coaches to figure out what that is.
“What I learned from Coach Belichick was real simple: be flexible within your personnel. Don’t try to shove round pegs in square holes. Figure out what you have. Let them play to their strengths,” Judge said. “Don’t sit in a meeting and tell me what you don’t have in a player. Don’t tell me they can’t do a certain thing.
“Tell me what they can do, and then we’ll figure out as coaches — because that’s our job — how we can use that. That’s our responsibility. Everyone has something they can do.”
Judge went on to point out how often castoffs suddenly find success in the NFL and leave everyone wondering how that was missed by other teams.
Simply put? It’s bad coaching and that will not happen on Judge’s watch. But he’s also not going to let players get away a less-than-stellar effort.
“We don’t care where you’re drafted, or if you were traded for. You want to stay on the field? Earn it. If not you won’t be on the field,” Judge said.
Will Judge be the right hire for the Giants? Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain — he sounds like a man who knows what he’s doing, who is capable of getting the most out of his players and has high expectations for everyone in the room.
In other words, Judge sounds like a quality head coach.
