Giants ownership shouldn't interfere -- let Joe Schoen choose his own head coach

The hiring of Joe Schoen as the new Giants general manager is supposed to signal a new way of doing business for this lost franchise. Just the fact that he comes from outside the Giants “family” seems like a very good sign.

But what happens next is always what matters most, and what happens next for Schoen is the search for a new head coach. Giants co-owner John Mara has promised Schoen “the flexibility to bring in the head coach that he wants” and he has to deliver on that promise.

Because this head coaching search – which could come down to Brian Daboll vs. Brian Flores – will be the first real test of whether things with the Giants have really changed at all.

It’s not as simple as this, of course, but some can already sense the lines being drawn between the two co-favorites for the job. Schoen, who was officially hired on Friday after five years as the Buffalo Bills assistant general manager, has Daboll, the Bills offensive coordinator “very high” on his shortlist, according to a source. For months, people around the league have talked of them as the kind of “package deal” that Mara said he would avoid.

Meanwhile, Mara, according to multiple sources, is high on Flores, the former Miami Dolphins head coach. He even reportedly spoke to Flores earlier this week, before Schoen was hired, to not only let him know the Giants wanted to interview him, but to talk about how they might be able to clear some salary cap space to build a better team.

That says a lot when an owner reaches out to a prospective head coach personally, especially before a GM is in place. And you can bet Schoen took notice of that, too.

Now, Mara is also high on Daboll, according to a source. The Giants discussed interviewing him for their head coaching job two years ago (though they ultimately didn’t) and they tried to lure him from the Bills to be Joe Judge’s offensive coordinator (the Bills denied them permission). And Schoen is high on Flores, another source said. And while they don’t have a previous relationship, they also reportedly spoke this week.

So it’s not that Flores is Mara’s guy and Daboll is Schoen’s choice, and it certainly wouldn’t be painted that way by either of them if Flores or Daboll is hired. And the reality is that neither of those two may end up with the Giants’ coaching job, even though they are the clear and heavy favorites from the start.

The more important part is this: Mara promised not to interfere in the selection. He promised his new GM “will oversee all aspects of our football operations, including … coaching.”

So this only works if the new coach, whoever it is, really is Schoen’s guy.

That’s never been the way it’s worked with the Giants, not since George Young was hired in 1979 – the last “outsider” to be the Giants GM, after he was thrust upon a warring ownership by a fed-up NFL commissioner. He was the driving force, for better or worse, behind every head coach that was hired during his tenure from 1979 through 1997.

But things changed after he stepped aside. Tom Coughlin was Wellington Mara’s hand-picked coach, and going into that process neither GM Ernie Accorsi nor Wellington’s son John could ignore that fact. And by the time Coughlin left, John Mara was leading the search. His GMs, Jerry Reese and Dave Gettleman, had input in the process, but they knew they didn’t have the power to overrule ownership’s preferred choice.

Schoen has to have that power, for the good of the future of the franchise. Because if they really are starting anew, thinking outside of their tiny box and embracing different ideas, the GM has to be truly free. He can’t go in to any decision with anyone else’s pre-conceived ideas. He can’t feel the weight of the choice he knows his boss might want him to make.

If the Giants are doing this right, Mara and Steve Tisch won’t even sit in on the coaching interviews. They’ll let Schoen do all the leg work, maybe meet with a finalist or two, then rubber stamp his choice when it’s made. If it’s Flores? Great. If it’s Daboll? Great. It doesn’t matter as long as the choice is Schoen’s.

And that will set the tone for the challenges that come next. Schoen has also been promised control over all football decisions, which might be difficult if he felt at all like his head coach had been pushed by the owners. He’s also been promised the authority to overhaul the front office – a process that likely won’t take place until after the draft in April – and everyone will be watching to see what he’s allowed to do there and if it includes doing anything with employees related to his boss.

But it all starts here, with full control over the selection of the coach. If he wants Daboll, then it has to be Daboll. If he pivots to Flores, then that’s the guy. It’s that simple. He should be in the room with those men, one-on-one, during the interviews. The job of Mara and Tisch should only be to say “yes” at the end.

That would certainly be a big change in the way the Giants have done business in the past. And it would be a welcomed change, at that. It would be their strongest signal yet that they’re open to a new way of thinking and doing things the right way for a change.