The hiring of Joe Judge as the Giants next head coach brought many questions, the main one being how did this special teams coordinator that most haven't heard of become the next man to lead Big Blue on the field?
When you break down Judge's coaching resume, one thing that pops out is his championship pedigree. He won two National Championships during his time with Alabama as a special teams coach. Then, during his eight seasons with the Patriots, he has three Super Bowl rings to show for his services.
And those men that led those two powerhouse teams in Nick Saban and Bill Belichick have nothing but praise for Judge.
"Joe has done an outstanding job. He's an excellent coach," Belichick said about the man who worked as his special teams coordinator since 2015 and assistant since 2012. "He understands the game well, works extremely hard and is a very good teacher of fundamentals. Joe picks up concepts and coaching points quickly. He is an exceptional leader and one of the best coaches I have been around. He has been responsible for coaching units comprised of nearly every player on the roster. That requires an ability to handle many moving parts, make constant adjustments and immediate decisions. I appreciate Joe's many contributions to our staff and team and wish him well."
That's a pretty in-depth endorsement from one of the best to ever do it. When you look at Belichick's coaching tree, former assistants that have become head coaches have been up and down when it comes to success. But his words on Judge still hold tremendous weight.
As for Saban, here's what the six-time National Championship-winning head coach had to say about his former assistant:
"Joe did a fantastic job for our program early on in our tenure in Tuscaloosa," he explained. "He went on to have a lot of success on Bill's (Belichick) staff in New England. Joe is one of the brightest young coaches in our profession, and I think he will do a tremendous job as the head coach of the New York Giants. They are getting an extremely smart football coach who is very loyal, organized and diligent about getting the job done. We wish Joe and his entire family the best of luck with the Giants."
Other coaches like Dolphins head coach Brian Flores (worked together on Patriots for seven seasons), Georgia head coach Kirby Smart (worked together for three seasons at Alabama), and Patriots return man Matthew Slater also added highly positive remarks about Judge.