Photo courtesy: NFL
The New York Giants have fired Canadian-born head coach Brian Daboll, according to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Giants are off to a 2-8 start this season. Daboll’s firing comes after the team blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead to lose to the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Daboll won the NFL’s Coach of the Year award in his first season with New York in 2022 after going 9-7-1 to make the playoffs. However, his win total decreased every year since and he leaves the organization with a 20-40-1 record.
The 50-year-old Daboll was born in Welland, Ont., before moving to nearby West Seneca, N.Y. to be raised by his grandparents. He was just the second Canadian-born head coach in the history of the NFL, following British Columbia-born, Michigan-raised Tommy Hughitt, who was the player-coach of the Buffalo All-Americans/Bisons from 1920 to 1924.
A former safety at the University of Rochester, Daboll began as a volunteer at William & Mary in 1997 and later served as a graduate assistant at Michigan State. He made the jump to the NFL in 2000 with the New England Patriots under new head coach Bill Belichick, rising from a defensive assistant to wide receivers coach in seven seasons. He would go on to become quarterbacks coach with the New York Jets, before stints as an offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.
Daboll returned to New England in 2013 as a tight ends coach for three seasons, after which former colleague Nick Saban came knocking. Daboll became offensive coordinator for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in 2017, using it as a launch pad to the same job with the Buffalo Bills.
During his time coaching, Daboll has won five Super Bowls and a College Football National Championship. In 2020, he was named the NFL’s Assistant Coach of the Year for overseeing the development of Bills quarterback Josh Allen into one of the best players in the league.