EAST RUTHERFORD - Tom Coughlin today filled the final opening on his coaching staff with the announcement that the Giants have hired Kevin Gilbride, Jr. as their new offensive quality control coach.
Tom Coughlin today filled the final
opening on his coaching staff with the announcement that the Giants
have hired Kevin Gilbride, Jr. as their new offensive quality
control coach.
Gilbride spent the previous three seasons as the wide receivers coach at Temple University. He is the son of Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride.
Gilbride, Jr. replaces Sean Ryan, who was named the Giants' wide receivers coach last week.
"Kevin is very aggressive and a very energetic young coach," Coughlin said. "Quite frankly, I investigated him three or four years ago. He's busted his tail to get where he is. He was a graduate assistant at Syracuse (Coughlin's alma mater), so I knew about him there and the coaches were very favorably impressed by what he was able to accomplish there.
"In this day and age, your coaches are relying on the quality control coaches' ability to take off segments and situations (from game tapes) before they can start to game plan. It's a grinder's job. It's very much a behind-the-scenes job. They are responsible for self-scout. They are responsible for the next opponent and he has already started, because very shortly we will be on our divisional opponents. During the season, he has to provide us with self-scout information on a Monday night, get the next opponent off and he runs the scout squad. And when you talk about professional football, and you talk about the quality of your practices, those scout squads have to be run to perfection."
In 2009, Gilbride was a member of the Temple coaching staff that led the Owls to a 9-4 record - their first winning record since 1990 -- and their first bowl game since 1979, the Eaglebank Bowl in Washington.
The previous season, Gilbride coached Bruce Francis, who was named the Owls' offensive most valuable player. Francis, who was an All-MAC selection, became Temple's Division I-A career leader in receiving touchdowns (23). The Owls' leading receiver with 687 yards on 45 catches for a Division I-A school record 13 touchdowns, Francis finished his collegiate career with a reception in a school record 38 consecutive games.
Prior to joining the Temple staff, Gilbride coached the slot receivers and tight ends at Georgetown in 2006. He also headed the kickoff coverage unit and assisted on punt, kickoff return and punt block. He recruited in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida and Delaware for the Hoyas.
"Kevin happens to be an early morning guy and I like that," Coughlin said. "He's here very early and he works until late at night. He wants to learn and he wants to be a successful coach. This is a great opportunity for him."
Gilbride was an offensive graduate assistant coach at Syracuse for two seasons (2004-05), working heavily with the tight ends in 2005. The Orange captured a share of the Big East title in 2004 and earned a berth in the Champs Sports Bowl. He first joined the SU staff as a graduate assistant for video in 2003 before then head coach Paul Pasqualoni moved him into a coaching role.
"In terms of getting into coaching," said Gilbride, Sr., "my wife and I did everything we could to discourage, not encourage, because we know it's a challenging life and there are a lot of potential pitfalls. He was adamant that he wanted to get into it and he's been very fortunate. He made a decision he wanted to try pro football. And again our efforts to discourage were met with non-compliance. He was fortunate enough to get the interview with Tom, and Tom was impressed enough with his knowledge of the computer and the things that he'll have to do in the quality control position to bring him on board."
Gilbride, 30, graduated from the University of Hawaii in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in speech communications. He was a backup quarterback and played on special teams for the Warriors in 2000 after sitting out the 1999 season following his transfer from Brigham Young. He also earned four letters as a baseball player at Hawaii, playing outfield, first base and designated hitter. As a senior, he batted .308, had a .413 on base percentage and did not commit an error.
