Giants offensive assistant, Kevin Gilbride, Jr.

Super Bowl Champion coach Tom Coughlin has declared coaching poaching season officially closed. He’s already lost two assistant coaches since winning Super Bowl XLVI but he’s not going to let it happen a third time..

On Thursday, Coach Couglin denied the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the right to talk to offensive assistant Kevin Gilbride Jr. about a position on their coaching staff. Kevin Jr. is the son of the Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride Sr. According to one NFL source, the Bucs wanted to talk to Jr. about becoming their quarterbacks coach.

It isn’t known if the Bucs made an official request (and denied the same way) or were told through back channels.

Since their Super Bowl win, the Giants have lost two assistant coaches. Former assistant offensive coordinator Jack Bicknell, joined the Kansas City Chiefs to serve as offensive line coach under head coach Romeo Crennel. Less than a week earlier, the Tampa Bay Bucs hired former Giants QB coach Mike Sullivan to serve as their offensive coordinator under new head coach Greg Schiano (that’s right former Rutgers head coach).

This isn’t the first time Tom Coughlin has refused to allow NFL teams to talk to his coaches. One example is Tom’s refusal to allow permission for teams to talk to his cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta about NFL defensive coordinator jobs.

Perhaps Tom Coughlin is grooming Gilbride Jr. for a promotion on the Giants staff, especially after the departure of Bicknell and Sullivan.

Anyway, this should be the last we hear about coaching poaching until after the 2012 NFL season. Poaching season is now closed!

source: New York Daily News, New York Post

The NFL coaching shuffle usually occurs immediately after the regular season. That’s when teams that fail to make the playoffs try be better themselves and beat their competitors, try to quickly hire and fire coaches. Perhaps a better strategy is to wait to for the outcome of the Super Bowl and then poach the winning coaches.

That’s exactly what happened to the Super Bowl Giants. For the second time this week, Tom Couglin’s New York Giants has had an offensive coach poached from their ranks.

Jack Bicknell, assistant offensive coordinator of the Giants for the last three years, has left the Super Bowl champions and joined the Kansas City Chiefs. Bicknell will become the offensive line coach under Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel.

“A lot of the jobs had been filled up by the time we were done”, said Jack Bicknell Jr. He thought he would return to the Giants for his third year before receiving the offer from Kansas City.

Now the Giants need to find a QB coach AND an assistant offensive coordinator. That’s what happens with success; everyone what’s to catch that “magic”.

Earlier in the week, Giants QB coach Mike Sullivan took a promotion as offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Will this be the end of the Giants coaching poaching? We’ll have to wait and see!

Mike Sullivan former Giants QB coach

For the last eight years, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has worked closely with coach Mike Sullivan. He’s worked even closer to him over the last two years, when Sullivan assumed the title of quarterback coach for the Super Bowl champs. Sullivan is one of seven Giants coaches who have been with head coach Tom Couglin’s since his tenure began with the Giants.

Mike’s success in grooming Eli as an elite NFL QB is bitter sweet. Personally, his success has led to his hire as the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, under their newly-signed head coach Greg Schiano. But Mike’s success is a huge Giants loss.

“I’m extremely excited for Coach Sullivan, but I’m sad to see him go,” said Eli Manning. “We had a great relationship. He is a tremendous coach who pays attention to every little detail. He always had us well-prepared.”

As Coach Coughlin has said many time here, you get to the top of the mountain, you realize there’s one more mountain to climb,” Sullivan said. “I’ll always cherish the memories here with the Giants and so many wonderful people, not just coaches and players but front office people in the organization. That’s the difficult part, the relationships my wife and I have made with people in the community. We’ll always, always hold on to that and cherish that and be grateful for it. I’m just excited about taking this next step and this new opportunity. I feel very, very blessed.”

The question now is who will replace Mike Sullivan as the Giants QB coach, and what affect will that change have on Eli’s performance.

While Giants should be concerned, they should get a sigh of relief knowing that Giants GM Jerry Reese and coach Coughlin will find the right replacement. After all, remember Victor Cruz!