HEADLINES

Michael Ghobrial

Giants Hire Michael Ghobrial As ST Coordinator

January 25th, 2024 at 10:29am CST by Adam La Rose

The Giants have landed on a new special teams coordinator. The team announced on Thursday that Jets assistant Michael Ghobrial has been hired to take on the position.

New York moved on from Thomas McGaughey at the end of the season. That move had been expected, and it brought an end to his tenure in charge of the Giants’ special teams, which began in 2018. The team attempted to cast a wide net in searching for his replacement, but a number of teams blocked their attempts to speak with potential candidates.

In the end, though, the Giants managed to meet with a shortlist of staffers before arriving at a decision. The team spoke with Larry Izzo (Seahawks), Matt Harper (49ers) and Carlos Polk (Bears) in addition to Ghobrial. The latter is now set for an intra-city move and his first time working alongside Giants head coach Brian Daboll.

Ghobrial had a lengthy coaching career in the college ranks beginning in 2009. He worked as special teams coordinator with four different schools before taking on his first NFL gig with the Jets. A member of Robert Saleh‘s original group in 2021, Ghobrial was a key staffer working alongside Jets ST coordinator Brant Boyer during his time there.

The Jets ranked fifth in special teams DVOA this season, continuing the team’s strong run in that department during Boyer’s tenure. He remains in place, but his staff will be without a key contributor moving forward. The Giants, meanwhile, will aim to improve under Ghobrial after finishing 21st in third phase DVOA in 2023.

Coaching Notes: Giants, O’Brien, Panthers

January 20th, 2024 at 9:58am CST by Ben Levine

We’ve got another candidate for the Giants ST coordinator job. According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, the Giants interviewed Jets assistant special teams coach Michael Ghobrial for the position.

Ghobrial has been with the Jets since 2021, working alongside Brant Boyer and Leon Washington. Prior to his stint in New York, the coach served as a special teams coordinator in the college ranks, spending time with Washington State, Hawai’i, and Tarleton State.

The Giants have been forced to pivot to assistant ST coordinator to replace Thomas McGaughey. The team was denied interviews with ST coordinators like Marquice Williams (Falcons), Chris Tabor (Panthers), and Ryan Ficken (Chargers), although Dan Duggan of The Athletic notes that the Giants could revisit their pursuit of Williams since Atlanta is no longer blocking interviews.

49ers assistant special teams coach Matt Harper and Bears assistant special teams coach Carlos Polk have reportedly interviewed for the job, while Seahawks special teams coordinator Larry Izzo has also been mentioned as a potential candidate.

More coaching notes from around the NFL…

  • Speaking of Thomas McGaughey, the former Giants ST coordinator is interviewing for the same job with the Patriots, according to Raanan. The veteran coach spent the past six seasons as the Giants special teams coordinator, serving on three different coaching staffs. McGaughey previously had stints as the ST coordinator with the Panthers, 49ers, and Jets.
  • While the Patriots have and will continue to consider a number of in-house options for both coaching and front office roles, one of their coordinators won’t be sticking around. We heard yesterday that Bill O’Brien was heading to Ohio State as their offensive coordinator, a somewhat surprising development considering the organization’s reliance on continuity in a post-Bill Belichick era. However, as Albert Breer of SI.com writes, the Patriots always intended to conduct a “full search” for a new offensive coordinator. This meant O’Brien wasn’t necessarily eschewing the New England opportunity; rather, he opted for the definitive offer at Ohio State vs. the potential offer with the Patriots.
  • As our 2024 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker shows, four of the 12 candidates for the Panthers HC job have defensive backgrounds. While the organization is certainly considering these defensive-minded candidates, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the Panthers still prefer to hire an offensive-minded coach, per ESPN’s David Newton. The belief is that an offensive coach would be an ideal choice to help with the development of quarterback Bryce Young.