Five Questions Joe Judge Will Likely Have to Answer in His Introductory Press Conference

Joe Judge will meet the media Thursday in his introductory press conference as Giants head coach. As part of that, he'll field a variety of questions about his coaching plans, his background and much more from the gathered press. Here's a look at five questions that will probably come up in some way, shape or form.

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New Giants head coach Joe Judge will be introduced to the media Thursday at 2:00 p.m., and there will be many questions asked of the surprise choice of Giants management to be the team’s 19th head coach.

Here is a look at some of the biggest questions the 38-year-old Judge might have to answer during his first press conference as a member of the Giants franchise.

What are your plans for your coordinators?

Judge’s coaching staff is going to be worth closely watching because his choices and in particular could make or break his chances for success. Backing up for a moment, we can probably assume that Judge is going to be a CEO style head coach who doesn’t serve as his own play-caller on offense or defense (or special teams for that matter).

So it’s imperative that whoever he does hire for his three coordinator positions be strong candidates with proven experience and the results to back it up.

RELATED: Which Assistant Coaches Might Get a Look?

On offense, not only will the coordinator be a part of the ongoing Daniel Jones development, that candidate will need to be creative enough to utilize running back Saquon Barkley in space and optimize the skill set of tight end Evan Engram.

On defense, it will be necessary for Judge to get a coach who isn’t married to a system but who instead can tailor it around the talent he has. And he’ll need stellar teachers, across the board, but especially on the defensive side of the ball where that group is younger than its offensive counterparts.

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What type of locker room do you want to run?

There is more than one way to run a locker room, with one extreme being the Tom Coughlin way in which no food or drinks are allowed, and no games are permitted since the locker-room is part of a player’s workspace.

Then there is the laid-back approach that Pat Shurmur ran, where couches and games were part of the environment, the purpose giving players a chance to bond with one another over competitive activities no related to football.

Judge will no doubt want a professional locker room regardless, but how he establishes that will be very important as he finds his footing with his new players.

What’s your plan to teach this team how to win?

This might sound like a silly question to ask, but when a team has won just nine games in two years, something isn’t going right for them. Whether it’s how they prepare, how they correct mistakes, or how they study, there is a reason why the Giants haven’t been able to overcome their struggles.

Judge has a background in teaching—he pursued a Ph.D. in the field—so he’s no doubt familiar with the various ways to get a message across to a variety of young minds who learn via different methods. 

It will be up to Judge to quickly get a sense of how those players who are I the team’s plans for 2020 best learn and then arrive at a standard method that will help all the players get up to speed on their assignments as well as the little things that the consistent winning teams do.

How will you collaborate with Dave Gettleman in disseminating messages to the locker room?

Usually, when a new head coach comes in, he gives everyone a clean slate, including players who saw their playing time diminish or who might have ended the previous year in the former coach’s doghouse.

In the past, general manager Dave Gettleman has spoken about the importance of carefully crafting messages that make their way down to the locker room. Such was the plan when he and former head coach Pat Shurmur took over two years ago when they gave everyone a clean slate and let those who didn’t want to be part of the team’s plans moving forward reveal themselves through their actions.

This time around, Gettleman has a good idea as to what he has in the locker room. In contrast, Judge will need to learn about the players and form his own opinions before contributing his input into who he wants to retain and who doesn’t fit into the culture he plans to build.

To that end, the collaborative relationship with Gettleman will be critical. It would be surprising if, during his interview with the Giants, he wasn’t asked how he expected Gettleman and his staff to support him regarding personnel. 

The working relationship between the head coach and general manager is going to be paramount if this team is to turn its luck around.

How much say will you have over personnel?

Speaking of collaborating with Gettleman, one topic that’s almost certain to be raised is if Judge received any additional say in personnel.

Gettleman, remember, said he would be willing to put aside any egos for the sake of the franchise. 

Given that Judge is a first-time head coach, it will still be interesting to see if he gets more say than the previous staff did—and judging by the influx of former Cardinal players that were imported on defense, it’s not hard to connect the dots and conclude that Gettleman gave outgoing defensive coordinator James Bettcher most if not all of what he wanted for his defense.

Will Judge get a bigger slice of the pie in terms of the final makeup of the roster? The draft process? Free agency? Again, he’s not going to get final say over the roster, but it’s hard to imagine that Gettleman, who is on the hotseat, won’t keep an open mind toward the personnel needs that Judge and his assistants request.

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