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Giants OC Mike Kafka a “Dream Replacement” for Northwestern Head Coaching Vacancy

The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman has the Giants offensive coordinator at the top of his list of head coaching replacements for the school’s football program.

Patricia Traina

Giants OC Mike Kafka a “Dream Replacement” for Northwestern Head Coaching Vacancy
Giants OC Mike Kafka a “Dream Replacement” for Northwestern Head Coaching Vacancy /
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It’s only a matter of time before the New York Giants lose their brilliant young offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to a head coaching job.

That, of course, nearly happened this past off-season when Kafka received interest for the head coaching vacancies in Carolina, Indianapolis, and Arizona, the Cardinals taking the interview process with Kafka the furthest before finally going with former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.

But as the Giants offense continues to develop into a formidable opponent, the interest in Kafka will continue growing, not just on the NFL level but also probably at the college ranks, where one such position recently became available.

That would be the Northwestern head coaching job, which opened after the school fired head coach Pat Fitzgerlad after 30 seasons. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman lists Kafka, a Northwestern alumnus, as a "dream candidate" for the vacancy, writing, “Northwestern has been terrible on offense for a while; Kafka seems like he could fix that pretty quickly.”

Unfortunately for Northwestern, even if there was serious interest on both parties’ part, the timing isn’t right, not at least for the upcoming season. Kafka and the Giants will be opening training camp next week when the rookie and select players report for meetings and walk through ahead of the July 25 reporting date for the entire team. 

And that is if there was mutual interest. As Feldman also noted, after drawing interest from NFL teams for a head coaching job, why would Kafka “jump into the craziness of the college game at a place that just canned someone he learned under?”

The answer is he probably wouldn't. Still, the more success Kafka has with the Giants offense, the more interest he will draw from around the NFL for head coaching vacancies. 

It’s just a matter of time before an NFL team rolls the dice on having the 35-year-old former NFL quarterback lead its franchise to bigger and better things.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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