Report: Baylor Head Coach Matt Rhule Set to Interview with the Giants Tuesday

Rhule becomes the last of the Giants head coaching candidates to set up his interview with the team.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Baylor head coach Matt Rhule will reportedly meet with the Giants brass Tuesday, according to a report by the NFL Network.

Rhule, who spent the 2012 season with the Giants as the assistant offensive line coach on Tom Coughlin’s staff, has a history of turning around two downtrodden programs, having done so for Temple and Baylor.

He inherited a Temple program from Steve Addazi that had gone 4-7 in 2012, its final year in the Big East. After posting a 2-10 record in the school’s first year in the American Athletic Conference, Rhule guided the Owls to a 6-6 record in 2014 and a 10-4 record in 2015 and 2016.

In 2017, Rhule moved to Baylor. In his first season, the Bears posted a 1-11 record; however, their record gradually improved, reaching 7-6 the following year and 11-3 this year, their 2019 season ending in a loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. 

#Baylor head coach Matt Rhule has a big week ahead in the NFL world: He’s scheduled to interview with the #Panthers on Monday, I’m told. He has the #Giants this week, as well, and that is expected to be Tuesday. Will the coveted candidate leave college football?

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 4, 2020

Rhule is also an intriguing candidate given that, unlike the others who have interviewed so far with the Giants, he has experience coaching on both sides of the ball.  

General manager Dave Gettleman, who is part of the contingency leading the head coaching search, said that there is something to be said for investing in a college football coach.

“You are drafting younger kids, so to take a college coach now, I think he would have that advantage of having been connected to these college kids for so long,” Gettleman said.

“Understanding the culture and what they’re at, what they’re about, and where they’re at. I appreciate that. Obviously, he has his recruiting war room, and he’s the one doing that. It’s a collaborative process.”

The 44-year-old Rhule, named the 2019 Big 12 Coach of the Year award winner, is 47-43 in seven seasons as a college head football coach. The NFL Network reports he will also interview for the Panthers head coaching job on Monday.