Giants interview Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo for opening at head coach
Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo walks on the field before a game between the Denver Broncos and the Cincinnati Bengals at Empower Field at Mile High on December 19, 2021 in Denver. Credit: AP/Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire
Lou Anarumo slipped away from the Giants in 2019 when, after serving as their popular and successful defensive backs coach for one season, he left to become the Bengals’ defensive coordinator. On Sunday, the Giants looked into the idea of bringing him back.
Anarumo, fresh off a divisional playoff win over the Titans in which his unit recorded three interceptions — including one that set up the game-winning field goal (off a tip by fellow former Giant Eli Apple) — interviewed for the Giants’ opening at head coach on Sunday. He became the third candidate for the job to go through a first interview, joining Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.
Like those two, Anarumo was interviewed virtually by new general manager Joe Schoen along with co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch.
The timing of the interview is significant in that Sunday was the last day for the Giants or any other team to hold first-round interviews with coaches who are with teams still in the playoffs if they plan to speak with them again before the Super Bowl on Feb. 13. Because they already have had first encounters with those three candidates, they will be able to conduct second in-person interviews with them in early February should their team advance to the Super Bowl.
Had the first-round conversations not taken place and the teams continued to win, the Giants would not be able to interview those candidates until after the Super Bowl.
Once a team is eliminated from the postseason, coaches are free to interview.
On Monday, the Giants will move on to interviews with candidates no longer in the postseason. Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is scheduled for an in-person meeting at the team’s facility, the first face-to-face interview for a head coach in this process. The Giants also are expected to interview former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and Patrick Graham, their own defensive coordinator for the past two years, at some point this week.
Anarumo is familiar not only to the Giants from his one year on Pat Shurmur’s staff but to Schoen. He was the Dolphins’ defensive backs coach from 2012-17 and served as interim defensive coordinator for the Dolphins’ final 12 games in 2015. Schoen worked in the Dolphins’ front office during that period.
Anarumo, 55, grew up on Staten Island as a fervent Giants fan. He began his coaching career at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island in 1990 and returned there from 1992-94 as defensive coordinator. He also coached at Wagner, his alma mater, as well as Syracuse, Harvard, Marshall and Purdue before moving to the NFL with the Dolphins.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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