Giants coaching search: Kris Richard will interview on Thursday

The New York Giants will kick off interviews for their vacant head-coaching position on Thursday by talking to Kris Richard, currently defensive passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach for the Dallas Cowboys.

The 41-year-old Richard has served as defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator for Dallas for the past two seasons. Richard coached with the Seattle Seahawks from 2010-2017, the last three of those seasons as defensive coordinator.

Richard had been with Seattle coach Pete Carroll since 2008 at USC when Carroll fired him after the 2017 season. Here is a speculative look at why Carroll moved on from Richard.

Richard reportedly interviewed with the Jets, Dolphins and Buccaneers last January.

Richard is also considered a likely candidate in Dallas if and when the Cowboys move on from Jason Garrett.

Here is what RJ Ochoa of SB Nation’s Blogging the Boys had to say about Richard:

“If you rewound the clock a year ago there would be Dallas Cowboys fans rioting at the thought of Kris Richard leaving their team let alone heading to the New York Giants. He was largely responsible for the improved defensive play overall in 2018 and Byron Jones developing into one of the league’s top cornerbacks. All of that seemed to take a step backwards in 2019 as Richard got legitimate defensive responsibilities. Cowboys defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli allowed Kris to be the de facto DC in Dallas, and while they weren’t awful, the Cowboys defense was largely a letdown from the year before. Richard’s role in Dallas was technically to oversee the secondary and outside of Byron playing well they were mostly average. He has rigid definitions on what players’ measurables to be to the point that it inhibited Jourdan Lewis, one of the Cowboys better cornerbacks, from seeing the field. Ultimately there is a lot of leadership from Richard that many tend to like, but Cowboys fans won’t be sorry to see him go, and they’ll likely even smile at the thought of him joining a division rival.”

Richard interview concluded

Interview schedule

Thursday: Kris Richard, Dallas Cowboys defensive passing game coordinator

Friday: Mike McCarthy, ex-Green Bay Packers coach

Saturday: Don Martindale, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator

Other candidates

Matt Rhule, Baylor head coach — Reportedly turned down a chance to interview with the Cleveland Browns.
Josh McDaniels, New England Patriots offensive coordinator
Joe Judge, New England Patriots special teams coordinator

Rhule, widely considered one of the favorites for the job, just completed his season on Thursday as his Baylor team lost to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

With the Patriots playing this week, McDaniels and Judge cannot interview until next week per league rules. The Giants interviewed McDaniels two years ago before ultimately hiring Pat Shurmur.