NY Giants officially name Kevin Gilbride Jr. offensive quality control coach

By Mike Garafolo/The Star-Ledger
February 22, 2010, 5:32PM

gilbride022210.jpgStar-Ledger file photoGiants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride will rely upon his son, Kevin Jr., to help with his game plans. The younger Gilbride was announced as the team's new offensive quality control coach Monday.
It's been 10 days since Kevin Gilbride Jr.'s name first surfaced in relation to the Giants' opening at offensive quality control coach. Monday, he the son of the team's offensive coordinator was finally confirmed in that role.

The Giants announced the younger Gilbride, 30, who served as Temple's wide receivers coach the past three seasons, will take over for Sean Ryan, who was elevated to wide receivers coach when Mike Sullivan was shifted to quarterbacks coach.

“Kevin is very aggressive and a very energetic young coach,” coach Tom Coughlin said in the team's press release. “Quite frankly, I investigated him three or four years ago. He’s busted his tail to get where he is."

Gilbride Jr., a former backup quarterback in college at Hawaii, was previously the tight ends coach for Georgetown in 2006 after serving as a graduate assistant for Syracuse the previous two seasons.

The son of the longtime assistant coach and former Chargers head coach has wanted to follow his father's footsteps for a while.

“In terms of getting into coaching, my wife and I did everything we could to discourage, not encourage, because we know it’s a challenging life and there are a lot of potential pitfalls," Gilbride Sr. said. "He was adamant that he wanted to get into it and he’s been very fortunate. He made a decision he wanted to try pro football. And again our efforts to discourage were met with non-compliance. He was fortunate enough to get the interview with Tom, and Tom was impressed enough with his knowledge of the computer and the things that he’ll have to do in the quality control position to bring him on board.”

* * * *

Speaking of the "computer" and the "things" Gilbride Jr., will be asked to do, I want to run down once again what a quality control coach does. Basically, he does the grunt work for the coaching staff: lots of charting/breaking down of film for the team and the coming opponent. The work of the quality control coach allows a team to pick up tendencies on the teams they'll be facing as well as prepare plays for the practices leading up to the games against the opponent said coach has helped break down.

Depending on the team, the coaching staff and the quality control coach's experience, he can have some input in game plans and such. Hardcore Giants fans will remember how Steve Spagnuolo often credited Andre Curtis for his input in the defensive game plans. And when Spagnuolo left for St. Louis, he took Curtis with him as defensive backs coach.

More recently, Ryan gained enough trust with Coughlin and Sullivan to take on a greater role working with the team's receivers. Not only did he help the young players succeed last year, he was also able to better prepare himself for his new role as receivers coach.

In Gilbride Jr.'s case, considering his connections, it would seem he'd have a bit more input and responsibility than the average 30-year-old assistant making his debut on an NFL coaching staff. But if anyone thinks he'll be allowed to take the easy route because he's a coach's son, they should know the tedious responsibilities of a quality control coach - especially late in the season, when there's much more tape of an opponent to break down - will require him to log very, very long hours.

“Kevin happens to be an early morning guy and I like that,” Coughlin said. “He’s here very early and he works until late at night. He wants to learn and he wants to be a successful coach. This is a great opportunity for him.”