As Giants ownership contemplates where to turn next, they know one thing: If they hire Doug Marrone, they will get to keep Ben McAdoo.
Both men interviewed for the head-coaching job left vacant when Tom Coughlin resigned last week. McAdoo also has met with the Eagles about their head-coach opening. If hired, Marrone, the former Bills head coach, is set on retaining McAdoo to run the offense, according to a source with knowledge of Marrone’s thinking.
That would enable the Giants to keep McAdoo in the building — assuming they are not ready to hand the big job over to him — and allow Eli Manning to remain in the offense he has thrived in the past two years. That plan goes haywire if the Eagles hire McAdoo.
Jim Schwartz, the former Lions head coach, would be Marrone’s top choice for defensive coordinator. Schwartz ran Marrone’s defense in Buffalo in 2014.
The Giants will not be speaking with Hue Jackson, who was hired Wednesday as the coach of the Browns. The Giants had an interview with Jackson set up for Thursday, but the Browns stepped in following a second meeting with Jackson and got their man. Jackson becomes the eighth Browns head coach since 1999.
Jackson, 50, was in demand. The 49ers also were high on him. It is not known how much of a factor Jackson — the Bengals’ offensive coordinator who spent one season as head coach of the Raiders in 2011 — would have been with the Giants, who have interviewed six candidates: their two coordinators, McAdoo and Steve Spagnuolo, as well as Teryl Austin (Lions defensive coordinator), Adam Gase (Bears offensive coordinator), Marrone and Mike Smith (former Falcons head coach).
Gase was taken off the market when the Dolphins hired him to be their head coach. Now Jackson is off the board, and the Giants currently have no interviews set up with any new candidates. Marrone will meet with the Titans on Thursday. He already has interviewed with the Browns, Dolphins and Giants.
“Apparently, when they made this decision they didn’t have somebody that they really had locked in who would be the guy that they would go to,’’ Phil Simms said Wednesday on a CBS Sports conference call. “I know how the people in New York, they want somebody that embodies the New York Giants and the culture that they have, and usually they’re looking for someone that has had a connection to the football team.
“I’m not saying they’re in a tough spot right now, but … I have no clue on who they really are favoring or who they think is going to be the next Giants coach.’’
Simms’ colleague at CBS, Bill Cowher, has not coached in the NFL since 2006, when he stepped away after 15 years with the Steelers. There are rumors every year about a return, and every year Cowher deflects those rumors.
“I don’t close any doors if I don’t have to. I am very happy with what I’m doing at CBS,’’ Cowher said.
Asked if the Giants had contacted him, Cowher said, “I’ve made it very clear that I’m very happy with where I am with the job I have and where I am with my life.’’
Giants linebackers coach Jim Herrmann was hired to fill that same role with the Colts. … Receivers coach Sean Ryan will interview with the Texans, according to reports.