New York Giants head coach Joe Judge looks back on what he learned as Alabama assistant under Nick Saban
Although none of Saban’s coaching disciples have beaten him in a head-to-head matchup, many do go on to find plenty of success in the business.
In fact, the new head coach of the New York Giants is a former Saban assistant, spending 2009 through 2011 in Tuscaloosa as a special teams assistant.
Judge went from Tuscaloosa to New England to work under Bill Belichick for eight seasons, molding his coaching career working for two of the best to ever do it.
Judge commented on what he learned from Saban and Belichick during his introductory press conference for the Giants on Thursday.
“Both have a very unique style about them,” said Judge. “Both have a world of knowledge. Both have a lot of the same philosophical views and a lot of the same values.
“What I learned from coach Saban was not an individual lesson. What I learned from coach Saban was it’s important to address everybody not only on the what they have to do, but how it should look, what we’re going to do to get there and why it’s important” continued Judge.
“And what you find out when you’re coaching players, they’re not robots, and if they understand what the end result’s supposed to look like and why it’s important, normally those players are going to take the principles you instilled in them and in the game make a player’s adjustment, and you’re going to learn more from the players than they are as a coach because they’re going to find a better way to do it in the heat of the moment with a certain adjustment.
“As a coach, you have to have your eyes open enough to understand they’re making the correct adjustment. You have to find another way to teach it in the future to give multiple options.”
Judge only spent three seasons working at Alabama, but two of them finished with the Crimson Tide as national champions in 2009 and 2011.
During Mississippi State’s coaching search, Judge was named as a candidate for his alma mater. However the Giants swept in to lock down the first-time head coach as Pat Shurmur’s replacement.
While Mississippi State fans are likely satisfied with how the coaching search ended with the hiring of Mike Leach, Judge won’t get a chance to be that first former assistant to take down Saban.
