Handley, Giants’ successor to Parcells, dies at 81

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Former New York Giants head coach and Super Bowl-winning assistant Ray Handley died last week. He was 81.

The Giants announced Monday that Handley’s death was confirmed by his nephew, Rob Handley.

Handley’s career with the Giants began in 1984, when he was hired as an offensive backfield coach under Bill Parcells. Handley won a pair of Super Bowls as an assistant in New York before being named head coach when Parcells surprisingly retired for the first time following Super Bowl XXV.

Handley’s head-coaching record was 14-18 during a contentious two-year tenure that included battles with the media and eventually losing fan support. He was replaced after the 1992 season by Dan Reeves.

San Francisco 49ers.

But ultimately it didn’t work out. The decision to bench Simms seemed to linger with some of the veterans, and the losing quickly brought unwanted attention to the head coach.

«We were out of luck between Belichick and Coughlin. Ray Handley was one of Bill’s right-hand guys and was the brightest coach that we had,» Giants owner John Mara said years later. «George always put a lot of emphasis on IQ and Ray was a Stanford guy with a high IQ, but he was taking over a veteran team that had been used to winning and just didn’t respond very well to him.»

As a player, Handley played three years as a running back at Stanford from 1963-65, compiling 1,768 yards and 11 touchdowns. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Stanford in 1967.