It’s been no secret that New York’s pro sports teams have struggled mightily to produce championship-winning and championship-caliber seasons over the last decade.
Sure, the Giants won Super Bowls in 2007 and 2011, and the Yankees did win the World Series in 2009. But since 2011, no other New York or New Jersey team has won a title in a major professional sport. You do have a New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2011, followed up with a New York Rangers Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2014, and Mets World Series run in 2015 that inspired hope in New Yorkers too.
But sprinkled in between all that have been plenty of seasons and coaches that have frustrated one of the nation’s most passionate sports fan hubs.
Over on WFAN on Wednesday, Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannatti discussed the carousel that has spun at a surprising pace for sports teams in the city.
With the announcement that Joe Judge would indeed no longer be the head coach of the Giants, Esiason said the next Giants leader would be the 50th different head coach in the city since he began at WFAN in 2007.
“The Devils have had seven, the Knicks have had seven, the Nets have had seven, the Islanders and Rangers have had five, the Mets have had six, and the Jets and Giants getting ready to hire their fifth,” Esiason said.
“The Yankees are the most stable franchise of all, believe it or not, and it’s easy to understand why,” he added. “Brian Cashman has been the general manager since I’ve been here. He had (Joe) Torre, didn’t re-up him. Had (Joe) Girardi, had a 10 year run, didn’t re-up him, and now he has Aaron Boone.”
Gio asked if that list included interim head coaches, and Esiason said he only considered a couple. CBS Sports Network, which simulcasts Boomer and Gio on TV, showed a graphic outlining all the different New York coaches since 2017.
The two agreed former Jets coach Adam Gase was the worst of them all, but he had company, according to Esiason, with the most recent Giants coach.
“Joe Judge is right there with him right now,” he said.
They then recapped the Mets run at managers and the failed coaches of the Knicks before Gio summed things up.
“Just shows you how much of an abyss this has been,” he said. “A negative abyss.”
WFAN tweeted the conversation and asked the question if this was currently the worst era in New York sports history. One could make a point in favor of that notion, and it doesn’t seem like there’s much end in sight, at least not in the near future.