New York Giants head coach Joe Judge has only just finished compiling his staff for the 2020 season, but the team already received a scare in that area as outside linebackers coach and senior defensive assistant Bret Bielema was connected to different jobs a couple of times already. Bielema was first said to be a candidate to replace Mark Dantonio at Michigan State, and then the rumors switched to the open Colorado job once the Spartans named their choice.
If Bielema did end up with either of those jobs, it would put the Giants in a mildly difficult spot as they would have to find another outside linebackers coach and potentially someone to fill his defensive assistant role after it was already believed that the staff was in its final form. Such a situation may not have been the easiest, with many of the names on the open market having already been hired this far into the offseason.
That’s not something the Giants will actually have to worry about, however, because it looks like Colorado has found their ideal candidate for their head coaching job – and it’s not Bielema.
#Dolphins WRs coach and assistant head coach Karl Dorrell is getting the job of University of Colorado head coach, sources say. Miami loses an assistant but Dorrell gets to be a head coach again. @PeteThamel reported he was a favorite.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 22, 2020
Colorado is going for Karl Dorrell instead and that means the Giants staff is safe for now after other candidates have been chosen over Bielema two times so far for college head coaching jobs.
Of course, its not exactly unreasonable for Bielema to consider college jobs – while he did just join the Giants recently, most of Bielema’s fame comes from being a head coach at the college level, and it seems like it’s inevitable that the coach returns there at some point.
Despite being a consultant and then a line coach with the Patriots for his last job before taking this one, the NFL has only ever seemed like a small chapter of his career compared to being the head coach at Wisconsin and then Arkansas and leading those teams against some of the best programs in the country.
Bielema’s stint with the Giants, however, will last at least one year before returning to the college level is a consideration, it seems, which works out nicely for head coach Joe Judge who won’t have to scramble to find a late replacement.