Joe Judge Out As Giants Head Coach

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Joe Judge is out as the head coach of the New York Giants, the franchise announced on Wednesday.

The team said they didn't believe in the direction of the franchise under Judge, who went 10-23 during his stint in the top job. This move comes one day after General Manager Dave Gettleman announced his retirement, completing the shakeup atop the franchise's football operation.

"Steve (Tisch) and I both believe it is in the best interest of our franchise to move in another direction," said team president John Mara. "We met with Joe yesterday afternoon to discuss the state of the team. I met again with Joe this afternoon, and it was during that conversation I informed Joe of our decision. We appreciate Joe's efforts on behalf of the organization."

Mara continued:

"I said before the season started that I wanted to feel good about the direction we were headed when we played our last game of the season. Unfortunately, I cannot make that statement, which is why we have made this decision.

We will hire a general manager and that person will lead the effort to hire a new head coach."

Related: Giants GM Dave Gettleman Retires. What's Next For Joe Judge?

The former Patriots special teams coordinator has had a rocky tenure as head coach in New York. He ended this year by delivering a bizarre press conference in which he implied that the 2018 Patriots staff feared they would lose their jobs, and sneak dissed the Washington Football Team, who the Giants would lose to in Week 18.

"This ain't a team that's having fistfights on the sidelines. This ain't some clown show organization or something else, OK?" he said.

During that loss to Washington, Judge came under fire for calling a quarterback sneak on third down while the Giants were on their own 4-yard line. Yahoo's Charles Robinson deemed the formation, which resembled a kneel down, the "surrender formation."

Yet, it doesn't yet appear as if the Giants have made a decision about Judge. That brings up questions about the future of the GM hire, the NFL draft and offseason acquisitions. If the Giants bring Judge back, the next general manager will, probably, need to be in favor of the direction Judge has the team moving.

It appears the locker room was divided on Judge. Reports say that a number of players wanted to see the franchise move on from Judge, while 10 others went to bat for their head coach.

On Wednesday, the Giants decided that it wasn't enough.