Ray Handley, former Giants coach who won two Super Bowls as an assistant, dies at 81

NEW YORK (AP) — Ray Handley, who served as an assistant coach for two Super Bowl champion New York Giants teams before a two-year stint as their head coach, has died. He was 81.

The Giants announced Handley’s death on social media on Monday, citing nephew Rob Handley. Details were not provided.

Ray Handley began a seven-year stretch as an assistant coach for the Giants under Bill Parcells when he was named offensive backfield coach before the 1984 season. Parcells retired following the Giants’ second Super Bowl championship in that run, and Handley was named head coach before the 1991 season.

Parcells’ success proved difficult for Handley to follow. One of his first key decisions was naming Jeff Hostetler over Phil Simms as the starting quarterback during the 1991 training camp. Simms had flourished as the starter the previous season until suffering a leg injury before Hostetler took over to finish the Super Bowl run.

The Giants went 8-8 in Handley’s debut season and fell to 6-10 the following year, when the coach had a rocky relationship with media and lost support of some fans and veteran players. Handley was fired after the 1992 season and was replaced by Dan Reeves, the former Denver Broncos coach.

Handley served as an assistant coach at Army, Stanford and Air Force before joining Parcells’ staff with the Giants. He didn’t take another coaching job after being fired by New York.

He was a running back at Stanford.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL