NFL

Joe Schoen talks Giants ambitions, scouting Josh Allen, personal influences

New Giants general manager Joe Schoen signs up for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby: 

Q: Have you seen the four Lombardi Trophies in the lobby? 

A: I have seen those. 

Q: What was your reaction when you first saw them? 

A: Sure would look good with five. That was my first thought. 

Q: Why will Joe Schoen be successful? 

A: I’ll be successful because I bring in good football players, and I hire a good football coach. 

Q: What would you say drove you as a boy and drives you now? 

A: My dad used to drive me and three other kids — Adam Nickell, Tad Callahan and Todd Shane — we would go up to Constantine, Michigan. It was 45 minutes from my house, three times a week, to practice and we’d have games because we didn’t have youth football, so they had to drive us up there. Nate’s dad had a Porsche 911, and for some reason, one day he had to bring us home from practice. So he picked us up in his convertible 911, and I’m probably 8 years old, and I’m sitting in the back of that 911, he’s going through the gears, we’re driving by cornfields. … It’s vivid in my memory today, and I’m going, “I’m gonna have a Porsche 911 one of these days.” (Laughs) That’s what motivates me, and honestly, I grew up in a blue-collar family. I didn’t hurt for anything, but we didn’t have a lot, and a lot of my friends, not that it’s material, but had more than me. And I said, “You know what? I’m gonna work hard, I’m gonna be successful, whatever it is.” I looked up to my friends and their parents at what they were able to do, whether it was go on vacations or have a boat or whatever, and I saw how hard my parents worked, and I’m like, “You know what? I’m gonna work hard, but I’m gonna be able to provide for my family and they’re gonna be able to benefit from my hard work and me being successful in life.” 

Q: How about professionally now, what drives you? 

A: Win a Super Bowl. And fear of failure. I don’t ever want to let anybody down, I’m very loyal. John Mara, Steve Tisch, the Mara family, the Tisch family took a chance on me. And Bill Parcells … the Giants are still a very special team to him, and he let me know that. So the fear of letting any of those people down is really what wakes me up every day because I know how bad they want to win and have success. 

Joe Schoen with Giants co-owners John Mara (right) and Steve Tisch (left). Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Q: What adjectives would you use to describe Joe Schoen? 

A: I would say determined … persevering … dedicated … strategic, smart, creative. 

Q: Biggest adversity or obstacle you had to overcome? 

A: I would say from 2014 to 2017 with the Miami Dolphins, there was constant turnover. There were a couple of different general managers, a vice president of football operations. There were a couple of different head coaches. There was a lot of instability and uncertainty and change. I wasn’t used to that coming from the Carolina Panthers and then what I saw in Buffalo. That was a really tough time for me. 

Q: How about personally? 

A: I’d probably say my parents getting a divorce. I was in seventh grade. They got divorced when I was 5, and then they got re-married again when I was 8. And then they got divorced again when I was 13. So it was just a tough time, seventh grade, you’re going through some changes in your life as a young man and then your parents split. That was really tough, that was really tough. 

Q: The Bills were progressive in hiring women in important positions. Do you envision women with the Giants in front office positions? 

A: We’re definitely open to women in the profession, and I’ve had great success with the two that we have in Buffalo. 

Q: Executives in other sports you admire. 

A: [Celtics president] Brad Stevens, he’s one of my fraternity brothers. He’s somebody that I can call for advice all the time just because he’s been through it. He went from Butler to the NBA. There’s different types of athletes you’re dealing with at Butler versus the NBA and how did you deal with it and how did you have so much success. I’d say Theo Epstein, I grew up a big Cubs fan. … He went from the Red Sox to the Cubs and the elusive World Series championship, he was able to return that to Chicago, which was really cool to see. 

Q: What was your reaction when the Cubs won it? 

A: Oh, it was awesome! I was actually on the West Coast scouting. I was in Portland, Oregon, it was late at night, I had a flight the next morning. I was at a 24-hour fitness center getting a workout in. I was done working out, so I’m watching it on my phone and I’m waiting for the game to end and it hasn’t ended, so I’m like, “All right, I’m gonna head back to the hotel and I’ll just watch it on my phone.” So I was actually getting gas in Portland by the airport when they won it. But I don’t know if you know this, in Oregon you can’t pump your own gas. So there was a guy pumping my gas and I started screaming and got out of the car, and the guy looked at me — I was like, “I’m sorry, the Cubs just won the World Series!” 

Q: Coaches or managers outside football you admire? 

A: Joe Maddon. Again, my affinity for the Cubs. And then Tony La Russa, I heard a lot of stories about him. He and Coach Parcells are really close. 

Q: Athletes in other sports you admire? 

A: Steph Curry. I think he’s the best shooter to ever play the game. I like [Anthony] Rizzo, he’s actually from Parkland in Florida. When he played for the Cubs, and he was from Parkland, my son and I are big fans of Anthony Rizzo because of that. I know he had cancer and overcame it and still had success. 

Q: Intangible traits common in franchise quarterbacks? 

A: Their work ethic, their preparation. Intelligence. It’s a 24-7, 365-day-a-year passion to be the best at their craft … all the good ones I’ve been around from Jake Delhomme and Josh [Allen]. Tom Brady — I haven’t been around Tom — but they’re all super-competitive … they elevate the play of those around them. 

Q: What separated Josh Allen in 2018 from the other quarterbacks? 

A: He had it all. I watched him play at Air Force, he got hurt. The next week his team played San Jose State, they hadn’t won a game, and Wyoming lost. So that told me right there Wyoming really struggled as a team without Josh Allen, and he was really elevating that team. They were winning because of him. In Buffalo, you’re gonna play in elements, and those elements don’t affect Josh’s game at all. 

Q: John Mara told me he knocked it out of the park when you put the quarterbacks in that draft on the board. 

A: We worked out four or five different quarterbacks, we put them through the same process, and Josh crushed the board work and the Xs and Os part, along with the private workout. 

Q: The key to building an offensive line? 

A: Obviously, good offensive linemen is a good start (laugh). I think there has to be continuity amongst the group. They’ve got to like each other, they’ve got to hang away from the facility. The best offensive lines I’ve been around are a tight-knit group. I think there can be offensive linemen that have success that maybe don’t have the best physical traits but they’re tough, they’re competitive and they find a way. I think some of the intangibles at that position are more important than the physical. But again, I think the right type of guys, a group that is cohesive, they can communicate, and they have to be healthy. When you keep swapping guys in and out, that’s hard if you don’t know what the guy next to you is going to do on each play. 

Q: Super Bowl XLII? 

A: I was with the Dolphins at the time, so of course I was rooting for the Giants to obviously win, but that [David Tyree] catch over the middle of the field was probably the biggest thing, catching the ball on your helmet (laugh). That was awesome. That’s probably the play I remember the most. 

Joe Schoen speaks at his introductory press conference. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Q: Is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer? 

A: I think so. Say what you want, that’s a hard position to play, and the guy won two Super Bowls. 

Q: Are you looking forward to going on the Manning-cast one day? 

A: I don’t know if they want me on there, but yeah, I would. I talked to Eli, give him credit, he reached out to me when I got the job, so I had a good conversation with him. I got to play golf with Peyton Manning when I was in Miami. I got to play golf with Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and Jimbo Covert … I don’t know why I was there either, but I somehow got invited. 

Q: What’s your handicap? 

A: I’m a 9. I’ve got a trip to Scotland this summer. I’m going over there on a golf trip with [Bills GM] Brandon Beane and six other guys. We’ve had it planned, this will be the third year. But COVID came, then we couldn’t go last year either, so third time’s the charm. Hopefully we get a chance to go over there. 

Q: George Young? 

A: Last GM that was hired from outside the building. I watched Ernie Accorsi’s press conference, so I heard some of the stories that Ernie told. I thought about it because I was the first GM to be hired that wasn’t elevated from within since 1979, and that was the year I was born. 

Q: Ernie Accorsi? 

A: Great general manager. 

Q: Wellington Mara? 

A: Great owner. Ever since I knew about the New York Giants, Wellington Mara was a name that you heard of and you admired. 

Joe Schoen speaks with The Post’s Steve Serby. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Q: Lawrence Taylor? 

A: Oh my gosh, one of the best, if not the best pass rushers who’s ever played the game. 

Q: What did Bill Parcells tell you about Tom Landry? 

A: When you bring a player in, specifically a rookie, the first year, you give him the benefit of the doubt. The second year, you better see something. In the third year, you let him go if you don’t see something. So just kind of not giving up too early on a player. 

Q: Tom Coughlin? 

A: Super Bowl-winning head coach. 

Q: Reggie White was in his last season when you first went to Carolina in 2000. 

A: I was a training camp intern, so I was there for like a month with him. My feelings got hurt because I didn’t get to go pick him up at the airport. Another intern got to pick him up. I was like, “Man, I wish I could have done that, that would have been awesome.” 

Q: You came off the sidelines during a pregame walk-through to fight a DePauw teammate who had injured your fellow wide receiver Dan Ryan. 

A: (Laugh) If any teammate hurts one of your best players, I’m naturally going to stick up for him. So my emotions probably got the best of me, but you don’t want to lose one of your best players in a walk-through, so I had to make sure that I stuck up for him, and the team knew that that wasn’t acceptable and it wasn’t gonna happen again. … No different than an NFL practice. You’ve got to know how to practice, especially when you’re practicing against teammates, so I got a little hot on that one. 

Q: Your favorite ’85 Bears player. 

A: I would probably say Walter Payton. Him or Jim McMahon. I love all those guys, but those were two of my favorites. 

Q: What did you think of the Super Bowl Shuffle? 

A: I loved it. A couple of weeks ago, I don’t know if it was the anniversary of it, but I showed it to [Bills defensive coordinator] Leslie Frazier, you can see him in the background dancing. I think it was Thanksgiving they did that, which I could not imagine a team doing that today, making that video before you even get there and have even won the Super Bowl. … I can’t even fathom that in today’s game. 

Q: Boyhood idol? 

A: Probably Joe Montana. Being a diehard Notre Dame fan, that was always a dream of mine to play quarterback for Notre Dame and I just wasn’t good enough. 

Q: Larry Bird? 

A: And being from Indiana. Love Larry Bird. Him and Michael Jordan would have been my NBA guys that I would have picked. 

Q: Bobby Knight? 

A: Love his discipline and passion. 

Joe Schoen Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Q: Did you have a hoop in your backyard? 

A: My front yard. It’s exactly what you expect. Basketball hoop in the front yard, corn field across the street. The street I grew up on was County Road 108 (chuckle), you can probably paint the picture in your head — corn field, basketball hoop, county road. All the Indiana stereotypes. 

Q: Three dinner guests? 

A: Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Tiger Woods. 

Q: Favorite movies? 

A: “Hoosiers” or “Rudy.” 

Q: Favorite actor? 

A: Will Ferrell. 

Q: Favorite actress? 

A: Jennifer Aniston. 

Q: Favorite singer? 

A: Chris Stapleton. 

Q: Favorite meal? 

A: I’m probably a barbecue chicken flatbread pizza guy. 

Joe Schoen with his family. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Q: Favorite NYC things or is it too early? 

A: Too early, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve only been to the city one time. My wife and I flew up here probably six or seven years ago. It was around Christmas time, so we did like the “Good Morning America.” We were one of those people standing out there with the signs, and we did a tour. We did the whole Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Little Italy. We condensed everything into three days. We went all over the place. 

Q: So you’re not Broadway Joe, you’re Elkhart Joe. 

A: The Nickell family I was telling you about, Zach Nickell and I would go to high school camps as sixth-, seventh-graders, and they used to call me Broadway Joe. I’ll just be Joe Schoen and try to do the best I can, roll up my sleeves and let’s get this thing going the right way. 

Q: What do you think of the overtime rules? 

A: I’m fine with it. I’m not mad about [Sunday] night. We had a chance to win it, there were 13 seconds left. Everybody knows the rules going into it. 

Q: Your message to New York Giants fans? 

A: I’m going to do everything in my power and work as hard as I can to get the best people in the building who are very good at their jobs. And we’re all going to work towards getting this franchise turned around so we can compete for championships on a year-in and year-out basis.