Former Giants head coach Ray Handley dies

Field Level Media
10 Feb 2026, 22:10 GMT+10

(Photo credit: RVR Photos-Imagn Images)

Former New York Giants head coach Ray Handley, who was an assistant coach during two of the team's Super Bowl titles, died at 81.

The Giants announced Handley's death on Monday, citing nephew Rob Handley. A cause of death was not disclosed.

He died last week.

Ray Handley joined the Giants in 1984 as an offensive backfield coach under Bill Parcells. He spent seven seasons in that role before being named the head coach by general manager George Young after Parcells initially retired following Super Bowl XXV in 1991.

Handley received the nod after defensive coordinator Bill Belichick left to become the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and receivers coach Tom Coughlin departed to become the head coach at Boston College.

Handley posted a 14-18 record during his two seasons at the helm before being replaced after the 1992 campaign by Dan Reeves.

'He was a very astute mathematician,' Parcells told the New York Post on Monday. 'He always assisted me in my clock management, particularly late in the games. He was on top of figuring out how many potential plays an opponent had left, or how many we had left. He always factored in the timeouts and was a good reference on the field under pressure in that regard.'

Handley served as a graduate assistant with his alma mater, Stanford, in 1967 and an assistant coach at Army (1968-69), Stanford again (1971-74, 1979-83) and Air Force (1975-78) before joining the Giants.

--Field Level Media

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