EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? (AP) ? The New York Giants hired Jerry Reese as their general manager Monday, making him only the second black GM in NFL history.

 

Reese, who served as the team's director of player personnel the last four years, was considered the favorite among the Giants' in-house candidates to replace Ernie Accorsi, who held the post for nine seasons before retiring.

 

Reese, 43, will formally be introduced as general manager and senior vice president at a news conference Tuesday morning, the team announced on its Web site.

 

The only other black general manager in the NFL is Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, who was a Hall of Fame tight end as a player. There are several black men who have considerable say in front offices, notably Rod Graves of Arizona, whose title is senior vice president-football operations.

 

There were seven black head coaches in the NFL last season, the most ever. Two of them, Dennis Green of the Cardinals and Art Shell of Oakland, were fired after the season, although Shell will remain in the Raiders' front office.

 

Critics of the NFL's minority hiring policy have generally praised the league for increasing the number of minority coaches, but have pointed out that there is a void in the front office.

 

Last month, when Reese was mentioned as the favorite for the job, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, the senior black head coach, said: ??That's great ? just to have an African-American mentioned that way is great.''

 

A graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin, Reese first joined the Giants' scouting department in 1994 after working on the coaching staff at his alma mater.

 

As the Giants' player personnel director, he oversaw all aspects of college scouting and had most of the

responsibility for the draft. Reese previously served as assistant director of pro personnel for three years.

 

 

Good move by the Giants maybe he can help Coughlin win

Yeah maybe he can bring in a better back up quarterback who could fill in for Eli Manning when he struggles and improve the defense.

Yeah maybe he can bring in a better back up quarterback who could fill in for Eli Manning when he struggles and improve the defense.

I think HEALING will improve the defense. A healthy Strahan and Arrington and a fully recovered Umenyiora will DEFINATELY help. We still need a couple of better options at DB, though.

We need a completely new secondary besides Gibril Wilson. Madison is too damn old and only servicable in man coverage (Tim Lewis had him playing zone), Corey Webster is constantly injured and hasn't impressed me at all, RW McQuarters sucks, and Will Demps couldn't cover my grandma (but he sure can hit hard). The secondary all around is putrid.

He is not the Reese I would of wanted if It was them. I would of wanted Tennesse's old GM whom was great.

 

But, He isnt a bad hire I guess.