Jerry Reese (born July 22, 1963) is a former American football executive, player, and coach. He was a member of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

for 23 years, serving as their

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

from 2007 to 2017 where he won two

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

s. He was inducted into the

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

Early life and career

Reese is a native of

Tiptonville, Tennessee Tiptonville is a town in and the county seat of Lake County, Tennessee, Lake County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 2,439 as of the 2000 census and 4,464 in 2010, showing an increase of 2,025. It is also home to the Northwest Correc ...

, where he played for the Lake County Falcons' 1980 state champion 1-A high school football team. He played for the

University of Tennessee at Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee, United States. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outsi ...

where he was later an assistant coach before taking a job as a scout for the New York Giants. From 2002 until becoming general manager in 2007, he was the director of player personnel for the Giants.

Executive career

New York Giants

Reese succeeded

Ernie Accorsi Ernest William Accorsi Jr. (born October 29, 1941) is an American former professional football executive. He served as the general manager of three teams in the National Football League (NFL): the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and New York ...

as general manager on January 16, 2007. He participated in the Giants' success in the

2007 NFL draft The 2007 NFL draft was the 72nd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draf ...

, which included the selections of Aaron Ross, Steve Smith,

Jay Alford Jason Jamaal Alford (born May 28, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions and was selected by the Ne ...

Kevin Boss Kevin Michael Boss (born January 11, 1984) is an American former professional football tight end. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL draft by the New York Giants out of Western Oregon University. With the Giants, he won Super Bowl ...

, Michael Johnson,

Ahmad Bradshaw Ahmad Bradshaw (born March 19, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Marshall Thundering Herd. Bradshaw was selected in the seven ...

, and

Zak DeOssie Zackary Robert DeOssie (; born May 25, 1984) is an American former professional football player who was a long snapper for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). DeOssie played college football for the Brown Bears as a lineba ...

. Some of them played important roles in the Giants'

Super Bowl XLII Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

victory. Prior to the start of Giants mini-camp in May 2008, Reese and the Giants were invited by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

to honor their Super Bowl victory. During his first five seasons as General Manager (2007-2011), the Giants amassed a 49-31 record, with three playoff appearances. Reese had his second Super Bowl victory in 2011 when the Giants won

Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

over the Patriots.

Later Giants career

Following the Giants'

win, the team sputtered. Over the next six seasons, the team went 42-54 while making just one postseason appearance, losing to the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in the 2016 NFC Wild Card Game. Following the 2015 season, the Giants fired longtime head coach

Tom Coughlin Thomas Richard Coughlin ( ; born August 31, 1946) is an American former football coach and executive of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head coach for the New York Giants from 2004 to 2015. He led the Giants to victory in Super ...

and replaced him with

Ben McAdoo Benjamin Lee McAdoo (born July 9, 1977) is an American football coach who is currently serving as a senior defensive assistant of the New England Patriots in the National Football League (NFL). McAdoo was most notably the head coach of the New Yo ...

, who had spent the previous two years as offensive coordinator. After a 11–5 finish in 2016, the 2017 Giants were marred by numerous player injuries and other known controversies. Reese was criticized during his final years for failing to fix numerous team problems, including a poor offensive line and a lackluster rushing attack (having had just one thousand-yard rusher since 2010). Reese was also criticized for poor draft picks during the later years of his tenure. Examples include drafting Ereck Flowers and

Eli Apple Eli Apple (né Woodard, born August 9, 1995) is an American professional football cornerback. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, winning the 2015 National Championship before being selected by the New York Giants in the fir ...

in the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

drafts, respectively, as both failed to meet expectations and were off the Giants roster by 2019. After a 2–10 record to start the 2017 season, Reese was fired by the Giants, after serving 23 years in the front office, along with the firing of head coach

. During Reese's tenure, the Giants had a regular season record of 90–82, and a postseason record of 8–2.

Personal life

Reese is married to Gwen Moore. They have two children, Jasmyne Danielle and Jerry II. He resides in Jefferson Township,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, where his son J.R. played quarterback for the Jefferson Township High School football team.Hague, Jim
"Falcons end grid season on high note with win over Lodi"
''Aim Jefferson'', November 19, 2010. Accessed March 29, 2012.

References

External links

New York Giants profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Jerry 1963 births Living people St. Augustine High School (New Orleans) alumni New York Giants executives UT Martin Skyhawks football coaches UT Martin Skyhawks football players NFL general managers People from Tiptonville, Tennessee People from Jefferson Township, New Jersey Players of American football from Tennessee African-American sports executives and administrators American sports executives and administrators 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen