August 7, 1991: That day lingers like a faded memory from another era, when 76,000 restless voices rained down boos on the Giants despite a 20-10 lead over the Buffalo Bills. All the heckling by New Yorkers should have been barely surprising to the rookie head coach, Ray Handley, considering he had been their running backs coach since 1984. But it was an unforgiving welcome to his first night in charge. In the roar of disapproval, he believed the fans were turning against him, only to later realize the anger was aimed at his quarterback, Phil Simms.

The booing was unjustified, of course. Simms was coming off a foot injury from the previous season, and in the exhibition game against the Bills, he gave his all. But also, during his absence, Jeff Hostetler became the fans’ darling. Handley, however, didn’t take all the snickering against Simms lightly. As the man calling the plays, he chose to shoulder the blame himself. That’s who he was. Unfortunately, Handley died at the age of 81.

“We remember former Giants head coach and two-time Super Bowl champion offensive backfield coach Ray Handley, whose passing was confirmed by his nephew Rob Handley,” the Giants’ official account wrote on X.

Handley’s nephew announced his death on a LinkedIn post. No cause was mentioned.

Ray Handley’s tenure with the Giants burned fast and was quite turbulent. He clashed with reporters and players and was booed off the field by fans. After two seasons, first an 8-8 finish, then a 6-10 slide, the Giants moved on. And with that decision, a coaching journey that had spanned more than two decades quietly came to an end. Handley never returned to the sidelines, never took another coaching job, at any level.

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He retreated from the public eye.

But perhaps the writing was already on the wall with regard to his unsuccessful tenure with the Giants. From the very beginning, Handley was handed an impossible task: taking over for Bill Parcells, a larger-than-life New York icon who had just delivered the franchise its first two Super Bowl wins. Handley had won both those championships with the team.

Parcells resigned for health reasons just two months ahead of the Giants’ 1991 summer training camp. With that, Handley was thrust into the job with barely any time to put his stamp on the team or allow the locker room to adjust to his leadership style. That’s the reason George Young, the Giants’ general manager, who had hired Handley, was sympathetic during the coach’s dismissal.

“Ray had a tough situation. He never flinched. He was a good soldier,” Young said on December 30, 1992. “I think it would’ve been difficult for most anybody.”

Fans acknowledge Ray Handley’s journey following his passing

Robert Ray Handley was born on October 8, 1944, in Artesia, New Mexico, a small town tucked into the state’s southeastern corner. He was raised by a hardworking rancher father, Robert Douglas Handley, and a devoted schoolteacher mother, Ruby (Kennedy) Handley. After his family relocated to Reno, Handley emerged as an all-state high school football player, carving out a name for himself on Friday nights.

That path led him to Stanford. There, he spent three seasons at running back, and in 1967, he took his first step into coaching by becoming a graduate assistant at the university. For the next 15 years, Handley embraced the wandering life that so often defines a coach’s journey. He spent time working alongside Parcells as an assistant at the United States Military Academy at West Point, but later returned to Stanford for an eight-year stint as an assistant, and later took on four years as the head coach of a high school in Nevada.

Clearly, his legacy goes beyond the NFL. Many fans took to social media to remember the coach:

• “Rest in peace, Ray Handley. A big part of those legendary Parcells teams as running backs coach—Ottis Anderson, Joe Morris, and those titles don’t happen without him. Tough job following Bill, but his impact lives on.”
• “RIP Coach Handley. Thank you for helping bring two Super Bowls to New York. Thoughts with his family and the Giants family.”

Handley’s tenure was marked by turbulence in New York. In fact, one of his very first decisions as their HC raised eyebrows: he replaced the widely respected, long-time starter Phil Simms with his backup, Jeff Hostetler. It was controversial because Simms was in the midst of one of the finest years of his career before a broken foot sidelined him.

Inside the locker room, several team leaders echoed the frustration of their fans. Most notably, linebacker Lawrence Taylor believed that Simms was being treated with a lack of respect. But in a twist of fate, when the coach brought back Simms to play on August 7, 1991, it was the same fanbase that booed the quarterback.

Fans further reacted:

• “I’ll ‘read and react’ with a #RIP. Guy had it tough taking over when Parcells and the Giants parted ways.”
• “Head coaching stint (14–18) may not have lived up to expectations, but stepping in after Parcells’ retirement was one of the toughest jobs in sports.”
• “Dealt an incredibly difficult hand taking a Super Bowl winner right after Parcells left. Got far too much hate after being ran out of town. Deserved better from us. RIP, coach.”

Beyond football, a user described him as a “good man,” while many others simply expressed their condolences with broken-heart and bouquet emojis. While his brief tenure as head coach remains a complicated footnote, the outpouring of respect confirms that Ray Handley’s lasting legacy is not one of failure, but of the championship rings he helped bring to New York.