His status in New Orleans is diminishing, even if it's still unlikely the Saints would let him leave. If they do, he fits all of Mara's preferences for a head coach: He's a former Giants assistant with head coaching experience, and after two straight losing seasons he'd have something to prove. The Giants always admired his graceful exit from New York after the 2002 season when Jim Fassel stripped him of his play-calling duties and he never uttered a bad word. He'd come with Bill Parcells' endorsement too, and that's no small thing.

NICK SABAN

He was famously offered the Giants job that ultimately went to Jim Fassell in 1997. Since then he's gone on to become one of college football's best — and highest-paid — coaches. He also had a horrific two-year stint as Miami Dolphins head coach, which remains the only blot on his resume. It would take gobs of cash to lure him out of Tuscaloosa. Also the Giants would have to be OK with replacing a 69-year-old coach with one who's 64.

BEN McADOO

It would be an impossible sell to fans, to replace a legendary coach with one of his assistants, especially since the Giants are only 12-19 in McAdoo's two years as offensive coordinator. But ideally the Giants would prefer to stay in-house. John Mara has also told people he views McAdoo as a future head coach, and that he has Coughlin-like qualities. He might've been ideal if Coughlin could've pulled off one more winning season before smoothly passing the reins.

JOSH McDANIELS

It's hard to go wrong plucking a coach off Bill Belichick's tree, and that might be enough to qualify him for "Giants ties." McDaniels also was a failure as a head coach in Denver, though he's resurrected his career and definitely would come with something to prove after guiding the Broncos to an 11-17 record in 1¾ seasons. His offense has also been responsible for some of the best seasons of Tom Brady's career.

BRIAN KELLY

The NFL landscape is littered with college coaches who failed in the NFL, especially ones that came with no NFL experience. That's why, though some in the organization respect how Kelly has revived the Notre Dame program (perhaps without as much talent as some of those SEC and Big Ten powerhouse schools), this would be a dangerous choice. If he really wants total control of football operations, though — as he said in a Fiesta Bowl press conference on Wednesday — he has no shot at this job.

A very intriguing choice who's arguably done a better job at Stanford than Jim Harbaugh did and is considered by many to be as good a pro coaching prospect as Harbaugh once was. He also spent nine years as an NFL assistant and runs a pro-style offensive system. No one seems sure if he wants to leave the college ranks, but the Giants job could be very tempting.