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Robert Ray Handley (born October 8, 1944) is an American former football player and coach. He is best remembered for his stormy two seasons as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants from 1991 to 1992.
In 1975, Handley shifted to coaching another branch of the armed services when he accepted an assistant position at the United States Air Force Academy. In his final year, Parcells served as head coach, but after his departure, Handley once again returned to Stanford, serving five years under both Rod Dowhower and Paul Wiggin.
George Young picked Handley to serve as head coach of the Giants after then-Giants defensive coordinator Bill Belichick left to coach the Cleveland Browns. The bad relationship between Young and Belichick also played into Handley's promotion; Young had consistently given a negative review about Belichick when teams with potential coaching opportunities inquired about him, and never felt his defensive coordinator had the leadership abilities to run his own team. In addition, the team's wide receivers coach under Parcells, Tom Coughlin, whom Young had considerable respect for and would probably have promoted to head coach after Parcells' departure if the timing had worked, quickly moved on after the Super Bowl and was hired as head coach at Boston College.
Handley's first game as head coach was a Monday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers (a rematch of the 1990 NFC Championship). The Giants would win that game, but Handley would be most remembered for wearing an unusually-designed logo shirt (bearing the New York Giants colors and logo). The Monday Night Football win helped Handley with most Giants fans, but when the team finished with an 8–8 record and out of the playoff picture, fan support quickly eroded. One fan held up a sign reading: "From the Super Bowl to the toilet bowl. Thanks, Ray." Fans also chanted "Ray must go!" during the 1991 and 1992 seasons, a play on the "Joe must go!" chants that New York Jets fans had delivered when Joe Walton had been coaching that team a few years earlier. In 1992, the team fell further to a 6–10 record, leading a combative Handley to trade verbal darts with both the media and his players.
His relationship with the defensive players was also strained, particularly when he tapped Rod Rust to be the defensive coordinator in 1992. The defense was not thrilled about Rust's hiring, especially knowing that the veteran coach was coming off a 1–15 mark as head coach of the New England Patriots in 1990. Additionally, the players preferred a more aggressive scheme to Rust's read-and-react scheme. This led to some frustration during games, where the players would often ignore Rust's calls and call their own defensive assignments in the huddle. Handley's communication with the media became another reason for his dismissal, as he would often refuse to answer questions, even going as far as walking out of one press conference after being asked about his handling of Hostetler and Simms as the team's starting quarterback. He scoffed at the question, calling it "ridiculous" and unfair to him and his quarterbacks. After the reporter persisted about why he would not answer the question, Handley stormed off while telling the rest of the reporters to "get him straightened out."
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