Who is the most powerful man in the NY Giants organization after the owners, the Maras and Tischs? The answer might surprise you.
The injury coverage here on this NY Giants blog has been an ongoing evolving story. We keep peeling away layers of the onion to get to the truth. The story of Victor Cruz is a big part of this injury web. Today’s disclosure that Cruz will have season-ending surgery on his calf is yet another devastating blow to the team and this Pro Bowl player’s hopes for a return. We have argued that the patellar tendon was likely NOT preventable, but that the calf muscle injury likely WAS preventable. It is impossible for anyone to say with 100% certainty what exactly took place in any one situation. But what we do know is that muscle injuries are almost entirely preventable. That Cruz’s injury took place during rehab gives us even more confidence in our belief that mistakes were likely made. We are still speculating, but that’s our opinion.
The news of Beatty’s season-ending rotator cuff injury which occurred during rehab of the May 2015 weight room pectoral tear gave us pause. Then, 4 days later, we hear about ANOTHER rehab injury to Victor Cruz which ends his season as well. To quote Vince Lombardi, “what the hell’s going on out there?!” It is bad enough that the NY Giants have to suffer injuries last season and this past offseason. But to have 2 more injuries amidst their rehab combined with an already woeful injury track record makes us keep asking more questions about what is taking place. Whether or not poor conditioning practices were taking place, this rehab issue clearly had doctors involved. And so we go up the ladder and ask- “Who are these doctors and who do they report to?” The onion gets peeled another layer.
It turns out that Ronnie Barnes is the man in charge of EVERTHING medical with the Giants. He is not a Doctor, but Doctors report to him. And according to this story, not only is Barnes in charge of the medical operations, he is the most powerful man in the entire organization who is not named Mara or Tisch.
“I didn’t know how much juice Ronnie had before my first year [with the Giants],” former linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “That’s when I knew, whoa, this is deep.”
Jim Fassel says Barnes has essentially lifetime tenure, akin to a Supreme Court nomination. Phil McConkey says Barnes comes right after the Maras and Tisches on the organizational chart. Ann Mara referred to Barnes as her 12th child.
If you think Barnes is not involved with the Giants medical advancement efforts, think again.
Mr. Barnes’s hire was part of the overall upgrade, Brad Benson, a Giants offensive lineman from 1978 to 1987, said: “We used to have steak before the game, which is the worst thing you can have. Ronnie said, ‘No more steak. Pasta.’ ‘No more salt pills. Potassium.’ He brought modern science to the organization.”
So we find out it was Mr. Barnes who brought “modern science” to the Giants organization during the 1980’s. Add the fact that “he works with team P.R. to fulfill the league mandate of disclosing injuries,” so who do you think is the man feeding Hanlon the medical comments about sleep studies? Hanlon:
“But the fact is, over the past 2-3 years, we have adopted and implemented a few programs: the GPS system we employ to monitor workload, diet in terms of offerings and preparation in the dining hall, and sleep studies. Those are a few of the things we have done as we continue to evolve.”
It is pretty clear that this medical show is Ronnie Barnes’ gig. After all, he is very proud of the fact that he is more than just a director of medical services: “Have I expanded my role here with the Giants? By all means.” Boastful. To a fault.
Barnes has 3 MDs on his staff that report to him on medical matters. Two are orthopedists (what a shock, not) and the third is a sports medicine MD. The sports medicine MD must have some rehab training, but he is not a specialist in Physiatry.
If it was Barnes who was the one bringing in the science in 1980, and his power has grown to universally accepted unquestioned authority, then it is fairly obvious that Palmieri is not bringing in any new training methodologies without approval.
All of the pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place. Why would it be that the mainstream media is so astonishingly quiet about what would otherwise be a complete scandal? The answer is that Ronnie Barnes holds all the cards. He is more powerful than Coughlin, Reese and Hanlon, answering only to Mara and Tisch, which means essentially to Mara alone. Since the media have to suck up to the (er I mean) live with the power structure after Reese and Coughlin are gone, a beat reporter is not going to get “juice” being an enemy of a guy with TOTAL TENURE. Barnes has lasted as long as George Young, Ernie Accorsi AND Jerry Reese COMBINED. He is the freaking emperor. I was wrong. It is not Coughlin that the media are careful with. It is Ronnie Barnes.
The sword cuts both ways. You have the power, which also means you have the responsibility. So if we were calling for Coughlin/Palmieri to be held responsible, we were mistaken. They take their orders from Barnes.
Our earlier error was one of generally accepted structure. We assumed the General Manager had premier authority, with the Coach answering to him, and the S&C Coach a subordinate of the Head Coach. While that is for the most part true in most organizations, it is not true with the Giants . What was not understood was how much “juice” Barnes could have as an administrator of Medical Services. Fassel, Pierce, McConkey… they all make it perfectly clear who answers to whom. Note that no one currently in the adminstration made comment to this effect. This only supports the understanding that Barnes holds the cards.
Let’s review the facts. Barnes has tenure. He is all powerful in the organization, only reporting to Mara. He is active in the sports “science.” He has an expanded role in and supervises ALL medical matters related to the team. He is the one who works with Communications on all medical disclosures. It leads us to one conclusion- this entire injury problem begins and ends at Barnes’ doorstep. If he wanted a new Strength & Conditioning coach, he could have gotten one. For all we know, Coughlin wanted one but Barnes said no. While we do not know all the answers, we do know who has the power, and that means we know who has the responsibility for this mess. His name is Ronnie Barnes.
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