STORRS, Conn. – Three former assistant football coaches at the University of Connecticut, Dave DeGuglielmo, Chris Palmer and Steve Spagnuolo, will participate in Super Bowl XLII on Sunday as assistant coaches for the NFC Champion New York Giants.
Spagnuolo served as UConn’s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach from 1987-91 under Tom Jackson, helping the Huskies to a share of the 1989 Yankee Conference Championship. He is in his first season as the Giants’ defensive coordinator. The Giants finished seventh in the NFL this year in total defense, yielding just 305.0 yards per game, and topped the league with 53 sacks.
Palmer coached both defensive line and wide receivers at UConn from 1972-74 after graduating from Southern Connecticut State. Palmer helped guide UConn to the 1973 YanCon title. He is in his first year as quarterbacks coach with the Giants and steady interception-free play by signal-caller Eli Manning has played a large role in the Giants winning three straight road playoff games to advance to Super Bowl XLII. Palmer’s Connecticut ties also include spending the 1986-87 seasons as the head coach at the University of New Haven.
DeGuglielmo was the offensive line coach at UConn under Skip Holtz for the 1997-98 seasons, helping UConn to its only appearance in the NCAA Division I-AA Championship as the Huskies advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Georgia Southern. DeGuglielmo has been with the Giants since 2004 as an assistant offensive line coach. That line helped pave the way for the Giants to score 373 points in 2007, the fifth-highest total in franchise history.
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