Mac Duff accepts job in N.Y.

Arizona Daily Wildcat Larry MacDuff

The 48-year-old Mac Duff ended his 10-year stint with the Wildcats and with head coach Dick Tomey, who also started at Arizona in 1987 to join longtime friend and new Giants head coach Jim Fassel.

Mac Duff and Fassel played together at Fullerton (Calif.) Junior College in the late 1960s. Mac Duff said that he will travel to the Meadowlands on Tuesday.

"I'm not getting into a situation that I don't know, they are people that I trust a great deal, this is a great opportunity because of the people involved," Mac Duff said.

Mac Duff did not disclose specifics of his contract but did say, "I knew that it would take a special set of circumstances to leave here."

Mac Duff notified the team of the possibility he was departing earlier this week.

"It was a tough day yesterday telling the players that I'm leaving, I'm sure that it's been harder on me than them," he said.

Mac Duff was the achitect of the fabled "Desert Swarm" defense that was responsible for Arizona's emergence as a national power in recent years.

Mac Duff is known as a "players coach", and an excellent evaluator of talent.

"He will be greatly missed, no doubt. He has meant an enormous amount to this program - as a recruiter, a professional, a person, he has been a solid foundation," Tomey said of his only defensive coordinator at Arizona. "It's a pesonal loss as well, he's a close friend and will remain to be."

The coaching staff is going to keep its options open for filling the vacant position, but former UA assistant Rich Ellerson, who spent last season as head coach at Southern Utah, is a leading candidate.

The Giants finished this season with the seventh-best starting field position (28.1) while their opponents had the sixth worst (25.1) under Joe DeCamillis. However, the Giants attempted the most punts (102) in the NFL.

"I will assist the defensive staff where I can, but my main responsibility is special teams," Mac Duff said.

Fassel added John Fox as the defensive coordinator on Wednesday, Fox held the same position for the Oakland Raiders in 1994-95. Mac Duff said that he was familiar with Fox only "by reputation."

UA offensive coordinator and former Kansas City Chiefs coach Homer Smith was not surprised by the decision.

"I was afraid that this was going to be too much of an opportunity to turn down. Financially he will be set and the NFL experience is ideal for his resume," he said. "He will be fine, with special teams he will really be able to put his mark on it. It's s ad though because he was a great friend, such a steady keel on this program."

New York sports team are notoriously known for their scrutiny by the media, but Mac Duff is optomistic about the new city.

"My wife went to high school there. We are all up for a new adventure," he said.

Mac Duff and his wife, Barbie, have a son, Justin.

"Larry has had a special relationship with us. You have mixed emotions because it is a great opportunity, one that he definitely deserves for what he has done," said Butch Henry, the UA's Associate Director of Athletics. "Seldom do you get a chance at the next level with someone you trust."