Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, the hot ticket for several teams in search of a new head coach, finally pulled the trigger on one of the offers and became the new man in charge of the St. Louis Rams.

At the same time, assistant offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo left to become the line coach for the Miami Dolphins.

That's two.

Then, just two days later, head coach Tom Coughlin named Bill Sheridan, who had been the linebackers coach for the past four years, to replace Spagnuolo as coordinator.

"It was important, I thought, to hire from within," Coughlin said. "Bill has done a great job and I think he will make a great coordinator."

As for Spagnuolo, the innovative coach made a gigantic impact on the Giants' defense in the two years he spent with them after being hired from the Philadelphia Eagles, where he was the linebackers coach.

"I don't think I have seen a man come into a new situation and assess the various players and problems and come up with such amazing success," said Coughlin.

Chief among them is the fact that in his first season as the coordinator, Spagnuolo took the team to a franchise-record 53 sacks and was one of the key ingredients in their improbable run to victory in Super Bowl XVII, in which they stunned the then-undefeated New England Patriots.

"I am sorry to leave the Giants," said Spagnuolo, "because this organization is amazing and I was treated well and I loved my time here. But you know that every assistant coach wants to be a head coach and this is the realization of my career goal."

Spagnuolo was signed by the Rams to a four-year, $11.5 million contract, and in terms of a raise it wasn't that much. He had three years remaining on his Giants contract at $2 million a year; it's a raise, but he might have stayed in place and replaced Coughlin in another year or two.

But he was anxious to begin establishing his own reputation, and there is very little doubt that he will.

Sheridan, whose son, Nick, is a sophomore quarterback vying for the starting job at the University of Michigan, served previously at five universities -- Maine, Notre Dame, Michigan State, West Point and Michigan. He was hired by the Giants from the Wolverines' staff on Feb. 16, 2005.

Coughlin dipped into the Michigan staff again for Sheridan's replacement. Jim Herrmann, who was the Jets' linebackers coach the past three years, had Sheridan on his staff at Michigan for three years before that.

Jack Bicknell, Jr. was hired as the new assistant offensive line coach. It's another familiar hire, as Coughlin was hired in 1991 as the coach at Boston College, replacing Jack Bicknell, Sr. The junior Bicknell was

Bicknell, Jr. was the assistant head coach/offensive line coach at B.C. the past two years.

"He was the offensive line coach at Boston College for two 10-win seasons," Coughlin said. "They played in back-to-back ACC championship games with a lot of young guys in his second year.

Boston College fans will also remember Bicknell, Jr. as the center who snapped the ball to quarterback Doug Flutie on the famous Hail Mary pass that beat Miami in 1984.