EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – One of the New York Giants’ longest-serving college scouts has announced his retirement, effective at the end of the month.
Steve Devine, a 1968 graduate of Marysville High School, is a former high school and collegiate coach who spent the last 18 years traveling through the Midwest in search of talent for the Giants.
He said he is putting away his stopwatch to spend more time with his family.
“The plan going into this past year for myself and my family was to give serious consideration to retirement,” Devine said. “I knew in my heart prior to draft meetings this spring that retiring would be great for us.
“I started with the Giants when I was 50 years old. Eighteen road years later away from family, I knew it was a great time for us to change gears.”
Immediately prior to joining the Giants in 2001, Devine was an athletic administrator and coach in the Marysville school system. That was the final stop in a 28-year journey working at the high school and college levels.
From 1990-94, Devine was the assistant head coach and an offensive assistant for Ohio University. He arrived there after spending the 1988 and 1989 seasons as the offensive line coach at San Diego State University.
In 1983, Devine became an assistant coach at Ohio State University. He spent his first year there focused mainly on recruiting. From 1984 through 1987, he was the Buckeyes’ guard and center coach.
Prior to his stint with Ohio State, Devine worked for three seasons as the offensive line coach at Bowling Green State University. He went there after spending a year as a graduate assistant coach at Ohio State in 1979.
Devine was a graduate assistant at the University of Washington in 1977 and 1978, when he worked with the Huskies’ offensive line.
Devine’s first college coaching experience came as a student assistant football coach for the University of Toledo in 1976.
“The years I spent prior to the Giants as a high school coach and in college coaching were great,” Devine said. “I got to be part of some great high school playoff teams, seven college bowl games and spent five years at the place I always dreamed of coaching – Ohio State, in my home state of Ohio.”
After joining the Giants, Devine spent many long days scouting the area he knew best, the Midwest.
“When I came to the Giants and professional football, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into,” Devine said. “What I learned quickly was that I was working for not only the best NFL franchise ever, but one of the world’s greatest sports organizations.
“Being part of Super Bowls and championships was truly an honor. And just like any great organization, it’s always the people you work with that are true champions.”
Devine will now focus on his family as a husband, father and grandfather. His family includes his wife Suzanne and their three children, Stephanie (John), Paul (Lauren), and Connor (Anna). Paul and Lauren have a son, Stephen James.
“Now that I have headed in a new direction,” Devine said, “the team’s promise of ‘Once a Giant Always a Giant’ takes on even more meaning and is an honor my family and I will treasure forever.”
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