CHANDLER, Ariz. - His pigskin odyssey began in Central Massachusetts three decades ago, when Steve Spagnuolo was calling signals for the Grafton High Indians. From there, it was playing wide receiver at Springfield College, assisting as a grad student at the University of Massachusetts, interning with the Redskins. "And then," said the Giants defensive coordinator, "I just started on the trek."
The road here has gone through Easton, Pa., Storrs, Conn., Barcelona, San Diego, Orono, Maine, New Brunswick, N.J., Bowling Green, Ohio, Frankfurt, Germany, Philadelphia, and East Rutherford, N.J. And the next stop might just be Washington, where the Redskins' head job is open and Spagnuolo has been mentioned as a prime candidate.
"It's humbling, it's flattering, but I'll let those things take care of themselves," said the 48-year-old Spagnuolo, who is in his first season running the New York defense. "I don't know that I can think of more than one thing. I'm not that smart."
For now, Spagnuolo's obsession is finding a way to stop Tom Brady and his multiple weapons tonight and give the Jints a fighting chance to pull off what would be the biggest Super Bowl upset in nearly four decades.
"When you get into this business, you have two dreams as a football coach," said Spagnuolo. "One is to win a Super Bowl. The other is to possibly be a head coach at the highest level. That's a dream, but I'm focused on the one dream right now."
What the man has learned during his "Where's Spags?" travels is that the next job always finds you. Even if you're coaching defensive linemen at Lafayette, someone, somewhere, always is watching. And if you're good enough, nobody wants to lose you.
That's what kept Spagnuolo with the Eagles two years ago when the Vikings wanted to make him their defensive coordinator. Sorry, head man Andy Reid told him. Can't let you go.
"There are two ways to look at it," Spagnuolo said. "I was disappointed on one end and complimented on the other. I understood what Andy was doing. I'd hoped he would let me go, but that's not the way the league works."
Eventually, Spagnuolo concluded, his time would come. And when the Giants, coming off a break-even season that ended with a playoff loss to the Eagles, shook up their staff last year, Tom Coughlin tapped Spagnuolo.
"His background was what attracted me," said Coughlin, who, like Spagnuolo, had worked for former Boston College coach Jack Bicknell. "Because he never really had a high-profile job and worked his ever-lovin' [butt] off."
Spagnuolo had spent eight years helping Jim Johnson mold miserly defenses in Philadelphia and churning out Pro Bowlers. The Giants, who'd given up nearly two dozen points a game in 2006, needed a coordinator who could both organize and energize their defenders.
"What he brought to the team was what was needed - a bounce, with both a positive and a negative," said linebacker Antonio Pierce. "He pats us on the butt when we do well, but he always lets us know what we can do better."
The first two games were a brutal baptism, with the Giants conceding a combined 80 points to the Cowboys and Packers. Hang in, Spagnuolo told his players, who bought into his unruffled optimism. "He was so even-keeled," said safety Gibril Wilson. "And that's when we all believed."
The turning point came in the third game at Washington, where the Giants came from two touchdowns behind to win 24-17, stopping the Redskins four times from the 1-yard line in the final minute. "I don't think anybody realized it at that time," said Spagnuolo, "but if I were to reflect back and ask, where did it happen, it was that goal-line stand."
The Giants went on to win six in a row and clinched a playoff berth with a game to go. Along the way, their defense became an aggressive, unpredictable unit with a nasty blitz package.
"You really have to be ready," said Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. "Steve does a great job of mixing everything up. You are never going to get one steady dose for too long . . . You never know what you're going to get, which is why you have to practice against everything."
Spagnuolo's approach is both inventive and reactive, and the tweaking and tinkering never end. "He's still putting things into the game plan when we are on the field or when we come to the bench," said defensive end Michael Strahan. "With Spags, it's never 'all-in.' He's always shaping and changing and doing little things."
Tonight, with his defense up against the Patriots' relentless point machine, Spagnuolo faces the greatest challenge of his career. In the regular-season finale at Giants Stadium, his players left the field thinking they'd done a creditable job. "But then you look at the scoreboard," said Spagnuolo, "and there are 38 points."
It is a privilege, he said, to get a rematch for table stakes. For a Massachusetts guy who used to sit with his father in the Schaefer Stadium end zone, it's one of life's ironies that his job is to ruin Patriotic fantasies. "All these years I was rooting for them to get to the Super Bowl," Spagnuolo said. "They get there in 2005 when I'm with the Eagles and we're trying to stop them."
If the Giants can manage it tonight, they'll make history and Spagnuolo might well find himself running the show next autumn in Washington, where his professional career began in 1983. "I was a gopher," Spagnuolo recalled. "I ran around and did things. I loved it."
That is how this game, and this league, works. The next job finds you. "I remember someone long ago telling me if you get in this business and work hard enough, eventually things will work out," Grafton's former quarterback said. "I've been very blessed to have all this fall into place, but I could still be a coach at Springfield College and be enjoying football."
John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.
