NEWARK, N.J. – Less than a week after winning the Super Bowl, the New York Giants got the 2008 season off to a good start by retaining defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Just hours after Spagnuolo, who coached at the University of Maine in 1993 and ’94, withdrew his name from consideration for the Washington Redskins coaching job on Thursday, the Giants gave the 48-year-old a three-year, $6 million contract that will make him one of the NFL’s highest paid coordinators.