At the age of 66, New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is the elder
statesman of head coaches in The National Football League. Coughlin is a
two-time Super Bowl winning head coach who loves football, his family,
and his country. Coughlin is known to entertain his eleven grandchildren
in his office at Giants headquarters. Last May, Coughlin received the
Outstanding Civilian Service Award which is the third highest award that
can be given to a civilian by The United States Army. Coughlin is busy
preparing for the upcoming season this weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana
where he is evaluating potential draft talent at The NFL Combine, but he
was thrown for a curve ball earlier in the week.
On a guest
appearance earlier this week on The NFL Network, Giants cornerback
Terrell Thomas shocked some people when he discussed Coughlin’s future
with the team. According to ESPNNewYork.com, as far as Coughlin retiring
Thomas stated, “I thought it was this (past) season.” Thomas also feels
that Coughlin has “one more” in him as far as seasons being the head
coach of The G-Men.
Coughlin is under contract with The Giants
through 2014. The same passion that Coughlin coaches with now is the
same passion that he had when the late Giants owners Wellington Mara and
Preston Robert Tisch hired him in 2004. Coughlin rubbed some players
the wrong way when he first arrived in New York as he was a stern
disciplinarian. Coughlin has mellowed somewhat, but he is still exudes
discipline for his football team. The players who stuck with him are now
champions with some of them hoisting the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy
twice.
There is still plenty of fire in the belly of Coughlin.
Last season in Week 2 against The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, an angry
Coughlin had some choice words for Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg
Schiano after The Buccaneers were still in attack mode in a kneel down
situation. It has always been an unwritten rule in The NFL that when the
kneel down occurs that players take it easy as it marks either the end
of the half or the end of the game.
Coughlin is a fighter who
doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit. Coughlin was a running back
at Syracuse University as he shared backfield duties with future Pro
Football Hall of Famers Floyd Little and Larry Csonka. Csonka and Little
received the majority of the touches, but Coughlin was still able to
attain 5.0 yards per carry in three seasons for The ‘Cuse. Coughlin’s
message of not quitting was evident in The Giants Super Bowl 42 victory
over The New England Patriots. The Giants came in as 12-point underdogs
against the undefeated Patriots, but they never quit as Giants
quarterback Eli Manning found wide receiver David Tyree for an
improbable catch on The Giants last drive before finding wide receiver
Plaxico Burress for the game-winning touchdown in the waning moments.
Coughlin’s
83 victories as Giants head coach are only second to Steve Owen who
leads the organization with 151. The only active head coach that has
more Super Bowl Championships than Coughlin is Patriots head coach Bill
Belichick who has three. Despite Coughlin’s age he has the energy of
someone half his age. Coughlin’s team feeds off of that as he has only
had one losing season since taking over in 2004. Current Giants owner
John Mara and Steve Tisch have the same amount of respect for Coughlin
as their father’s did. Coughlin has a great working relationship with
Giants general manager Jerry Reese as he did with former Giants general
manager Ernie Acorsi. The Giants have done things the right way which is
why the organization owns four Lombardi Trophies. Just like we have
seen in classic Western movies, Coughlin will someday ride off into the
sunset like all the good guys usually do, but he is still in the
business of rounding up victories on the sidelines for The Giants.
Sources: NJ.com, sports-reference.com, pro-football-reference.com
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