It’s hard to imagine the New York Giants without head coach Tom Coughlin at the helm, but with the third straight losing season coming to the close this past Sunday, the organization is under a tremendous amount of pressure to improve. But is losing Coughlin the key to more success? Or is a change in the head coach a harbinger of a very turbulent upcoming season for the Giants?
Coughlin’s football legacy extends beyond the New York Giants and even as more than a coach. While attending college at Syracuse University, Coughlin played halfback for the Orange football team. Coughlin enjoyed success at his position, and even set the school’s single-season pass receiving record in 1967. After college, Coughlin got his first job as a head coach for the Rochester Institute of Technology football team. After three seasons at RIT, he returned to Syracuse to spend time as the offensive coordinator for four seasons. Next, Coughlin moved on to the NFL and became a wide receivers coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Green Bay Packers, and the New York Giants. While with the Giants, he worked as an assistant to then-head coach Bill Parcells. In 1990, Coughlin helped the team win Super Bowl XXV against the Buffalo Bills by the score of 20-19, the second Super Bowl for the Giants and the only Super Bowl decided by one point. The next year, Coughlin earned a job at Boston College as head coach for the Eagles. He spent three seasons with the team, during which he attained a total record of 21-13-1 and led BC to their first ever win over Notre Dame in 1993. His success at Boston led to Coughlin’s position as the first head coach of one the NFL’s expansion teams in 1995, the Jacksonville Jaguars. During his eight seasons with the Jaguars, Coughlin led the team to four consecutive playoff appearances and two appearances in the AFC Championship game. In 1996, Coughlin won the NFL Coach of the Year award. That same year, he created the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation, named after Jay McGillis. McGillis played for Coughlin at Boston College before being diagnosed with leukemia, eventually losing his life. The Jay Fund is dedicated to assisting children with leukemia and other cancers and their families, and has helped thousands of families so far.
Despite his initial success with the Jaguars, Coughlin’s team struggled for three seasons before he was fired by then-owner Wayne Weaver in 2002. However, in 2011 during an interview with the Jaguars, Weaver admitted that one of his biggest regrets was firing Coughlin as head coach. Although he spent a year out of the league in 2003, Coughlin was hired as head coach of the New York Giants in 2004. During that year’s draft, Coughlin traded the Chargers for Eli Manning, and they began their now twelve season stint as head coach and quarterback. Although the first season was a rocky transition period, Coughlin and Eli experienced success during the 2005 season, which they finished 11-5 and won the NFC East, a first for the Giants since 2000. The 2007 season started off negatively, with the Giants losing the first two games, but turned around when the won the next six in a row. The Giants went onto win their first playoff game in seven years when they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a score of 24-14. They continued on to defeat the Dallas Cowboys in the Division Playoffs and later win against the Green Bay Packers in overtime with a score of 23-20 in the NFC Championship Game. In Coughlin’s first Super Bowl appearance as head coach, the New York Giants ruined the New England Patriots’ perfect season by winning with a score of 17-14. The Patriots finished their season with a record of 18-1, and the underdog Giants turned Super Bowl XLII into one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.
The 2011 season also started with uncertainty, with a hectic free agency period resulting in the loss of many players including Pro Bowl Wide Receiver Steve Smith. Although they lost the first game, the Giants went onto win the NFC East by crushing the Atlanta Falcons with a score of 28-2. They continued on to win against the defending Super Bowl champion Packers and won 20-17 in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game. They faced a Super Bowl rematch against the Patriots, but Coughlin led them to victory once again with a score of 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI. This win made Coughlin the oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl, and one of just 13 coaches to win multiple Super Bowls. Unfortunately, the Giants have failed to even reach the playoffs since this Super Bowl victory. In his twelve seasons as the Giants head coach, Coughlin has accumulated a total record of 102 wins and 89 losses, won three division titles and reached the playoffs five times. Of the four Super Bowl victories for the New York Giants, Coughlin has been involved of three of them, and was the head coach of the team for two of them. Although some seasons were better than others, the Giants have experienced a lot of success under “Colonel Coughlin,” and he has impacted the NFL and collegiate football very positively. As the only NFL coach that Eli Manning has ever had, Coughlin will definitely be hard to replace. Whether or not the Giants choose to keep Tom Coughlin as head coach for the 2016 season, it is important to keep in mind the triumphs of seasons past while dealing with the disappointing end of the Giant’s most recent run.
