New York Giants: Timing is Right to Honor Tom Coughlin
Why it’s not too soon for the Giants to induct former head coach Tom Coughlin into the franchise’s Ring of Honor.
This fall, former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin will be inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor, an elite group of front office, coaching and player contributors whose contributions have helped shape the team’s illustrious history.
Given the circumstances surrounding Coughlin’s departure earlier this year—he strongly implied during a radio interview with Fox Sports’ Jay Mohr that the decision to move on was not necessarily his—the team’s decision to induct Coughlin (along with former general manager Ernie Accorsi and retired defense end Justin Tuck) has some people believing that it’s too soon for Coughlin to receive the honor.
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Regardless of whatever circumstances actually surrounded Coughlin’s departure, it spoke volumes about how team co-owner John Mara felt about a man who restored pride in the family business.
Mara spoke at Coughlin’s press conference about not wanting to see the experience and knowledge Coughlin had “walk out the door.”
He was willing to create a special advisory role for the future Hall of Fame coach—this even before Mara knew who his team’s next head coach would be.
Mara also took the unprecedented step of allowing Coughlin, now a former team employee, continued access to the team’s facility.
And what of the “snub” that occurred when Coughlin, following his final press conference as the head coach, allegedly issued to Mara when Coughlin exited the stage and blew past Mara’s outstretched hand?
Having covered every one of Coughlin’s 12 seasons covering Coughlin, it was clear that if he had his way, he’d rather not deal with the media as often as league rules mandated.
When he did deal with the media, he often times was anxious to get out from under the barrage of cameras and microphones recording his every move and his every word as quickly as possible.
Like him or hate him, Coughlin left a mark on this franchise that many head coaches in the league can only dream of achieving.
Taking over a broken franchise after the 2003 season, Coughlin and then rookie quarterback Eli Manning forged a strong professional bond that, over the next nine years, resulted in two Super Bowl championships, three NFC East titles and just one sub-.500 season.
Until the bottom dropped out for Coughlin and the Giants in 2012—this largely due to questionable draft decisions that exposed the lack of depth—the Giants were tied with the Philadelphia Eagles for the most division titles (three) from 2004 through 2012.
That’s some solid production from a man who, when he first was announced as the team’s 16th head coach, came in with a reputation for being unyielding in his ways.
Over the years, Coughlin grew as a person and as a head coach. He became more approachable to his players and to the media. He began to smile more and even cracked some memorable one-liners.
That’s not easy for someone who is so set in their ways that they often don’t want to take any constructive feedback to make themselves better in what they do and as people.
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Through it all, Coughlin never lost sight of what was most important, and that was keeping a locker room together, even when the tough times threatened to break it apart, and focused on winning.
If Coughlin could change from being mostly hated in 2006 to beloved in 2007, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that, after a few months, he is on board with the Giants’ pending tribute.