In Giants’ farewell, Coughlin says may not be done coaching

The 69-year-old’s future in football is in doubt, as it’s not certain if he will return to coaching for next year or if he will simply ride off into the sunset and await a possible call from Canton, but his former mentor and coaching colleague in Bill Parcells said that Coughlin stepping down as the Giants head coach was a sad day.

The Tom Coughlin era with the New York Giants is over but on Tuesday the likely Hall of Fame coach left the door open to coaching again in the National Football League. I have spent 15 years with this organization as an assistant and head coach and was fortunate to be part of three Super Bowl winning teams. In his 12 years, he led the Giants to five playoff appearances, four in a row, with two Super Bowl wins. But Mara could’ve said all those same things about Coughlin – a two-time champ who many thought recently was still one of the best in the business. They have won Super Bowls, but they’re not consistent contenders for the title. The coach didn’t make them have to fire him.

Even with a fully healthy defense, the Giants have strayed away from their once-dominant pass rush attack that helped them overcome Tom Brady and the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl.

Coughlin was praised lavishly by many of his current and former players, and Eli Manning, the team’s quarterback, said it was the players who failed a coach who seems destined for the pro football Hall of Fame. I couldn’t have been more touched – I read it before every chemo treatment. I don’t think we’re that far away. “That is a tribute to our players and staff, and it was truly fulfilling to be the leader of those teams”. “My contention is there’s a higher ground, there’s a greater goal, and that objective is team”. “This guy’s is not what we’re looking for”. If anything, the ferocious way that Coughlin exited the Giants job will nearly surely get him another job somewhere in the NFL. “He’s been a friend of mine for a long time”, Belichick said.

Tom Coughlin could read the writing on the wall and stepped down as head coach of the Giants on Monday.

“I don’t know if I’m any different”, Coughlin said. Coaching changes and organization changes always set you back. “You did it the right way Coach”. Because if he felt the same way the coaches did – that the players weren’t good enough – then Reese, at the very least, would’ve been leaving, too. “That’s not in your nature”. Partly in an attempt to meet him, my husband and I made the trip to the Giants’ training camp at SUNY Albany for the first seven years of Coughlin’s tenure.

He thanked nearly everyone whom he touched over the past 12 seasons and his words brought some in the audience to tears, especially quarterback Eli Manning. It was probably the difference between Coughlin staying and going.

“He has been a great coach to play for”, Manning said. “I learned so much from him from at an early age when I got here until right now”. “He embodies the beliefs of this organization and everything the New York Giants stand for”. Coughlin loves to coach and if the right job popped up, who knows?

The New York Giants finished the 2015 season with a 6-10 record and out of playoff contention for the fourth straight season.

The Giants lost six games this season either in the final 1:14 or in overtime.