Filed under: Giants, NFC East, NFL Coaching, NFL Hall of Fame, NFL Analysis
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Tom Coughlin for seven seasons has coached the Giants in a priestly manner, beholden to his rock-bed truths of old-school football. He has been driven by his core values of how the game must be played with honor and inflexible on how individuals must sacrifice to become a team.
He is 64. In his teenage years back in Waterloo, N.Y., his elders literally saw the "priest" in him.
"Back in those days, they identified the few," Coughlin said of his high school years, when he was selected to take an entry exam to attend a seminary and become a priest. "You were told. You were going to take the exam if you were told. And if the good Lord had called me to do that, I would have done it."
No, Tom Coughlin was called to coach. He has coached football since 1969 when he was a Syracuse graduate assistant. He has been a head coach at Boston College (1991-1993), for the Jacksonville Jaguars (1995-2002) and for the Giants since 2004.
The NFL landscape is searing with coaches in hot water. Among them, Brad Childress with the Vikings seeks to keep his team afloat and John Fox with the Panthers looks headed for a dreary split. All eyes in Buffalo are fixated on Chan Gailey's 0-8 debut and Josh McDaniels in Denver is under painful scrutiny. Gary Kubiak in Houston is getting cockeyed looks from Texans fans and Norv Turner in San Diego desperately needs continued CPR with the Chargers.
Wade Phillips has already been axed in Dallas.
The Cowboys meet Coughlin's Giants on Sunday here, with the Cowboys 1-7 and interim coach Jason Garrett the freshest face among the NFL's head coaching fraternity. It is a fraternity. Coughlin calls himself "1 of the 32".
Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/11/tom-coughlin-as-a-priest-or-coach-called-to-become-a-leader-am/
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