In eight seasons as head coach of the Giants, Tom Coughlin has spent enough time on the hot seat to get burned on his backside. But Giants owner John Mara has always stood by Coughlin, and Coughlin has rewarded that with one Vince Lombardi Trophy and a chance at another on Sunday.
Today mara said he thinks Coughlin epitomizes exactly what a Giants head coach should be, not because Coughlin is a strict disciplinarian, but simply because Coughlin wins.
“Too many people make too big a deal out of, ‘He brings discipline and everything,’” Mara said. “We just felt like he was a winner and he would work so hard and be so devoted to putting a winning team on the field.”
Mara says he likes having a coach who’s focused solely on the task at hand and not on becoming a New York celebrity.
“That’s what we were looking for: a guy who was that dedicated and that hard-working and didn’t care about his image and doing TV commercials or whatever,” Mara said. “We wanted a guy that was devoted to the X’s and O’s and coaching and that’s what we got.”
Mara didn’t mention the NFL’s other New York head coach, Rex Ryan, but the two of them are a study in contrasts: Ryan embraces the celebrity that comes along with coaching, while Coughlin seems to see celebrity as a necessary evil. Another contrast between them is that Ryan guarantees Super Bowls, while Coughlin coaches in Super Bowls.