Tom Coughlin has a lot of ring protection, so it would be stupid to assume that New York Giants management would move to fire Coughlin after such a rough season.
Coughlin, who has one year remaining on his contract could choose to walk away though.
The 68 year old Coughlin has made no indication that he plans to walk away, and according to the New York Post, his players want him around to lead them next season.
“He is the New York Giants,’’ cornerback Terrell Thomas said. “He epitomizes this organization as a selfless person who takes it all on his shoulders. When we lose, he takes all the blame, and when we win he gives us all the credit. When you see that over years, when you see that leadership, you take it upon yourself to start living that way and start acting that way as a team. That’s why we didn’t turn on each other when we were 0-6.’’
Asked if he can imagine the Giants without Coughlin, Thomas said, “Not at all. I think this team would be in turmoil without him here. One of the main things he did this season was turn this team around. He turned a bunch of individual players into a team. It’s his character.’’
Giants players refer back to the way Coughlin handled the adversity of losing his brother John who died suddenly following a fall on his way home from the Giants’ Sept. 15 game against the Broncos at MetLife Stadium.
“I’ve been through situations like that, and I can damn sure tell you I didn’t handle them as well as he did,’’ defensive end Justin Tuck said.
“I was standing next to his brother on the sideline talking to him the day before he died,’’ punter Steve Weatherford said. “For him to handle it the way he did says a lot about his faith and a lot about his commitment to the team, because a lot of people would have called in sick to be with their family.
“The way he handled it, he didn’t make it about himself. He alerted the team what was going on and then got right into the plan for the next team. Special guy.’’
Tuck said “marvel is a good word’’ to describe how he views Coughlin.
“For a guy that’s been as successful as he has as a coach and at 67 years old now to come in here and never waver one way or the other is amazing,’’ Tuck said. “Football is such an emotional game with such high highs and low lows, but he is the true definition of never get too high with the highs and never get too low with the lows. If you let your emotions go with the way the team is performing, you’ll die of a heart attack.’’
It takes a special leader to have a team staring at and 0-7 get up the resolve to win four straight, and still have thoughts of playoffs.
Most teams would have folded with another coach.