New York Giants: Should Tom Coughlin Think About Hanging It Up After the Season?

Tom Coughlin is 74-54 in his eight seasons as head coach of the New York Giants and after Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, his postseason mark with the Giants is 5-3.

If it seems like Coughlin has had more lives than a cat during his tenure in New York, it’s because he just might have.

On Coughlin’s watch, the team has had second-half swoons in 2004 (a 5-2 start followed by a 1-8 finish), 2006 (6-2 and 2-6), 2007 (6-2 and 4-4), 2009 (5-2, 3-6), 2010 (6-2, 4-4) and 2011 (6-2, 3-5).

That the Giants rallied in 2007 to win three-straight road playoff games and then Super Bowl XLII doesn’t change the fact that Coughlin’s seat was quite hot at the end of the regular season, just as it has been at times this year as the Giants stumbled a bit down the stretch.

The current playoff run is the Giants’ fifth playoff appearance under Coughlin. In three of the previous four postseason trips, New York was one-and-done, losing at home to the Carolina Panthers in 2005, at the Philadelphia Eagles in 2006 and at home to the Eagles again in 2008.

Coughlin is the second-oldest coach to win a Super Bowl. He was 61 years old in February 2008 when the Giants beat the Patriots in Glendale, Ariz., to capture the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy. Only Dick Vermeil with the St. Louis Rams in 1999 was older (63).

Coughlin is in his fifth decade as a coach, dating back to 1969, when he spent a season as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Syracuse.

That was followed by a four-year stint (1970-73) as head coach at the Rochester Institute of Technology and seven years (1975-80) back at Syracuse, first as quarterbacks and offensive backfield coach for three years and then four seasons as offensive coordinator.

From 1981-83, Coughlin coached the quarterbacks at Boston College, notable in that one of his pupils was BC legend Doug Flutie.

Coughlin jumped to the pro ranks in 1984, spending two years with the Philadelphia Eagles as wide receivers coach. In 1986, he took the same position on Forrest Gregg’s staff in Green Bay and spent two years with the Packers. In 1988, he joined Bill Parcells with the Giants as receivers coach, a position he held for three years.

From 1991-93, Coughlin was back at Boston College, this time as a head coach. He left BC in 1994 to accept the head coaching job with the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars. Coughlin was 68-60 in eight years with Jacksonville and was 4-4 in the playoffs, taking the Jags to the AFC title game in 1996 and 1999.

Finally, in 2004, Coughlin was named to replace Jim Fassel as head coach of the Giants.

Looking at the glass half empty, Coughlin is an old coach. If the glass is instead half full, Coughlin is a coach with a great deal of experience.

So, should Coughlin think about hanging up the whistle when this season ends? He’ll be 66 when next season starts. He’s had a great career as a football coaching lifer.

But it might just be time for a younger coach to get a shot at directing Big Blue.