NFC Championship Game 2012: Tom Coughlin vs Jim Harbaugh, Which Coach Is Better?

With a lot of hype surrounding the NFC Championship between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers, each franchise's head coach will certainly be part of the spotlight.

Let's break down each coach and conclude who's better entering Sunday's matchup.

Tom Coughlin

Obviously the more experienced of the two, Tom Coughlin began his NFL head coaching expedition with the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. From 1996 through 1999 the Jaguars made four straight playoff appearances and made it to two AFC Championships.

After three straight losing seasons from 2000-2002, Coughlin was axed but resurfaced with the Giants in 2004. In the Big Apple, Coughlin led New York to the postseason four straight years (2005-2008) and won Super Bowl XLII.

His career record is 142-114 and he's 10-7 in the postseason. It's no surprise to see him have success with the Giants either. He was their receivers coach under Bill Parcells from 1988-1990 and was part of their Super Bowl XXV championship.

Fast forward to modern day and once again New York has an excellent corps of receivers as they did under Coughlin earlier in the late '80s and early '90s. It may appear that he's been on the hot seat for what seems like forever, but Coughlin is easily the Giants best head coach since Parcells.

Jim Harbaugh

Although it's only Jim Harbaugh's first season as a NFL head coach, he's deserving of being called one of the league's better coaches.

For one, the 49ers were just 6-10 a year ago and coming off quite a disappointing season. Quarterback Alex Smith had been under numerous offensive coordinators and it was uncertain as to how much longer he could last in the pros.

Harbaugh changed all that and more with a 13-3 record, the NFC's No. 2 seed and San Francisco's first NFC Championship game appearance since the 1997-98 season (when they lost to Green Bay 23-10). If history tells us anything about what Harbaugh has already done, it's that he's a needle in a haystack that will have much more success.

The reason is because most college head coaches who make the NFL jump don't have much success. We saw it with Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino and Steve Spurrier among others.

Harbaugh however, has history on his side because after a very successful career at Stanford, he was hired by San Francisco, just like legendary head coach Bill Walsh. Now, comparing the two isn't fair but one can see the similarities in the decision in the 49ers' success in 2011-12.

Conclusion

By a decent margin Tom Coughlin is the better head coach because he's been an NFL coach much longer than Jim Harbaugh.

But if Harbaugh gets the 49ers to win Super Bowl XLVI it's quite possible that he surpasses or at least gets on Coughlin's level after just one season. With a solid NFL playing career to his credit, it's no surprise to see Harbaugh getting Alex Smith to develop.

Still, Harbaugh has work to do to move up into the current elite NFL head coaches group and whether skeptics believe it or not, Tom Coughlin is part of that group.

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