New York Giants: Fire Tom Coughlin? No Way!

               Tom Coughlin’s job should not be on the line, no matter what record the New York Giants have this year.  He is a Super Bowl coach who has had success for a long time, with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Giants.  He has won with both teams, won a Super Bowl, and just because he is coming off a bad season does not mean that his job should be on the line.

                In 2004, he became coach of a Giants team coming of a 4-12 season.  Tiki Barber, the star running back, and Eli Manning, the rookie quarterback, were two players that were in the spotlight.  Since becoming a starter in 2000, Barber has emerged as a very good running back, but had a fumbling problem.  From 2000-2003, he fumbled 35 times.  Coughlin was determined to solve this fumbling problem and make him a better player.  He and his coaches worked with Barber on holding the ball higher, making it tougher for defenders to strip the ball.  In 2004-2006, the last 3 years of his career, he fumbled 9 times and rushed for at least 1,500 yards each season.  In 2004, Coughlin’s first season, the Giants got off to a 5-2 start under Kurt Warner and were in playoff contention.  However, Coughlin benched Warner for Manning and the Giants finished the season 6-10 and missed the playoffs.  It was an unpopular and possibly incorrect move to start Manning, but Manning was the future franchise QB of the Giants, not Warner.  Manning became a better player by playing under pressure in New York against top defenses such as Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers and although he struggled, he learned from these struggles and eventually became the QB that led the Giants to 3 road victories, including the Green Bay game that was played in negative temperatures, and the Super Bowl victory over the previously unbeaten New England Patriots.

                Coughlin has a career 124-102 coaching record and a 56-42 record with the Giants.  Therefore, he is a winning coach.  He won in Jacksonville and he has won up to this point with the Giants, including the Super Bowl.  Ironically, the last time his job was in jeopardy was the Super Bowl season.  His disciplinarian approach was rubbing the players the wrong way and he adjusted by being more player friendly.  His job should not be in jeopardy, because he is coming off one bad season.  He has been a winner, a Super Bowl champion, and will continue to win.