Tom Coughlin thinks he deserves Hall of Fame consideration

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Tom Coughlin thinks he deserves Hall of Fame consideration
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 27, 2014

coughlin-e1395923479786.jpg
AP

Giants coach Tom Coughlin is usually more interested in talking about his team than his legacy, but he acknowledged at the league meeting that he thinks sometimes about whether he’ll one day have a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“You want to be the very, very best you can be,” Coughlin told Gary Myers of the New York Daily News. “If the highest point in recognition in our game is the Hall of Fame, then why not think about that? Do I think about it every day? No.”

Coughlin says winning two Super Bowls as head coach of the Giants gives him a case for enshrinement in Canton, but he’s careful to say he’s not lobbying for himself.

“I think it merits consideration, yeah, but that’s as far as I’m going,” he said. “I don’t think about it every day. I’d rather think about getting a group of players together that we can coach to win a game. That’s where I am. Just one year, one game. Let’s take care of today.”

Winning two Super Bowls doesn’t necessarily punch a ticket to the Hall of Fame. Tom Flores, George Seifert and Jimmy Johnson all won two Super Bowls and have been voted down, and two-time Super Bowl winner Mike Shanahan probably won’t get in either.

But Coughlin also deserves consideration for what he did as the coach of the Jaguars. He took over an expansion team in 1995 and after one year to build got them to the playoffs four straight seasons from 1996 to 1999. No coach has had that kind of success in the first five seasons of running an expansion team.

Overall, the 67-year-old Coughlin has probably done enough right now to get into the Hall of Fame. But there’s one thing he could do to eliminate any doubt: Lead the Giants to another title.
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NY Giants coach Tom Coughlin already Hall of Fame worthy
I have one of the 46 votes and believe Coughlin meets the standards for joining the elite coaches in NFL history. Of course, winning a third Super Bowl ends any debate.
BY GARY MYERS

ORLANDO — Tom Coughlin never talks about personal achievement — it’s all about the team — but it’s the offseason, he was in a relaxed setting and in a reflective mood and admitted he’s thought about one day being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Coughlin was in Canton last summer for Bill Parcells’ induction and he will be back this summer for Michael Strahan’s induction on Aug. 9 and the Giants’ game against the Bills in the Hall of Fame game the next night.

Coughlin was asked Wednesday at the NFC coaches breakfast if getting into the Hall of Fame was important to him and he typically would have dismissed the question. Instead, he was forthcoming, detailing the thought process as coaches first try to get a job at a Division I school, then perhaps catch on as an NFL assistant and then maybe get a chance to be a head coach.

“You want to be the very, very best you can be,” Coughlin said. “If the highest point in recognition in our game is the Hall of Fame, then why not think about that? Do I think about it every day? No.”

Does he think his two Super Bowl championships as Giants head coach merit consideration?

“I think it merits consideration, yeah, but that’s as far as I’m going,” he said. “I don’t think about it every day. I’d rather think about getting a group of players together that we can coach to win a game. That’s where I am. Just one year, one game. Let’s take care of today.”

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HOWARD SIMMONS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS/Tom Coughlin's two Super Bowl wins put him in an elite group of NFL coaches.

Coughlin’s two championships as a head coach put him right in the conversation. His first victory, over the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, was one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history. The Giants beat Bill Belichick and the Pats again four years later.

I have one of the 46 votes and believe Coughlin meets the standards for joining the elite coaches in NFL history. Coaching the expansion Jaguars in 1997 to the AFC title game in just their second year — they lost to Parcells and the Patriots — and their fourth year — they lost to the Titans — will strengthen his case. Of course, winning a third Super Bowl eliminates any conversation and, to steal a Parcells expression, he would enter the Hall “on roller skates.” Coaches and players are eligible five years after they retire.

Seven coaches who have won multiple Super Bowls are in the Hall of Fame: Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Tom Landry, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs and Parcells.

Three eligible coaches who have won two Super Bowls have not been voted in: Tom Flores, George Seifert and Jimmy Johnson. Flores was never considered an elite coach and was overshadowed in the Raiders organization by Al Davis. Seifert won two titles in his first six seasons but took over a team that had just won the Super Bowl with Walsh and he had the advantage of inheriting Joe Montana and Steve Young. Johnson turned around a dreadful team in Dallas, won two Super Bowls in five years, then was fired after a falling out with Jerry Jones and did very little when he went to coach the Dolphins. He was a semifinalist this year.

Mike Shanahan won two Super Bowls with the Broncos and was fired after last season by the Redskins. Belichick, who has won three Super Bowls and been in five with the Patriots, is a certainty to be selected. Weeb Ewbank, Hank Stram and John Madden are HOF coaches with one Super Bowl title. So is Mike Ditka, but he was selected for being one of the best tight ends in NFL history. Bud Grant and Marv Levy are in despite being 0-4 in the Super Bowl.

Coughlin should have several more opportunities to get that third Super Bowl title. He has no plans to retire, and Giants co-owner Steve Tisch told the Daily News that Coughlin is the right coach for the Giants “this season and going forward.”

Coughlin is the oldest coach in the NFL — he will be 68 on Aug. 31 — but joked about being much younger.

“As long as I feel good, productive and energetic and, of course, the players respond, I’d like to think I could keep going,” he said.

How much longer?

“There is no number,” he said. “I don’t have a number.”

As long the Giants are winning and “the choice becomes mine and not somebody else’s,” Coughlin said, he plans to be around for awhile, which improves his chances to making it to Canton.
 

Ram_of_Old

Guest
I think any of the players that have put up with his staff ars....deserve consideration.
 

moklerman

Warner-phile
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Anyone who wins two Super Bowls should be in. Especially since he beat the Patriots twice. And why isn't Tom Flores in?
 

Angry Ram

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I think any of the players that have put up with his staff ars....deserve consideration.

Yeah, I'm sure the staff and his players will put up with it when he's coaching playoff and SB winning teams.
 

Ram_of_Old

Guest
Anyone who wins two Super Bowls should be in. Especially since he beat the Patriots twice. And why isn't Tom Flores in?

True...I forgot about him smashing the hopes and dreams of the Putriots! I LOVE THE GUY! I would vote for him for President!