Tom Coughlin, Still Riding That Super Bowl Happy Train
June 23, 2009 – 8:15 am by Will Brinson
Tom Coughlin amazes me, because he’s such a freaking hard-ass, but after he won the Super Bowl he actually — *gasp* — smiled. And so, really, he’s not such a jerk and whatnot. (I’m half kidding; he’s got a tough reputation but I always watched him in Jacksonville and he’s a brilliant coach.)
So he headed into last year with some expectations and, based on injuries and, ahem, some issues, the Giants weren’t able to repeat. But they’re still a big focus for the media because of their location, so you best believe that Coughlin’s going to talk to Mike Francesa of WFAN with great frequency about things relating to the Giants, as well as finally getting to meet John Wooden.
On having to rebuild without Plaxico Burress:
“It really wasn’t anything measurable in terms of our players and their ability to stay focused. I thought our guys did a great job of that. And that was indication of the type of people that we had and the fact of the matter was they’d dealt with issues with Burress before and were determined not to let those thing throw them off … You know, Plaxico had a tremendous year the year before in the Super Bowl run and played with pain and did all the things you would want a pro to do … The unfortunate things that happened last year denied Plaxico the chance to play, but I think it showed our team was focused.”
On talking with John Wooden during the offseason:
“Judy — my wife — has been saying that to me for a number of years: “You really need to go see Coach Wooden, you’re really going to regret it if you don’t.” … So I made the phone call, he had just gotten out of the hospital and fortunately he was out and he was home and we set up a time to go up and visit with him. And it was a wonderful experience: he’s a great listener, a humble man, he has tremendous recollection – details of his career as a coach, he can always relate to some form of question that you have with some form of experience that he’s had in his career. And he talks about all the principles that are so important in life.”
On Eli Manning’s maturity:
“Well, he’s very much matured and developed and he’s really done an outstanding job this spring of just gathering information, studying what other people are doing, studying what opponents we have, studying our games from a year ago. He’s a guy who just really brings a lot to these offseason workouts, because, let’s face it, Mike — he’s here, continuously. Even a couple weeks after the season, he’s here. He’s that kind of guy and really goes about his business by setting a good example and doesn’t talk a lot and just goes to work. He’s done an outstanding job with these young receivers this spring.”
On the draft picks:
“They look good. I think you start by talking about the two young receivers and you know they’re rookies so they have a good day, they have a bad day. But throughout the course of the OTAs and the mini-camps, they’ve caught the ball. So regardless of whether they’re improper in the technique used or in the wrong slot or didn’t execute the individual route the way it should be, they still caught it. And so you can always start and feel good about it when that takes place.”
Listen to Tom Coughlin on WFAN in New York with Mike Francesa
Tags: Mike Francesca, New York Giants, NFL, Plaxico Burress, Tom Coughlin
