Should the New York Giants Fire Head Coach Tom Coughlin?
Sep 8, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin leads his team onto the field prior to the game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Any time the New York Football Giants are struggling or lose a couple gridiron bouts, the Coughlin question arises. Of course, Giants Nation is all aware of the Coughlin question, especially if TEAM BLUE losses a couple games in a row. Every time, the media or fanatics of other organizations start to ponder things like:
Posing the same question to members of our GMEN HQ staff like Zac Andrews and I was told to feature:
"NO"
As his big quotable answer. For Dan Graziano at the four letter, his response in his Twitter Mailbag was this:
"@DanGrazianoESPN: May as well get right to it, huh? It’s worth pointing out that the person asking this question appears to be a Philadelphia fan, as opposed to a disgruntled Giants fan. But this is a question we are definitely starting to hear, again, and if the Giants keep losing it’s going to keep getting asked. It’s important to remember that, even if the Giants are going to decide to move on from head coach Tom Coughlin (far from a certainty), it wouldn’t happen until after the season, That’s just the way they operate. They let the season unfold and then make evaluations based on the entire 16-game sample, as opposed to two or four or six or eight games. I still think this is a two-year plan the Giants are beginning here, and that the goal is to see progress with the new offense by the end of 2015, and for that reason I believe Coughlin is here for at least two more years. But I also think a truly terrible (think 3-13) season could change a lot of people’s minds. Coughlin is an excellent coach, and unquestionably the person the Giants’ owners want coaching the team. But he’s also 68, and if the organization thinks it’s either far away from a turnaround or not headed in the right direction for one, it could decide to make a few long-view changes, and that could include Coughlin."
When will the giants fire Coughlin?
There are two possible realistic answers to that question:
- Never
- Eventually
Dan Graziano didn’t really tiptoe the issue by saying the Giants would wait until the end of the season. If the team continues to lose and struggle, GMEN HQ could see the team waiting until the end of the football year to make a move. However, in the NFL, timing matters… To get the best coach on the market, starting early is almost essential unless you want to pick from this years’ playoff coaches or Super Bowl winners.
The downside to that approach is that you are rushed to be ready for the NFL Draft and a lot of the choice assistants are already working for new teams after the blood-letting of early January for NFL coaching staffs.
For Tom Coughlin and the Giants the threat is very real that the organization might ponder a change, but I think they realize the situation as well. Odell Beckham Jr. is not helping the team. After 10 years of the run and shoot, Eli Manning is struggling to transfer his skill set to the Ben McAdoo’s West Coast Offense. The G-Men have battled injury and circumstance towards building a competitive roster, but little of the their problems are directly attributed to Tom Coughlin. Yet, the blame will always fall on the Head Coach and General Manager of every NFL team when failure occurs.
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Currently, the Giants are 0-2 and they’re taking on the 2-0 Houston Texans tomorrow. If the Giants can come out of the game 1-2, the questions about Tom Coughlin will start to sink back into the background. However, if the Giants end up 0-3, the Fire Coughlin questions will automatically amplify like Giants Nation has witnessed in the past.
That said, this isn’t a reactive in the moment organization, so I feel it would take the worst run the Giants have ever seen to make a change midseason. And honestly, this Giants team might not be that bad. They have it in them to beat the Texans — and — that’s where it will all start tomorrow afternoon.
Coughlin’s employment future may not be dependent solely on that win tomorrow, but his ongoing career may be a touch more comfortable with that GIANT “W” than without it. There’s no arguing that point.