New York Giants: 2015 Must be Tom Coughlin’s Last Season

Last winter, there was much speculation that the Tom Coughlin era was coming to an end. The Giants quieted said speculation by extending their coach’s contract through 2016. The Giants have four games remaining in the 2015 regular season. Whether or not the Giants make the postseason, this needs to be Coughlin’s last season.

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It is not desparaging the legendary coach of the Giants, to admit that the team needs a change. The Giants need a new direction, so they don’t waste the remainder of Eli Manning’s career battling with their own mediocrity. The Coughlin era has been a great run. The Giants won two Super Bowls with the Waterloo native manning the steering wheel. His tenure can only be rivaled by that of his former boss, Bill Parcells.

Now that we have the appreciation part out of the way, it is time to talk change. The Giants have gone 18-26 dating back to 2013. The Giants have not made the playoffs since 2011. Surely, Coughlin isn’t solely to blame but the product on the field has been subpar.

The question becomes who can replace a two-time Super Bowl champion? One line of thought would be promoting Ben McAdoo. McAdoo is a young and sharp offensive genius who has coached under Coughlin and Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy. McAdoo would have to have a vision though. He would have to be able to put his stamp on the team, moving forward. At the end of the day McAdoo is a unknown commodity at the head coaching level.

The guy I would pin for the job, the Giants may not be able to get. I think David Shaw would be the perfect guy for the Giants. Shaw is the head coach at Stanford which is the number 5 ranked team in the country. Shaw spent 9 years as a position coach in the NFL. He was Stanford’s offensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh, before getting the head coaching job. With a fired up energy but a poised and stoic nature he has gone 53-14 at Stanford.

Shaw to the Giants probably won’t happen. That’s the kind of guy they need to look at though. They need an experienced coach that can bring in a new energy. They need a killer instinct, they need to learn how to win again. Coughlin was a great coach but his message has gone stale.